ANDROID TV™: THE ERA OF OPEN PLATFORMS

Can a local IPTV/OTT operator build an internationally recognised service? How can they compete with giants who invest millions of dollars in development? Android TV can help.

Android TV history

In 2010, Google Inc., in conjunction with Intel, Sony, and Logitech, released Google TV, an interactive platform for smart TV. This solution ran Android OS with an integrated Chrome browser. In 2014, its Android 5.0 Lollipop-operating successor, Android TV, appeared. Nexus Player, created by Google in partnership with Asus, became the first device operating on the new platform. In May 2015, the Nvidia Shield set-top box was released.

With the advent of Android TV 6.0, more and more manufacturers began to produce set-top boxes and smart TVs based on the new OS. Android TV 6.0 offered out-of-the-box voice control, built-in PVR and PiP (picture in picture) functions, as well as an elaborate Leanback library that allowed operators to change the user interface.

Channel API and the TIF framework allowed developers to display content from apps directly on the Android TV start screen. Users were able to search for content in all of their apps at once.

Android TV: statistics and prospects

More than half a million Android TV devices are sold every month. According to the S&P Global Market Intelligence forecast, more than 40.1 million devices will be sold in 2021, 27 million of which will be smart TVs and 11.9 million of which will be set-top boxes.

Prospects for Android TV involve smart TVs as well. According to Strategy Analytics, in 2018, 157 million smart TVs were sold, and every tenth unit ran Android TV. The platform’s main competitor is Tizen OS from Samsung: it occupies 20% of the market (with 32 million devices sold in 2018). If we consider the sales of AOSP-operating smart TVs, we can see that the market leader is Android.

Differences between the Android TV, AOSP, and Android TV Operator Tier

Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is an Android version that lacks access to Google services. Manufacturers of smart TVs and set-top boxes can change and modernise the solution as they desire, so it is large companies that choose it more often. Their resources allow them to develop apps and implement new features themselves.

Android TV is a comprehensive solution for smart TVs and premium set-top boxes. The system offers out-of-the-box voice control, personal recommendations, PVR, a store with more than 5000 games and apps, access to streaming services, and much more. To release a device for Android TV, manufacturers undergo mandatory Google certification.

The Android TV Operator Tier is a solution for operators that allows them to brand the user interface, change the boot screen, and manage user accounts, security, analytics, and billing. It helps IPTV/OTT operators save on OS development and updates, while offering access to many features and regular updates.

Google reported at the Connected TV World Summit in London that by March 2019, Android TV would be used by 140 IPTV/OTT operators. This number has increased by more than seventeen times in the past three years.

Operator Tier is a fast and cost-effective way to enter the market, but Google does not offer turnkey solutions.

*Google and Android TV are trademarks of Google LLC.

“Is Android TV sufficient to launch a Pay TV service? Absolutely not, Android TV only offers the middleware sitting on the box, but the entire back end (Service Delivery Platform, Head End) has to be developed and no standard offering exists today from Google.”

Brian Jentz, Senior Director of Product Management, Technicolor