Vizio has announced that it will explore partnerships to make its TV operating system, SmartCast, available to other TV brands.
The plans were confirmed by Vizio's CEO during the company's earnings report for the third quarter of 2023.
- "Today, we are excited to announce that we are beginning to explore partnerships with other TV OEMs looking for alternatives within the CTV market," said William Wang, CEO of Vizio. "Our deep expertise with integrated hardware and software provides a distinct potential for mutually beneficial outcomes for Vizio and future partners."
He noted that the discussions are early but that Vizio is "very optimistic of the potential" for its business.
Following in the footsteps of LG, Samsung
With the announcement, Vizio is following in the footsteps of other TV makers that have opened up their TV operating system to partners.
For example, LG has brought webOS to over 200 smaller TV brands and last year Samsung licensed Tizen to 3 brands.
Also read: First look at the upcoming TiVo Smart TVs
Amazon and Roku have taken the opposite route by first licensing their TV OS to partners and then launching TV models under their own brand. Google offers its own hardware – Chromecast – based on Google TV, but not yet TVs. The Google TV platform is also available in TV models from Sony, Philips, TCL and others.
The new homescreen of Vizio's SmartCast TV operating system. Photo: Company
To scale its ads business
Vizio said that the decision to move into OS licensing is an opportunity to scale its advertising business. It is unclear if TV brands will have to pay Vizio a licensing fee to use SmartCast.
- "The more we can expand our platform into the market, the more we can scale our advertising business, the more viewership we can take advantage of," said William Wang.
Vizio said that active SmartCast accounts grew to 17.9 million, up 1.3 million year-over-year. Hours streamed increased to 5.15 billion in the quarter, up 21% year-over-year. Smart TV shipments declined 8% to 1.1 million.
- Source: StreamTVInsider
