Growing Android TV engagement with search and recommendations

Posted by Maru Ahues, Media Developer Advocate

When it comes to TV, content is king. But to enjoy great content, you first need to find it. We created Android TV with that in mind: a truly smart TV should deliver interesting content to users. Today, EPIX® joins a growing list of apps that use the Android TV platform to make it easy to enjoy movies, TV shows, sports highlights, music videos and more.

Making TV Apps Searchable

Think of your favorite movie. Now try to locate it in one of your streaming apps. If you have a few apps to choose from, it might take some hunting before you can watch that movie. With Android TV, we want to make it easier to be entertained. Finding ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ should be as easy as picking up the remote, saying ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ and letting the TV find it.

Searching for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ shows results from Google Play and EPIX

You can drive users directly to content within your app by making it searchable from the Android TV search interface. Join app developers like EPIX, Sky News, YouTube, and Hulu Plus who are already making content discovery a breeze.

Recommending TV Content

When users want suggestions for content, the recommendations row on Android TV helps them quickly access relevant content right from the home screen. Recommendations are based on the user’s recent and frequent usage behaviors, as well as content preferences.

Recommendations from installed apps, like EPIX, appear in the Android TV home screen

Android TV allows developers to create recommendations for movies, TV shows, music and other types of content. Your app can provide recommendations to users to help get your content noticed. As an example, EPIX shows hollywood movies. NBA Game Time serves up basketball highlights. Washington Post offers video summaries of world events, and YouTube suggests videos based on your subscriptions and viewing history.

With less than one year since the consumer launch of Android TV, we’re already building upon a simpler, smarter and more personalized TV experience, and we can’t wait to see what you create.