Smart televisions are all the rave now. Nobody wants to use external devices like the Amazon Firestick and Google Chromecast anymore. Even then, Google and Amazon have effectively established a monopoly of sorts on the smart TV ecosystem.
Most TV makers now have their own operating systems, offering direct access to streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more based on localised needs. Google and Amazon are at the front of this race, according to an analysis by The Wrap.
Google's Android TV OS builds on the supremacy of its mobile OS ecosystem, offering apps that may not be available within TV OS' built by companies like Samsung and LG. Google has an upper hand in regional markets owing to its Android smartphone business.
According to Evan Shapiro's analysis, Google's control over CTVs (Connected TVs) will only continue to expand. The company is reportedly paying local companies and chip-makers in China $10 for each TV set to install its Android TV OS. In addition, the company could leverage its search engine monopoly (a whopping 94 per cent of all searches globally) to promote its own product.
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Similarly, Amazon's Fire TV dongles could continue to remain a staple by virtue of Amazon being the world's largest e-commerce retail platform. Currently, Google and Amazon only control 12 per cent of global CTVs OS market. But this might change tremendously in the coming years.
In an extension of a UK investigation spearheaded by Competition and Markets' Authority, the BBC suggested that Amazon and Google's duopoly for CTVs should be questioned. If left to their own volition, Amazon and Google will become the gatekeepers of TV OS - with a total share of 60-80 per cent over the next decade.
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This means advertising, subscription, and e-commerce activity that happens through those TVs may favour the companies that made the OS, as we've seen in antitrust investigations across the globe this year.??
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Citation
Staff, W. (2021, December 23). Google and Amazon Could Control 80% of Connected TVs in a Decade. TheWrap.?