Smart TV App Development: Cost, Features, and Benefits

Gone are the days when living rooms were incomplete without cable TV. People are no longer willing to put up with appointment television -- they want their favorite content now, regardless of the time, location, or device. Smart TVs allow viewers to customize their entertainment experience, but they also work with other devices to expand their usability. 

With the Smart TV market expected to reach $124 Billion by the end of 2026, it’s a good time to develop a Smart TV app if you’ve been thinking of investing in one. Building a Smart TV app from scratch can be a little overwhelming if you’re just starting out and you have no coding experience. 

Benefits of Developing a Smart TV App

Smart TV apps allow TV users to stream web content via their TV screens and employ TV-specific features. Plus, Smart TV apps provide a great deal and value to developers, but there are many more benefits including the opportunity to tap into the world’s largest Smart TV audience. Smart TV apps also make it easy and convenient for users to search for their desired content, connect and view on a TV or switch to view the same content on a mobile device. 

Features of a Smart TV App

Before you can build your Smart TV app, there are several factors and features you’ll want to keep in mind that enhance the usability of the app. These include: 

• User-centric: The Smart TV app should be easy and user-friendly, otherwise people won’t be interested in using it.  
• User preferences: A Smart TV app should be customizable, keeping in mind user preferences or they won’t find it relatable. Develop the app in a way that’s easy for the user to install add-ons or other apps. 
• Security: For any user, an application that provides security or keeps their data safe is desirable.
• Content segmentation: When developing the app, make sure the content is properly integrated and segmented so that it’s easy to use the app. You can segment content based on genre, language, ratings, trending, and other variants. 
• Connection to social media: Smart TV apps that keep the user connected with social media help them relax and watch their favorite content, without the need to walk around with their mobile devices.
• Reviews and ratings: Your Smart TV app should be designed such that users can submit their reviews and ratings.
• Reliable and secure payment gateway: If you intend to create a premium Smart TV app, you need a secure and reliable payment gateway along with multiple payment options for users in different locations.
• Multi-device and multi-lingual support: Many users often have a smartphone and laptop, meaning your Smart TV app should support streaming on multiple devices. This way, the users can access the content they want in a single subscription. Multi-language support is an added benefit, especially for those whom English is not their first language.

What Does it Take to Create a Smart TV App?

The cost of a Smart TV app depends on several factors including the app features, platform, and the location of the development company. We’ve looked at some of the most important features that you must include in your Smart TV app, but the overall cost will increase or decrease depending on the number of features you want. 

The app platform also impacts the cost of your Smart TV app. From developing to maintaining and finally operating the app, the technologies used to develop the app also dictate the cost. If you intend to develop the app in-house, you may want to consider the costs of hiring and training your developers. 

On the other hand, you could outsource the process to an external agency whose location largely determines and affects the cost of developing your Smart TV app. 

At MAZ, we feel it should be easy and painless to develop a Smart TV app no matter your budget or experience. We’ll give you the right options for easy and fast TV app development at a lower cost and put your content within reach of the global Smart TV audience. Ready to develop your Smart TV app?