What would you say if I told you that, with one app, you could tap into the world’s largest Smart TV audience?
Globally, 40% of people use an Android app to watch their Smart TVs. As a result, small businesses and content creators now have a chance to access that audience pool with a TV app for Android and make it easier for people to view their content.
However, just because the solution sounds simple (creating an Android app of your own), doesn't mean it's easy to execute.
If you've landed on this article, you've probably been searching for ‘how to create a TV app for Android’ but found guides full of technical jargon instead.
Lucky for you, this article will walk through how you can create a live TV app for Android—without coding experience.
Let's get started.
What is an Android video streaming app?
If you knew there was a customer pool with 131.2 million users in it, wouldn't you want a piece of that pie?
Well, that's precisely how many people currently use Android apps in the United States alone.
These apps allow people to download, install, and save content, while also using them to watch content on-demand and stream videos straight to their devices.
Simply put, Android apps essentially turn your television into an on-demand streaming service within seconds.
These apps are popular with people because many Smart TV producers use Android software by default. As an example, if you buy a TV from makers like Sharp, Philips, and Sony, you'll be using an Android operating system to watch content and stream video. The same can be said for popular set-top boxes by producers like AirTV Player and Nvidia Shield.
So, what does an Android app mean for your brand and its content?
You now have a chance to access the biggest TV audience in globally. But first, you need to know the essential ingredients of a good Android TV app—and how to create one yourself.
What makes a good Android TV app?
1. Content accessibility
Think about how you watch content on your TV.
Once you turn it on, you'll flick through the channels, or streaming options, to find something you want to watch. A great Android TV app should also have the same simplicity and allow people to navigate through content easily – Netflix is notorious for having an exceptional app experience.
Although a successful TV app should be easy to use, it should also:
- Display content using concise thumbnails, so it's easier to choose what to watch.
- Recommend content you may like based on past viewing choices.
- Allow users to skip to the next episode of a series without going back to the main menu.
And there is a single goal behind all of these features—streamlining the app so it's simpler to use.
2. Intuitive UI
Did you know that people usually sit around 10 feet away when watching TV?
Android's developer team says it's important to remember the quality of a television screen isn't as high on mobile devices. To compensate, you need to focus on the layout of the app to create a better user experience.
The good news is that this isn't rocket science. Android recommends sticking to some basic design rules when creating your app, including:
- Building layouts with a landscape orientation (as the TV display is always in landscape mode).
- Dividing the screen into sections to optimize horizontal screen space.
- Using tools that automatically adjust the position of the views to the size, pixel density, and aspect ratio of the viewer's TV screen.
- Padding the margins of your content so the app's display isn't cluttered.
Small details like this have a significant impact on the quality of the viewer's user experience.
3. Easy navigation
The quality of your app's navigation can make or break it.
For example, think about an old-school TV remote. They were very restrictive — only allowing viewers to control things like volume or change the channel.
Your Android app's navigation needs to do a lot more. Again, here are few guidelines you should follow to make it easier for people to move around your app::
- Avoiding action bars and pull-down menus (they're tough to navigate using a TV remote).
- Enabling the D-pad controller on a remote, so viewers can use directional pad arrows to choose content.
- Breaking text into small chunks and steering clear of lightweight fonts that make text hard to read.
Try to make navigational clicks intuitive, too. For example, predictable back behavior allows users to move backward with the remote's back button:
And using a navigational axis uses hierarchy to traverse clusters of content using their normal remote controls:
Now you understand the basics of building an intuitive Android app, let's learn more about how to launch one of your own.
3 ways to build an Android TV app.
1. Create an Android app using a developer
The easiest way to build and launch an Android app shouldn't surprise you: hiring a developer.
A developer can build an app from scratch and customize it to fit your brand perfectly. And choosing a developer gives you more control over its user interface, navigational controls, and even the most minor details like text sizes.
A quick search on a freelancing website like UpWork shows that tons of developers are capable of building Android apps.
Sites like UpWork allow you to look at each developer's reviews and past work before hiring them. Yet this level of customization comes with a price:
Once the hourly rate is decided on, you'll need to budget for building the app's groundwork: wireframing, visual design, and design. A survey found that once an app is deployed, the costs can range from $5000 to over $50,000.
Got a smaller budget? No worries.
2. Buy a (fully coded) app template from a marketplace
If developers are too expensive, there are Android app templates available that you can edit yourself.
These Android app templates are ready-made source-code templates, giving brands with smaller budgets a foundation for their apps. And although this option is cheaper, it'll limit how much of the app you can customize and make your own.
Still, there are some reasons why buying an app template makes sense:
- They're cheap: App templates essentially give you a headstart for building an Android app as a lot of the foundational code is already there. Your brand has an opportunity to save countless hours (and money) building the app from scratch.
- They're (relatively) risk-free: Fixing code bugs is one of the biggest hassles and expenses when building an app from scratch. The code in an app template is written correctly straight out of the box.
Marketplaces like Envato have a lot of templates to buy off the rack. Inside each template are previews of what the display will look like and feature rundowns, so you know what you're buying.
However, there are also some downfalls to using a template. You'll need to integrate it into your system's backend and make it viable enough for Google Play to accept on its platform. If you aren't technically savvy, this can be a challenging feat.
3. Use an over-the-top solution (Vimeo OTT)
The most accessible way to create a TV app for Android is by signing up for an over-the-top (OTT) solution.
OTT platforms host your apps and act as a vehicle for your content. Instead of creating an app from scratch, or spending time coding a template, OTT apps take care of the process from start to finish.
For example, at Vimeo OTT we can develop and deploy your TV app in around 30-days with four steps:
1. Setup: We work with you to design a custom app. This step includes, branding and logos but more importantly we help you choose your monetization model(s).
2. Build: Our in-house developers will step in and put all of the pieces together to create your custom app.
3. Test: Here, the app is tested using quality assurance and functionality to make sure everything from coding to user experience is where it needs to be.
4. Submission: The final step is submitting your app to the Android developer platform, going through a review, and getting it accepted so you can launch!
But how is an OTT solution different from the others?
Ultimately, it comes down to control. Not only does OTT make it easy to customize your app, but there's also a backend with detailed analytics so you can learn more about your users. It also takes care of the important stuff—like user experience and navigational elements—so they'll fit perfectly on everyone's TV screens.
Wrap up: Creating a TV app for Android
With Android TV apps, you can put your video content in front of the world’s largest video market.
With a variety of options to start your Android TV app, choose a path that makes sense for you and your audience.
Ready to create a TV app for Android? Get started today with Vimeo OTT.
If you're looking to learn more about Vimeo's other tools as well, check out our video player and leverage editing tools like the trimmer, merging tool, compressor, and GIF creation feature.
