Meta is building a smart TV in virtual reality

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Large hero images that highlight select TV shows and movies, a row of app icons, and a host of additional content recommendations: at first glance, the new Meta feature Horizon TV application It looks a lot like the home screen of a typical smart TV. Something that Samsung, Google, or Amazon would ship on their devices.

Except that Horizon TV doesn’t work on a TV or streaming device, but on the company’s Meta Quest headphones. It was revealed at Meta Connect last monththe app is a big part of Meta’s push to attract older, less gaming-focused audiences to VR — a push that also includes Partnership with James Cameronand investments in sports and other types of flexible entertainment content.

Recreating the smart TV experience in VR also represents a monetization opportunity for Meta, which has been trying to figure this out for some time How to bring ads into virtual reality. However, this approach also means that Meta inherits some of the same problems that have plagued smart TV platform players for a long time. And if consumers are ready to watch more content with their headsets, they’re bound to realize that even in VR, you can’t escape the collateral damage of the streaming wars.

Meta has finally built a Zuck TV app

In 2017, Mark Zuckerberg made headlines when he predicted that AR and VR wearables would eventually make traditional TVs obsolete. “Instead of having a $500 TV in front of us, what’s to stop us from having it become a $1 app one day?” He said New York Times At the time, this suggested that digital TV, streamed into your living room using a headset or glasses, might one day be just as good, if not better, than real TV.

Eight years later, Meta launched its closest attempt yet to realize that vision: Horizon TV, the latest revamp of the Quest’s original video app, looking a lot like a typical smart TV screen. And this is no coincidence: “We were definitely inspired by the navigation systems that came before,” says Sarah Malkin, director of entertainment content at Meta Reality Labs. “We want customers to feel some sense of familiarity.”

Like many smart TV UIs these days, Horizon TV is what’s known among streaming insiders as “content forward.” Instead of just listing a set of app icons, it links directly to those apps and features content recommendations for individual shows, movies, and live streams.

Most of the content featured in the Horizon TV app is sourced from a handful of partners, including Amazon, Pluto, and Peacock. There are also app icons for YouTube, Spotify, DAZN, and others; Disney Plus and ESPN should launch on Horizon TV soon. Netflix, Hulu and HBO are noticeably missing, as are a host of free video services like Tubi and The Roku Channel. There are also no ad-supported linear streaming channels yet, and no option to rent or purchase movies or subscribe directly to video services within the Horizon TV app.

Not yet, anyway. Malkin told me that Meta doesn’t have anything to announce in this regard, but the company is definitely looking for such features. “Our goals are to support and provide additional outlets for existing business models for the entertainment industry to thrive,” says Malkin.

Embracing existing smart TV business models provides Meta with an opportunity to eventually make some money with Horizon TV. Smart TV makers regularly demand cuts in advertising and subscription revenue generated on their platforms. Roku, for example, now creates approx $1 billion per quarter These fees, advertisements and related services.

However, smart TV operators often have controversial relationships with publishers. One example: Google launched its Google TV platform five years ago with a content-delivery UI that looked similar to what Meta is adopting now. In those five years, the company was unable to reach an agreement with Netflix to fully integrate into that UI, which is why Google TV owners are still unable to add Netflix shows to their Google TV watchlist.

There’s no more user-generated content, there’s more sports

Meta will no doubt face similar challenges with Horizon TV – and will be blamed for them by its users, some of them as well Really unhappy With recent changes.

Previous iterations of the TV app, which has rebranded several times over the years, also focused heavily on 180-degree and 380-degree user-generated content. Meta has bootstrapped all user-generated content from the app Last month, it asked creators to upload their clips to YouTube instead. One reason is to ensure that newcomers to the world of VR won’t be shocked by shaky amateur footage. “If you have a negative experience with any type of immersive technology, it’s very off-putting and hard to come back from,” Malkin says.

Horizon TV still features some user-generated animations created using Quill and similar tools, thanks to a partnership with Theater application elsewhere. These titles are part of a broader “Immersive” section, which also provides access to 180-degree video documentaries and meta-generated content such as virtual reality viewing The lady without a face.

The most interesting immersive content included in this category is Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema, a special VR version of M3GAN and Black phone. Both films take place in a special mixed reality environment It extends what is happening on the screen In your living room, where your walls suddenly become part of a spooky forest, a rotating bottle materializes on the floor, and creepy creatures appear out of nowhere.

With all these different formats, Horizon TV’s immersive video still feels like a hodgepodge. However, Meta sees this type of content as a way to outperform traditional television. “I want to get to a place where the core media consumption experience within the Task feels so different from what you can do on any other flat screen, that it’s the obvious way to watch something,” says Vishal Shah, vice president of Metaverse.

Part of those efforts will be more 3D content, including from James Cameron’s Lightstorm Vision production outlet. The company also seems to be particularly interested in live sports. dead It already has a partnership with the NBA To view games from a stadium perspective. Sports streaming service DAZN, which is also integrated into Horizon TV, shows football matches With table width In virtual reality. Referring to both, Malkin told me that the company plans to announce new partnerships and new ways to watch this type of content in the future.

Sports, with its complex and expensive distribution rights, is another area that has stumped other streaming companies and smart TV platforms for years. However, Meta believes it has a chance, thanks to its existing relationships with other leagues and partners. “It’s a challenging, increasingly fragmented landscape,” Malkin admits. “It’s difficult, of course. But if it wasn’t difficult, it wouldn’t be worth doing.”