What’s an app developer to do about Smart TV? There’s really no definitive answer.
Google Chromecast? It’s a nice device, affordable and streams pretty well but is really just another tool like a TV itself.
The TV manufacturer’s app markets? They’ve gotten together to offer a one stop submission process and a unified SDK, but other than for the largest publishers, is there a benefit to be seen soon?
Maybe it’s going to take a third party to bring it all together. Cognitive Networks, an up and coming provider of real-time services that power Enhanced TV on Smart TVs, has announced several recently partnerships with interactive content creation and distribution platforms, app developers, advertisers, TV manufacturers, and content providers.
Cognitive Networks’ Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology enables the delivery of what they call an “Enhanced TV experience for TV viewers, enabling contextually-related content to be displayed on Smart TVs in synchronization with its related television programming, enriching the viewing experience through engaging viewing capabilities. Enhanced TV is the ability for viewers to receive increased engagement and interactions with TV content through their Smart TV.”
Whew, that’s a mouthful! Actually, they are simply working to use apps to expand the way viewers can interact with the biggest viewing screen they own.
They have developed an ENGAGE API which allows app developers to launch opt-in based applications which are intelligently synchronized with live or time-shifted television. The integrated Smart TV delivers to consumers the features and capabilities they want to enhance their viewing experience.
The company’s addressable service delivery enables advertisers to customize interactions and gives content producers and networks the ability to expand viewership, watch-time, and push deeper engagement.
The ultimate premise is not just to make apps available, but to integrate them in user’s current TV viewing experience.