Showing posts with label Roku. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roku. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Casting for Second Screen Continues to Improve

If you read our research a few months ago, you noticed that casting via the Google/Netflix API driven capability has continued to improved across a multitude of apps.

However, a recent review of YouTube and Netflix in my own digital living room (yes, not the average home) reveals that the pair of apps continues to update their list of capable devices in a pretty aggressive fashion. In the image below (Netflix) you can see they have added Amazon's FireTV, the Xbox One, and the latest Samsung TVs (at least). Full disclosure, I don't have a PS4 to test against. It did not detect my Roku. My Amazon FireTV stick requires the user to select a casting mode before the apps will detect it. 

Of course the "rest" of the casting apps (HuluPlus, Flixster, etc) still only detect the Chromecast device itself. A likely scenario is that Google and YouTube will continue to push the envelope (they require new apps to enable casting to get onto their device) and others will follow. 

The other likely result is that the value of casting as a feature for sharing 2nd screen content will grow but the value of the Chromecast device itself will diminish over time. 

Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Oscars, Roku and the BBC - Revealing the future of TV

It's been another fast-paced week in the digital video and second screen industries.  While the OTT video world is still reeling from the previous week's announced Disney Movies Anywhere service (a serious threat to UltraViolet) and Marvel's announcement of an exclusive output deal with Netflix (continuing to threaten HBO), second screen took a shot in the arm from the Oscars, and Roku mounted an attack on Chromecast.  At a glance:

  • "Watch ABC" did Second Screen for the Oscars "right"
  • Ellen broke Twitter
  • Roku announced their "streaming stick" device
  • Dish struck a deal with Disney to delay commercial skips
  • FreeWheel was acquired by Comcast
  • The BBC announced the death of analog for it's Channel 3 service
  • An Aereo lost its court battle in Salt Lake City and Denver