Google sent out a reminder this week that despite the hype over competing smart TV operating systems like Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV, its Google TV and Android TV OS continue to be major players in the space.
In a blog post on 9to5Google, the company confirmed that more than 110 million devices worldwide now use the Android TV and Google TV OS, up 30 million from the 80 million it reported in May 2021. It attributed much of the growth from its Chromecast with Google TV device and TCL’s Android TV OS, which reportedly are selling at 10 million units annually.
Another source of growth is the increase in partnerships which number 250 worldwide, including 170 pay TV operators (which increased 140 since 2019) as well as with seven of the top 10 OEMs, including the aforementioned TCL as well as Hisense and Sony.
At CES this week, all three companies launched Google TV models. Roku announced this week that it was the top smart TV brand in the U.S. for 2021, according to NPD and that Sharp would integrate its OS in its smart TVs. Amazon said at CES that its Fire TV OS is on 150 million active devices.
