Amazon Fire TV Announces Three New Live Streaming Integrations
Today, Amazon Fire TV announced it is making the live TV experience even better by more deeply integrating Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV into Fire TV’s live TV experience.
These three services join nearly 20 other integrated apps including Philo, Pluto TV, and Prime Video Channels.
The live content from these three providers will be directly integrated into Fire TV’s live TV discovery features: Live Tab, On Now Rows, multi-app Channel Guide which includes additional Alexa functionality.
SLING TV's integration began rolling out earlier this year, YouTube TV is available starting today, and Hulu + Live TV will be available in the coming weeks.
"We’re excited to welcome SLING TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV into our integrated suite of Live TV discovery features," says Sandeep Gupta, VP of Fire TV, "We believe the future of Connected TV is one that brings live content forward, simplifies the streaming and OTT landscape, and enables customers to discover the programs they want to watch with ease."
We know that these features make it easier for customers to discover the content they love:
- The Live Tab has become the second most-visited destination on the Fire TV UI after the home screen
- On average, live streaming apps on Fire TV have seen the total time spent in app and active customers more than double since launching the live TV discovery integration
"Fire TV is hugely popular among Philo fans. Since integrating with Amazon’s live streaming discovery features, the number of active Philo users is up nearly 2.5x on Fire TV," says Andrew McCollum, Philo CEO.
Once you’ve logged into any of the integrated live streaming apps or channels, you can unlock additional Alexa functionality by using your Alexa Voice Remote, Fire TV Cube with Alexa built-in, or a paired Echo device. Just say "Alexa, open the channel guide" or change the channel by saying "Alexa, tune to [name of channel]."
Fire TV Data
Based on Fire TV data, Amazon found the following:
- Time spent using vMVPD apps (such as Sling TV) on Fire TV in 2020 is on track to double this year compared to last year.
- Live TV streaming apps have some of the most engaged customers, spending on average 40 hours a month watching.
- Since stay at home recommendations were put in place, live TV apps have seen nearly 100% increase in duration of usage – and not only that, they have seen 50% more customers too.
More information is available in this blog post.
[This is a slightly edited press release.]
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