Launch Press Release

Details

Category: News

Created on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 00:00

TV App Agency announces the launch of a 'develop once / deploy to many' cross platform TV app Engine to enable brands, agencies and developers to quickly and cost effectively create native TV apps for deployment across multiple connected TV's.

Smart TV is a new growth opportunity for digital. A TV is the ultimate shared device for watching videos and viewing large images from the comfort of the living room, rather than hunched over a 15" laptop. Certain types of content are best viewed on a TV and there are already several million smart TV's in the UK – globally, the market is forecast to reach 119m smart TVs by 2014.

Smart TV's have internet access, allowing consumers to use their TVs as a portal for online services. These TV's allow email and web surfing, and support social networks and applications like Twitter and Netflix, making the TV more useful, and responsive to consumer's wants and needs. As personal media is increasingly stored in the cloud, enabling consumers to stream their chosen media at their convenience becomes ever more important.

Audience patterns are already changing, as people spend less time watching scheduled TV and more time watching catch-up and other non-scheduled services. TV channels are beginning to offer shows on smart TV, and its growth is set to upset traditional broadcast business models, as the TV becomes more of a home media hub. With connection rates hovering around 60% of connected TV's sold, there are however challenges for brands.

Like mobile, there are a multitude of platforms and the complexity of the market has been slowing brand adoption. In mobile, brands could be paralysed trying to prioritise iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry or Nokia. Similarly in TV the challenge lies in deciding between Samsung, LG, Philips, Sharp, Opera and Google TV.

TV App Agency's new technology Engine provides a solution to this problem – the engine allows developers to create TV apps for many different TV platforms from a single source of code. The engine is offered as a cloud-based software as a service application.

The TV App Agency Engine shifts the challenge for brands from the technology to the content, providing a unique opportunity for brands to launch their own TV channel. Instead of paying rent to a TV or satellite broadcaster, you can create your own channel and launch it in the app store of a smart TV. Most importantly, as the Engine provides a cross-platform compiler, it can be done for a reasonable price while offering maximum reach across smart TV platforms.

About TV App Agency

TV App Agency was founded in 2011 to enable the delivery of cross-platform content across smart TV. The convergence of hardware devices - mobile, tablets and TV - and the delivery of cross-platform content made efficient by software is the next wave in the digital industry.

TV App Agency provides expertise across software development, user experience, multi-screen devices, TV app development and app store submission to enable brands, content providers, agencies and broadcasters to get onto smart TV. Since its launch, TV App Agency has developed apps for a range of leading European brands, including RTVE, Rightmove, Prime Location, Find a Property, Daft, La Liga BBVA, National Rail, Food Network and Absolute Radio.The company has also developed a technology engine which enables brands to develop apps and submit them across a range of connected devices including Samsung, LG, Philips and Sharp, and platforms including Google TV, Opera and set-top boxes.