Akancha TripathiAndroid TV is rising in popularity owing to the growing consumption of video content over OTT platforms. What gives Android TV an edge over competitors is the ease of use and quick access to content through Android TV apps.
As a video content creator, you can reach a wider audience through a customized Android TV app. By building your Android TV apps on the Google play store, you can easily make your content available to Android TV users worldwide.
Table of Contents:
2. Why should you create an Android TV App?
3. 3 ways to create your Android TV App
What is an Android TV App?
Android TV is a Smart TV Operating system that is based on Android. Similar to how many mobiles run on Android, many Smart TVs run on Android TV.
Apps that are built for Android TV are called —wait for it— Android TV apps.
Enabled by Google Assistant for voice search, Android TV offers the highest level of convenience for a great viewing experience.
But, the process of building TV apps for Android is not the same as for mobile devices. The most important feature a TV app must have is the ability to display the user interface (UI) on a larger screen. It should also be navigable using a remote, unlike apps that respond to touch on mobile devices. Another important feature you must add to your Android TV app is a response to voice search for a convenient hands-free viewing experience.
Why should you create an Android TV App?
Having your app on Google Play Store for Android TV undoubtedly gives you access to a wider audience.
Having an Android TV app allows you to:
Meet the rising demand: The global android TV market is growing and is expected to reach a whopping US$ 231 billion by 2026. As the industry anticipates a wider reach in the coming years, we suggest you take your content to the Play Store today.
Make OTT viewing easier: The Android OS offers a great viewing experience with a wide array of built-in apps, besides the ones viewers can access through the Play Store.
An Android TV app allows your audience to seamlessly enjoy your content while they avail the following features of an Android TV.
1. Easy to operate: The interface is simple and intuitive. Moreover, most viewers are already familiar with using it over their smartphones.
2. Simple voice search: Google Assistant makes navigation easier and convenient for your audience.
3. Access to a wider range of apps: Users have a wide variety of apps to choose from the Play Store and install on their device
3 ways to create your Android TV App
Now that you have seen how creating an Android TV app can increase your audience and revenue, let’s look at 3 ways of building an Android TV app:
1. Adapt your existing app: Android TVs are different from Android smartphones and work differently as well. But if you have an existing video streaming app for Android, you can upgrade it to an Android TV app. The official developer guidelines by Android allow you to do it. The process can be quick if you hire a developer with experience in building TV apps. Beyond the struggle of finding the right one, you must have a developer on board to upgrade and maintain your TV app. You may also come across scalability issues as your audience grows.
2. Hire a developer: If you do not already have an Android app or want a robust Android TV app, hiring a professional developer is an option. A knowledgeable developer may help you build your Android TV app from scratch. You will have total control over the process and achieve a customized end product. However, it involves a higher cost to vet an experienced developer who can create the perfect video streaming app for you.
Further, it would involve a huge one-time developer fee for creating and customizing the app. Your expenditure doesn’t stop here as maintenance, hosting, support and security will involve a lot of money and headache. Additionally, you will need to hire more than one developer to handle the needs of your growing audience as you scale, which increases your recurring cost a lot.
3. Let us build it for you: If you are still looking for a better option, we suggest you try using a SaaS OTT platform like Ventuno. You can have your own feature-rich Android TV app built from scratch in a fraction of the money you would otherwise spend. You get a platform to easily upload and organize videos, monetize them, and view detailed analytics.
These are the common features of SaaS OTT platforms like Ventuno:
1. Video CMS - to upload and organize VOD and live streams
2. Video player - to stream the content on your website, mobile & TV apps
3. Storage and CDN - to store and stream your videos & live streams
4. Encoder - to encode your videos into different formats (required for faster streaming)
5. Scalable servers - servers that scale as and when demand increases/ decreases
6. Templates - customizable templates to launch your website, mobile, and TV apps
7. Ability to monetize with ads, subscriptions, and pay-per-view
8. Detailed reports to understand more about your video business
The best part?
You don’t need to invest thousands of dollars and countless hours upfront to launch your Android TV app. SaaS OTT platforms usually charge a monthly fee as a fixed monthly fee and a ‘pay-as-you-go’ usage-based fee. Your subscription includes regular app updates and ongoing maintenance by our team of expert developers.
You can quickly build and launch your Android TV app with Ventuno through the following five-step process:
1. Sign up for a free trial. Upload & organize your videos/ live streams
2. Use our templates to customize your Android TV app
3. Integrate your payment gateway to collect payments and/ or enter your ad tags for running video ads
4. You will receive the APK of your Android TV app. Install it on your Android TV device and make changes if necessary
5. Submit the app to the Play Store.
Want our developers to help you with these steps? No worries. Reach out to us and let us know your requirements.
Conclusion
So, as you see, there are three options to build an Android TV app - upgrade your existing Android app to a TV app, hire staff to do it, or better yet, let an OTT solution provider do it for you.
We recommend the last option to build your Android TV app, as it is the most cost and time-effective. It allows you to quickly launch and grow your video business with a strong platform to manage your video operations.
Looking to launch your own streaming service?
Anjana Devi
