Feeds for Android TV and Samsung Smart TV

The new Feeds module is now available as part of the Smarty platform. Its functionality allows you to display feeds of channels, movies and shows on the main page of the TV firmware.

Statistics show that users most often download applications in markets for the sake of watching a particular channel, movie or series, and only then decide on payment and further use based on functionality, convenience and so on. This fact speaks of the need to promote the operator’s content not only inside the application, but also outside of it — even before the user’s first contact with the service. It is the «zero touch» that the new Feeds module makes possible to implement — to tell a user about the content inside the application even before it is launched and then reduce the path to opening it in the player to a couple of clicks.

In terms of configuration, Feeds are located in the «General Settings» section of the administration panel (this section is available if you have the appropriate license option) and in terms of configuration mechanics it resembles Dashboard — a list of content feeds available on different platforms.

Each feed has accessibility settings: visibility, authorization and others. Disabled checkbox «Authorization required» allows to display content available in the application for unauthorized users, and in case of clicking on the content thumbnail a user will be directed to the page of registration and authorization in the service.

Once authorized in the application users can set up the display of more feeds in the firmware and clicking on a movie or channel will automatically lead to its page inside the application.

Android TV firmware also allows you to place application content inside the «Favorites» or «Continue watching» feeds (the names of these feeds vary depending on the firmware modification). We also added this feature to the Feeds module as part of Smarty 2.2 release.

In addition to Android TV, Smarty also allows you to display feeds inside Samsung Smart TV firmware — though only one on modern TVs (earlier models allowed you to add more than 1 feed).

We do not stop further development of the module, but continue to explore and wait for the same features from other TV and set-top box vendors. You can find more details about Feeds setup in our documentation.