Google TV Streamer debuts replacing Chromecast, doubles as a smart home hub

Google TV has debuted a new streaming device, on Tuesday announcing the Google TV Streamer. It’s a 4K external streaming device that replaces the Google TV Chromecast dongle and doubles as both a streaming entertainment and smart home hub, with integrated AI tech. 

Priced at $99.99 and available for pre-order in the U.S. starting today, the Google TV Streamer is a sleek-looking device that connects to the TV for streaming entertainment, boasting AI-powered personalization and content discovery features, as well as tighter Google device ecosystem integration as a smart home hub for Google Home and Matter enabled devices.

Wider availability will kick off September 24, with the device available for sale across the US, Canada, UK, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand.

While it’s an external streaming device that connects via HDMI, the slim design is more akin to a set-top box (although more Apple TV-esque vs the old school large-sized STBs) than a typical dongle as it sits atop TV stands or other furniture rather than hidden behind the TV.

In an interview with StreamTV Insider, Google TV VP & GM Shalini Govil-Pai said consumers are looking for “snappier experiences” when it comes to finding content, where the Google TV Streamer comes with a redesigned voice remote, touts double the memory and a 22% faster CPU than earlier Chromecast generations, alongside 32 GB of storage. At just around $100 she said Google believes the streaming device, which is quicker, more responsive and powerful, is pretty competitively priced. It’s more expensive than earlier generation Chromecasts but costs less than a smart TV. 

The streaming device utilizes GenAI tech from Google to help power voice search capabilities, as well as other features like using the TV screen to create custom art screensavers based on users’ GenAI prompts and their own Google Photos when TVs are idle. Another key aspect is the Google TV Streamer allows users to manage and control smart home devices.

Certain updates reflect enhancements to the Google Cloud platform itself and in addition to the Google TV Streamer, new user features will roll out to other third-party devices running the Android/Google TV OS later this year, the company confirmed. 

'Always on' TV

In launching the Google TV Streamer, Govil-Pai said it was a response to trends, one being a shift towards “always on” TV. 

That’s where device makers are creating new capabilities so that televisions are no longer just for watching entertainment but can serve double or triple duty, in this case as an artwork display when the TV's not on and serving as a central location for smart home management.

With the Google TV Streamer, which has a built-in Thread border router, and compatible smart home devices, users can do things like dim lights, control locks or thermostats and see video feeds from their doorbell or other home cameras, all via the TV and remote.

Being able to control smart home devices through different interfaces (like using your TV to see that DoorDash has arrived), is one of the consumer use cases Google is focused on in building the new device. Govil-Pai told STV that a big push for the team has been “really understanding the home usage of people and being able to accommodate for that in your TV watching experience.”

Google TV Streamer Smart Home Control Pane
Google TV Streamer home panel hub. (Google)

It’s been an evolution since launching the Chromecast over a decade ago when casting was a primary way of watching app content, followed by the inclusion of embedded apps within the OS, to later evolving to help consumers navigate a broad and fragmented content landscape, and now bringing more devices into the picture.

Govil-Pai commented on Google’s thinking for the TV Streamer, saying “okay, now we really need to take the next step in terms of what people want, which is a unified, personalized entertainment experience as well as control of their home functionality.”

When it comes to GenAI generated screensavers, the executive noted that in testing “these have done phenomenally well,” where kids and whole families can get involved to create or enhance artwork on the living room’s biggest screen. 

Consumers can use their voice describe their GenAI TV artwork vision or follow a guided experience.

Google TV GenAI screensaver promp
Users can generate their own screen saver vision or follow a guided prompt on the Google TV Streamer using GenAI tech. (Google)

Of course, entertainment and content is also a key part of the picture.

The Google TV Streamer comes integrated with access to over 70,000 movies and TV shows across Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and more, along with Google TV’s embedded free ad-supported streaming experience that touts access to over 800 FAST channels.  Importantly, with all that content to sift through, the device provides integrated universal search features that pull content results from across services and apps installed on the platform. It also enables multiple members of a household to create individual watchlists with personalized recommendations. 

And search is getting an assist from Google’s GenAI tools, where large language models (LLMs) come into play and Govil-Pai said they’re changing the nature of the game, particularly when using voice –the latter which “is how we think TV’s experienced best.” The voice remote also comes with customizable buttons for users to automatically launch their favorite apps or open the home control panel.

By utilizing GenAI with LLMs, consumers can more easily find and discover content using more nuanced prompts around what they’re thinking they’d like to watch than previously available, like “a Scifi movie with a very dark ending,” for example.

Using LLMs in the Google TV Streamer, “we will be able to actually provide users with a much more nuanced understanding, and therefore help them in their discovery processes,” Govil-Pai noted.

Google’s Gemini AI tech is also integrated into the device to provide full summaries, reviews, and season-by-season break downs of content for titles on the platform.  Once launched in September, users will be able to click on titles and see summaries from across the web, as well as dig deeper into what others are saying.

Google TV Streamer gemini reviews
Google's Gemini tech will power reviews and summaries to give viewers more information on content titles.  (Google)

Streaming media player competition 

Although smart TV have gained favor as the primary video device of choice for most U.S. households and outpaced streaming media players in terms of penetration, many still use streaming sticks, according to Parks Associates data. 

Recent research from the firm found streaming media players increased their market share, with 46% of U.S. internet households owning at least one, and 34% still pegging streaming media players as their main video viewing device. However, in that segment, Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV continue to dominate in terms of popularity and Google has some catching up to do.

Parks Associates streaming media players graph 2024

“Historically, Amazon and Roku have dominated the streaming media player market, and our research shows their dominance continues,” said Sarah Lee, research analyst at Parks Associates, in a release about the findings. “Other competitors such as Apple and Google have held on to their respective shares but do not show much growth as of yet.”

Still, with the launch of the Google TV Streamer, Google looks to be making a play to grab some more of that share near-term.

Chromecast came about at a time when more people were casting content on streaming apps from phones to their TV screen, but consumer favor has shifted more to entering apps that are embedded or live on the home screen of smart TVs and streaming media players, per recent Hub Entertainment Research data.

Google is now looking to serve up not only apps and content, but access and control of the smart home within the connected TV interface.

The new Google TV Streamer boasts 4 GB of memory, faster processing and it has an ethernet connection to plug directly into routers for high bandwidth streaming needs when Wi-Fi isn’t enough.

Govil-Pai emphasized its enabled with both Google’s Thread (where users can connect devices to their home network instead of public internet) and Matter capabilities. Those along with other updates enable tighter Google ecosystem integration and a flywheel for potentially further monetization of the TV screen.

Article updated with line adding info about individual watchlists and personalized recommendations.