If you bought a new smart TV in the last few years, you probably had a remote with pre-programmed app shortcuts like the now ubiquitous “Netflix button”.
The Samsung remote has a monochrome design with small buttons for Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and Samsung TV Plus. The Hisense remote is covered in 12 large colorful buttons advertising everything from Stan and Kayo to NBA League Pass and Kidoodle.
Behind these buttons lies a profitable business model. The content provider purchases the remote shortcut buttons as part of an agreement with the manufacturer.
For streaming services, being on the remote provides branding opportunities and a convenient entry point to their apps. For TV manufacturers, it offers a new source of income.
But TV owners have to live with unwanted ads every time they pick up the remote. And smaller apps, including many in Australia, are at a disadvantage because they are often overpriced.
Our study looked at 2022 smart TV remote controls from five major TV brands sold in Australia: Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL.
We found that all major brand TVs sold in Australia have dedicated buttons for Netflix and Prime Video. Most also have Disney+ and YouTube buttons.
However, local services can be difficult to find remotely. Several brands have Stan and Kayo buttons, but only Hisense has ABC iview buttons. No one has SBS On Demand, 7Plus, 9Now or 10Play buttons.
Regulators in Europe and the UK have been studying the smart TV market since 2019. They found some suspicious business relationships between manufacturers, platforms and applications.
Building on this, the Australian government is conducting its own investigation and developing a new framework to ensure that local services can be easily found on smart TVs and streaming devices.
One proposal under consideration is a “must wear” or “must promote” framework that requires native apps to receive equal (or even special) treatment on the smart TV’s home screen. The choice was enthusiastically supported by the Free Television Australia lobby group.
Free TV also advocates for the mandatory installation of a “Free TV” button on all remote controls, which takes users to a landing page containing all local free video-on-demand apps: ABC iview, SBS On Demand, 7Plus, 9Now and 10Play.
More: Streaming platforms will soon have to invest more in Australian TV and cinema, which could be good news for our film industry.
We asked over 1,000 Australian smart TV owners what four shortcut buttons they would add if they could develop their own remote control. We asked them to choose from a long list of locally available apps or write their own, up to four.
The most popular is by far Netflix (chosen by 75% of respondents), followed by YouTube (56%), Disney+ (33%), ABC iview (28%), Prime Video (28%) and SBS On Demand (26%).
SBS On Demand and ABC iview are the only services on the list of top apps that don’t often get their own remote control buttons. Thus, based on our findings, there is a strong political rationale for the mandatory presence of public service broadcasters in one form or another on our consoles.
But it’s clear that no one wants their Netflix button messed up. Therefore, governments must take care to ensure that user preferences are taken into account in future regulation of smart TVs and remote controls.
Our survey respondents also asked an interesting question: Why can’t we choose our own shortcuts for remote control?
While some manufacturers (notably LG) allow limited customization of their remote controls, the overall trend in remote control design is towards increasing brand monetization and positioning. This situation is unlikely to change in the near future.
In other words, your remote is now part of the global streaming wars and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Post time: Jul-21-2023