Google TV Freeplay keeps growing and I still can't work out who it's for. The additions Google called out most recently are an SNL Vault channel, a Real Housewives Vault channel and American Ninja Warrior, all running live and free around the clock.
The vault format is the odd part. You have an archive of a show sitting on a server, fully available on demand, and the product decision is to put it back on a schedule so you join whatever episode happens to be halfway through. That is a step backwards from everything else on the home screen. The argument for it is that choosing is exhausting and sometimes you just want something running while you cook, and honestly that argument works on me more than I'd like to admit.
What I don't buy is the channel count as a selling point. Every platform is racing to claim more free channels than the last one, and a lot of those are three shows on rotation with a name bolted on the front. Counting one of those the same way you'd count a real network is marketing, not a feature.
The part nobody says out loud is that these exist because ad inventory on the home screen is the business now. A channel you leave running for two hours is worth far more to the platform than a film you pick deliberately and finish.
So, honest answers wanted - does anyone here actually park on a Freeplay channel, or does it just sit in the guide inflating the number?
The vault format is the odd part. You have an archive of a show sitting on a server, fully available on demand, and the product decision is to put it back on a schedule so you join whatever episode happens to be halfway through. That is a step backwards from everything else on the home screen. The argument for it is that choosing is exhausting and sometimes you just want something running while you cook, and honestly that argument works on me more than I'd like to admit.
What I don't buy is the channel count as a selling point. Every platform is racing to claim more free channels than the last one, and a lot of those are three shows on rotation with a name bolted on the front. Counting one of those the same way you'd count a real network is marketing, not a feature.
The part nobody says out loud is that these exist because ad inventory on the home screen is the business now. A channel you leave running for two hours is worth far more to the platform than a film you pick deliberately and finish.
So, honest answers wanted - does anyone here actually park on a Freeplay channel, or does it just sit in the guide inflating the number?
