The company today announced at its Google I/O developer conference that users will be able to cast TV shows and movies directly from their Android phone or tablet to their TV later this year. This follows last year’s redesign of the Google TV app, which added features like movie and TV recommendations, critics’ scores, and more. Additionally, the business unveiled new Android OS developer tools and updated stats about the expanding reach of its Android OS. Since 2020, when it first unveiled the new Google TV interface for its Chromecast streaming devices, Google has been striving to revamp its connected TV experience and the related app.
The app that was formerly known as the Google Play Movies & TV app received the Google TV moniker as well. The “Movies & TV” category from the Play Store was also eliminated by Google earlier this year, emphasizing that the Google TV app will serve as the primary location for purchasing, renting, and viewing movies and TV series on mobile devices. The business stated that further information regarding its intentions for the app’s support for casting will become available closer to launch but did not disclose any other information. However, NBCU’s Peacock was visible in at least one of the approved applications in a picture Google shared.
The firm provided some updates on the Android TV ecosystem along with its announcements, saying that there are currently 110 million active devices running the Android TV OS each month, including Google TV. This is an increase from the 80 million active devices per month number Google revealed at Google I/O last year. The Android TV OS currently has over 10,000 applications available, it was said.
Since it’s utilized on more than only Google’s first-party products, like Chromecast, the Android TV OS is obviously not a direct competitor to things like Roku or Amazon Fire TV. Google’s plan is to license its platform to collaborators, such as TV OEMs and global pay-TV providers. Over 300 partners are now utilizing the platform, including seven of the top ten TV OEMs, according to Google. However, it is impossible to directly compare Google’s 110 million active devices claim to the figures published by competitors Roku and Amazon.
A family viewing on one device would only be tallied once, while a person with several devices may have those devices counted individually. Android TV OS statistics are really computed by measuring the number of devices that were actively used in a month. Roku and Amazon classify “accounts” that have been active throughout the month as “monthly active users.” The account would only be counted once even if it streamed on numerous different devices within the time frame. The statistics would be greater if Roku or Amazon calculated active devices the same way Google does.
Amazon said that the number of monthly active Fire TV customers had surpassed 50 million in December 2020; the statement is still made on the Amazon Ads website. To bring its numbers more in line with Google’s device claims, Amazon also reported in January that it had sold more than 150 million Fire TV units. Roku said that as of the end of 2021, there were 60.1 million active accounts. In Q1 2022, it revised that number to 61.3 million accounts. Active gadgets are not included.
