Amazon and Google sign peace deal on TV

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Amazon

Amazon and Google have put an end to a long-standing dispute by providing their video-on-demand services to each other's TV platforms.

Amazon's Prime Video app is now available on Chromecast dongles and arrives on Android TVs and set-top boxes.

And Google has launched an official YouTube app for Fire TV devices and promises a child-centered YouTube edition for children later in the year.

This puts an end to a stalemate that began in 2015.

The dispute began when Amazon refused to sell Google's Chromecast products on its online store.

The situation then degenerated into 2017 when the search giant took out YouTube screens from Amazon's Echo Show, and then in the same way with the Fire TV range.

The first proof that the spat could be solved was in December 2018, when Amazon started stocking Chromecast products again.

Then, in April 2019, both parties confirmed the end of their enmity after signing an agreement providing for reciprocal access to their respective video services.

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Google

However, there seems to be a notable omission.

Today's press releases make no mention of YouTube's return to Echo Show, nor do they mention Amazon Prime on Google's rival smart screens, the Nest Hub.

Similarly, Amazon still does not sell smart speakers or Google screens, although it does store other Nest branded devices.

Well, I'm glad it's (for the most part) finished. It was a little anti-consumer monster that did not help any business.

Most curious is the slowness with which it took so long – the time that customers were turning to other services that could offer Prime Video and YouTube on the same platform, like Roku or Apple TV.

Since the conflict erupted towards the end of 2017, Amazon's position in video-on-demand has dramatically strengthened – and I think that's an important factor in this apparent truce.

Amazon has not specified the number of users of its Prime Video service, but it is available to all of its Prime members, who are now over 100 million.

They appreciate – the judges of the award-winning programs will tell you – some of the most discussed TV shows produced to date. It was therefore increasingly risky for Google not to have Prime Video available on Chromecast.

The same thing was true in the opposite direction. The lack of a YouTube app on the Amazon – FireTV television platform – was a major handicap for Amazon, and I imagine that Google was not too excited about by the idea of ​​not reaching the some 30 million FireTV users.