The long-standing feud between Amazon and Google might be coming to end. The companies announced in a joint press release this morning that an official YouTube app will again be made available on Fire TV devices in the coming months.
This announcement ends a feud that has dated back for a number of years now. Amazon removed Chromecasts from their website in 2015 and remained unavailable to buy directly from Amazon until Dec. 2018. The removal of Chromecast from their store was because Google’s Chromecast did not support Amazon’s Prime Video app. Google and Amazon announced Chromecast will now be integrated into the Prime Video mobile app and Prime video will become available on all Android TV devices.
The official YouTube application was discontinued on Fire TV’s more than a year ago and users were redirected to Amazon’s Silk browser as a YouTube alternative. This came with some limitations, but Amazon kept updating the browser to address those issues.
“We are excited to work with Amazon to launch the official YouTube apps on Fire TV devices worldwide,” said Heather Rivera, Global Head of Product Partnerships at YouTube. “Bringing our flagship YouTube experience to Amazon Fire TV gives our users even more ways to watch the videos and creators they love.”
YouTube TV coming to Amazon Fire TV is a much bigger deal. With the cord cutting community growing, YouTube TV wants to continue to be a player in the industry. Amazon’s Fire TV devices are very popular topping 30 million active users according to CNET. I would imagine a good portion of those are one-device and/or eco system households, which leaves a lot of potential customers not reached.
No official word on what the exact dates are for when these changes will be made, but, either way, good stuff all around. We are a Fire TV household and big YouTube viewers, so I’m excited to see a truce between the two companies.
Edwin is the founder of BRO.geek. He has a passion for gadgets, comic books, comic book TV shows, movies, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
TWITTER @eddiepotatoes | YOUTUBE @brogeek | FACEBOOK @brogeek