Google TV Has 80 Million Monthly Devices
- Paul Thurrott
- May 18, 2021
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As part of today’s Google I/O event, Google announced that Google TV now has over 80 million monthly active devices, with over 80 percent growth in the U.S. alone.
“Android TV OS is the operating system that powers a number of devices around the world including the new Google TV experience launched last fall,” Google director Ben Serridge says. “Google TV has generated a lot of excitement from consumers, developers, and industry partners alike, offering a content-forward TV experience that helps the user discover more of the movies and shows they love. Google TV is available on streaming devices like Chromecast with Google TV, smart TVs from Sony (and soon TCL), and as an app on Android devices.”
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For users, Google is adding a built-in Google TV remote control to Android phones. In addition to the obvious navigational capabilities, the remote will let users more easily type usernames, passwords, and searches. It will be available later this year, Google says.
For developers, Google is providing new Google TV features that will make it easier to develop apps for the platform. These include a new Cast Connect with Stream Transfer feature that will let users cast from Chrome on a tablet or phone to an Android TV/Google TV device, a Stream Expansion feature for transferring media to other devices and/or play audio on multiple devices, a new Google TV Emulator for Android Studio, Android TV/Google TV support for Firebase Test Lab, and the release of Android 12 Beta 1 on Android TV/Google TV; previous Android 12 developer previews only worked on supported Pixel handsets.