Posted by Shobana Radhakrishnan – Senior Director of Engineering, Google TV, and Paul Lammertsma – Developer Relations Engineer, Android
Over the previous 12 months, Google TV and Android TV achieved over 270 million month-to-month lively units, establishing one of many largest good TV OS footprints. Constructing on this momentum, we’re excited to share new platform options and developer instruments designed that can assist you enhance app engagement with our increasing consumer base.
Google TV with Gemini capabilities
Earlier this 12 months, we introduced that we’ll deliver Gemini capabilities to Google TV, so customers can converse extra naturally and conversationally to seek out what to look at and get solutions to advanced questions.
After every film or present search, our new voice assistant will counsel related content material out of your apps, considerably growing the discoverability of your content material.
Plus, customers can simply ask questions on subjects they’re interested by and obtain insightful solutions with supporting movies.
We’re so excited to deliver this useful and pleasant expertise to customers this fall.
Video Discovery API
Right this moment, we’ve additionally opened companion enrollment for our Video Discovery API.
Video Discovery optimizes Resumption, Entitlements, and Suggestions throughout all Google TV type elements to reinforce the end-user expertise and enhance app engagement.
- Resumption: Companions can now simply show a consumer’s paused video throughout the ‘Proceed Watching’ row from the house display screen. This row is a main location that drives 60% of all consumer interactions on Google TV.
- Entitlements: Video Discovery streamlines entitlement administration, which matches app content material to consumer eligibility. Customers admire this as a result of they will get pleasure from customized suggestions with no need to manually replace all their subscription particulars. This permits companions to attach with customers throughout a number of discovery factors on Google TV.
- Suggestions: Video Discovery even highlights customized content material suggestions primarily based on content material that customers watched inside apps.
Companions can start incorporating the Video Discovery API at this time, beginning with resumption and entitlement integrations. Try g.co/television/vda to study extra.
Jetpack Compose for TV
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Final 12 months, we launched Compose for TV 1.0 beta, which helps you to construct stunning, adaptive UIs throughout Android, together with Android TV OS.
Now, Compose for TV 1.0 is secure, and expands on the core and Materials Compose libraries. We’ve even seen how the most recent launch of Compose considerably improves app startup inside our inner benchmarking cell pattern, with roughly a 20% enchancment in contrast with the March 2024 launch. As a result of Compose for TV builds upon these libraries, apps constructed with Compose for TV also needs to see higher app startup occasions.
New to constructing with Compose, and undecided the place to begin? Our up to date Jetcaster audio streaming app pattern demonstrates methods to use Compose throughout type elements. It features a devoted module for enjoying podcasts on TV by combining separate view fashions with shared enterprise logic.
Focus Administration Codelab
We perceive that focus administration might be difficult at occasions. That’s why we’ve revealed a codelab that critiques methods to set preliminary focus, put together for sudden focus traversal, and effectively restore focus.
Reminiscence Optimization Information
We’ve launched a complete information on reminiscence optimization, together with reminiscence targets for low RAM units as properly. Mixed with Android Studio’s highly effective reminiscence profiler, this helps you perceive when your app exceeds these limits and why.
In-App Rankings and Evaluations
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Furthermore, app rankings and critiques are important for builders, providing quantitative and qualitative suggestions on consumer experiences. Now, we’re extending the In-App Rankings and Evaluations API to TV to permit builders to immediate customers for rankings and critiques instantly from Google TV. Try our current weblog submit detailing methods to simply combine the In-App Rankings and Evaluations API.
Android 16 for TV
We’re excited to announce the upcoming launch of Android 16 for TV. Builders can start utilizing the most recent Emulator at this time. With Android 16, TV builders can entry a number of nice options:
- Platform help for the Eclipsa Audio codec permits creators to make use of the IAMF spatial audio format. For ExoPlayer help that features earlier platform variations, see ExoPlayer’s IAMF decoder module.
- There are numerous enhancements to media playback pace, consistency and effectivity, in addition to HDMI-CEC reliability and efficiency optimizations for 64-bit kernels.
- Extra APIs and consumer experiences from Android 16 are additionally out there. We invite you to discover the entire checklist from the Android 16 for TV launch notes.
What’s subsequent
We’re extremely excited to see how these bulletins will optimize your growth journey, and look ahead to seeing the improbable apps you may launch on the platform!
Discover this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google beginning Might 22.
