TOP 5 tips for launching one-codebase CTV apps

How can you achieve optimal UI/UX for the older 2015 Smart TV models as well as the newly launched 2024 models? Consider these Top 5 tips to launch a single codebase app that considers the fragmented CTV landscape. This way you think twice before forking any codebase or apps!

CTV devices are a deep & oceanic topic. Having one app across all the fragmented devices and OS ecosystems seems like the ideal situation, but is it so simple? While building OTT streaming apps across varied platforms like Samsung, LG, Vidaa, Titan, Android and Apple TV – one must consider many important aspects to deliver best of breed UI/UX to customers. In this blog we outline the 5 most important aspects to keep in mind when creating CTV Apps across device models. 

Hardware/OS & its Capacities: Each device model (HW & Year) within each brand comes with its own intricacies regarding performance & technical capacities. Some devices like Samsung, LG and Roku use OSs that are intrinsically made alongside their hardware, Android, TiVo and Titan are examples of OSs that are made independent of HWs. It is arguable which is the better model – if HW should be created to wrap an OS or if one should choose the best of both and put them together.  This does not apply only to Smart TVs and their OS versions, but also any HW in general and its CPU capacity to run a version of an OS within it – the CPU capacities are only tested when HW & SW are put together. We have seen hardware and therefore device models get better year after year. A good example is modern devices being better suited to the use of external SDKs and Players, with older devices being limited to simplified feature support and Native Players. 

Feature Support Across Devices: This aspect is closely related to the first. Device parity across screens is important, but limitations of HW is one aspect that can also create a need to simplify apps on older devices. When considering features (both UX for presentation and functionality), you must consider the capacity of the least powerful or most basic model you wish to target. Minor changes to non-core UI & design components to suit the less powerful & older devices will ensure all viewers enjoy optimal UX. Configurable graphics, animations, gradients & even the use of certain colours over others are all things to consider in order to support apps on older & less powerful CTV devices. Then comes the features themselves, where interactivity, deeper layers of metadata and retentive features can be eliminated to make apps lighter on older devices, where playback, ads and analytics should be the primary focus to ensure monetisation.

OEM Support for Common Web Technologies: Roku might have strayed away from “html” or common tech stacks being supported on its OS, and we have other proprietary platforms like RDK who all have reasons for remaining unique. This adds costs and brings less value to the engineering community where R&D will always be limited, while, on the consumer side, they may not see a difference within tech stacks. Prioritising common technologies will ensure scalability of resources and investments that can grow organically and with the streaming service itself. Whether it is vanilla JavaScript or React browser-based technologies – they all evolve at a pace which can only progress if platforms choose not to move towards using proprietary technologies to build apps. Samsung and LG are prime examples: they have a great number of apps simply because the talent for producing such apps are within reach for more services. Read into Flutter, yet another example from Google. A development kit meant to be used for mobiles, but adopted for CTV devices. Its limitations on CTVs is a key reason for its dwindling use.

Native App Feel for GoogleTV / AppleTV:  The grand platforms like Apple and Android TV have massive user bases, as well as unique OS ecosystems – this justifies native technologies that suit the OS itself. While  support for web or JavaScript based Apps exist, technologies like React Native will surely become the norm to build single codebase apps across both Android and Apple TV platforms. Building web-based React and its Javascript apps have not yet made its mark on these OSs, with many broadcasters seeing the justification of investments in native (custom) development due to their high reach. It is still an unpopular opinion for us to say that a React Native app is a Native app – time will tell if the service providers agree. Theoretically, it is always a great idea to use tested and common technologies across platforms – and React Native seems to have stood the test of time, becoming more stable and stronger with time.

Budgets & Time-to-Market: How do aspects 1-4 affect your bottom line? As CTV and Smart TV devices continue to fragment, they are still the newest device group. This means they have the lowest reach when compared to mobile or browsers and are also the costliest investment. Time-to-market is not key for most, but the sky rocketing numbers of TV purchases post-pandemic only means this device group is  becoming larger. Budgets of course matter if you want to maintain device parity and bring in a community viewing experience (aka the living room), which is vastly different from creating similar products for personal handheld devices. Also, as these devices last longer within people’s homes, legacy support becomes important too, which increases costs further in the dash to gain market share at early stages of streaming services launches. 

At Norigin Media, we want to ensure that your consumers have the possibility to stream as much TV as they can! While considering your streaming platforms´ capabilities, we look for configurable ways to reach both Legacy TVs/ STBs, as well as the latest & greatest CTV devices.

The main idea is to utilise a single codebase across devices to increase reach. All consumers do not need to have the exact same experience and that can be altered based on the device they have, and the capacity that device brings with it.

Want to know more? Reach out for a demo: https://lnkd.in/ewM4hWK9