TiVo, part of Xperi, has expanded its premium live TV offering through a new full integration of YouTube TV with its TiVo Stream 4K and TiVo Stream OS products.
TiVo is calling the integration a first of its kind among streaming products.
The company’s Stream 4K dongle device offers a customizable program guide meant to aggregate multiple streaming services and channels into the function of a traditional TV guide. Now with the YouTube TV integration of live TV, Stream 4K users can stream more than 85 channels of live sports, entertainment and news, as well as national broadcast affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and sports and news channels including ESPN, NFL Network and PBS.
With YouTube TV now part of the mix, TiVo is enhancing the Stream 4K user experience by adding live TV from YouTube to its guide functionality; the ability to browse live or upcoming YouTube TV connect through the platform; utilizing TiVo Stream’s voice and text search to find YouTube TV content.
Ben Maughan, general manager for the Stream Platform, in a statement indicated that consumers were asking for access to YouTube TV.
“The highly requested YouTube TV addition represents the largest content-related integration update since the launch of TiVo Stream 4K. Providing consumers with an integrated experience that includes premier live tv with a partner like YouTube TV is a significant step to becoming a leading streaming platform in the market,” Maughan said.
The TiVo Stream 4K connected TV device launched in 2020 and costs $40. Shortly after in August 2020, the company said the product was selling faster than any of its previous hardware releases.
The retail launch was the first part of three-phase growth plan for the platform, with the second phase of Stream as an embedded search and discovery application for smart TVs.
Speaking on Xperi’s fourth quarter 2021 earnings call this February, Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner said the company is on track to deliver a unique service offering with its Tivo Stream OS on TVs within the next two years “which will accelerate user engagement-based monetization revenue.”
In Q4 results the company’s product business included its Media Platform category, which also houses the TiVo Stream OS, TiVo Stream 4K, monetization and TV viewership data.
Revenue for the smaller media platform category was up 15% year over year in Q4 to $11.7 million, which Kirchner said was driven by sales of the TiVo Stream 4K along with increases in advertising revenue.
“In 2022, we expect double-digit growth in this category, mostly driven by expansion in our advertising base monetization revenue,” Kirchner said. “This is our fastest growing category and we are focused on partnerships with TV OEMs, chipset partners, and content providers to bring the first TVs powered by TiVo Stream OS in 2023 or 2024.”
And while Stream 4K is part of the picture, he expects TiVo Stream OS will make up the bulk of the business.
“The Stream 4K dongles, you know, they’re an element of the broader strategy,” Kirchner said on the call. “What we expect is that the embedded OS strategy will drive significantly more footprint.”