What you need to know
- CEO of X (Twitter) Linda Yaccarino highlights what users can expect from the platform’s upcoming smart TV app.
- Yaccarino gave a brief look at the X TV app’s UI, which looks similar to YouTube with a “Trending” and “For You” section.
- The app will also give users casting abilities from phone to TV, enhanced search, and X will look to make the app widely available on “most” smart TV displays.
X (Twitter) is planning to make a living room debut, and the platform’s CEO has highlighted what users can expect.
As posted on X by CEO Linda Yaccarino, the “X TV app” is preparing to make its way to larger displays “soon.” According to Yaccarino, the TV app hopes to become the “go-to companion” for “immersive” entertainment from the social media service. The teaser gave us a quick look at X’s planned UI for the app, which looks a lot like YouTube.
The current build shows a user’s profile icon at the top left above a search icon and a home button. X plans to create a few rows full of videos users can watch, with the first displaying what’s “trending,” followed by a “For You” section.
Yaccarino states the plan is for displayed content to be “engaging” and shown in “real-time.”
The flipside highlights planned features. Yaccarino teases that users can begin watching a video on their smartphone before transferring it to their smart TV and that X is working on “effortless casting” to achieve this. The X TV app’s search is “enhanced” so users can discover content quickly.
From the small screen to the big screen X is changing everything. Soon we’ll bring real-time, engaging content to your smart TVs with the X TV App. This will be your go-to companion for a high-quality, immersive entertainment experience on a larger screen. We’re still building it… pic.twitter.com/QhG6cVDpZ8April 23, 2024
The company plans to implement AI software into the X TV app, which is said to help organize videos “by subject” for a personalized experience. Yaccarino briefly mentions the TV app’s trending algorithm, stating it will help users stay updated with “tailored” popular content.
X is eyeing wider availability for its app as the company hopes to have it ready for “most” smart TVs. Yaccarino did not specifically say when users can expect the app to launch.
We’ve known about the existence of an X TV app since March when Elon Musk teased its coming availability. The idea is to bring more long-form videos on X to attention, and it seems that smart TVs in our homes are what the platform wants to do. More importantly, it was originally reported that X plans to debut its TV app exclusively on Amazon and Samsung TVs.
That no longer seems to be the case, with Yaccarino teasing availability for “most” smart TVs. But we’ll have to wait and see once the app’s development concludes.
The platform has been leaning into videos more, as it highlighted a high user engagement rate in a blog post in January. The company stated that the option to support long-form video uploads on X was met positively, shifting the service into a more “video-first” platform.