Google claims over 110 million monthly active devices for Android TV and Google TV combined, up 30 million since May 2021. It has over 250 partners globally.
The state of Android TV
Google pulled out of CES over covid concerns but the company still used the opportunity to tout growth numbers and provide an update on its TV ecosystem.
Google has not revealed how many TV users it has but the company told 9to5Google that there are over 110 million active devices on a monthly basis. This includes all Android TV and Google TV devices, meaning TVs, media players, set-top boxes, soundbars etc.
In May 2021, Google reported 80 million active devices which points to an increase of 30 million in just 8 months. At CES 2022, TCL said that it is responsible for over 10 million of those sales annually.
- "Currently, TCL is one of Google’s largest TV partners worldwide, selling more than 10M sets annually featuring Google TV and Android TV," TCL announced at CES.
Google has over 250 TV partners worldwide, of which 170 are pay TV operators, up from 140 in 2019. Google highlighted that it partners with 7 out of the top 10 smart TV OEMs worldwide.
TCL is one of Google's largest TV partners
From Android TV to Google TV
Google is currently transitioning from Android TV to Google TV. Most new devices will come with Google TV pre-installed whereas older devices will receive an update to the user interface, which resembles Google TV.
Also read: New Android TV user interface is now rolling out more widely in Europe, India
At CES 2022, we spotted new Google TVs from Sony, TCL, and Hisense. Other major partners such as Philips, Nvidia and Xiaomi have yet to comment on their plans for Google TV. Philips has a virtual TV launch event planned for later this month.
How big is Android and Google TV compared to Amazon Fire TV and Roku? We cannot say for certain as Amazon and Roku count in active users rather than devices, and neither one is providing region-specific figures. However, it would seem that most TV platforms still enjoy strong growth in the new age of the connected TV.
The bad news? The majority of Android TV and Google TV devices are still running an older generation of Google's operating system. Google recently released Android 12 for TVs but the new devices for 2022 announced at CES will launch on Android 10 or 11.
- Source: Google via 9to5Google
