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TVs get the headlines. Remotes quietly shape behaviours.
That plastic “wand” decides who gets the first click, how fast you reach a show. Those four to eight keys are not decorative. They’re bought, negotiated, sometimes mandated (by the CTV platform itself). As channel numbers fade, prominence shifts from EPGs to home screens and hard keys.
You could look at remotes and think they’re just design and tech, but you’d be missing the point: TV remotes say a lot about where the video landscape is heading.
Today at a glance:
Remote real estate
Anatomy of a remote
The business end of the remote
Coming up: Speaking of CTV, I’m skipping IFA, Europe’s largest home & consumer tech event, but will be at IBC to catch up with the Whale TV team for a special episode of The Media Odyssey Podcast with
. Dropping on September 18th wherever you get your podcasts!I’ve written at length about CTV’s evolution from hardware to software, driven by thin hardware margins. Instead of getting a one-off purchase from consumers, the TV monetisation playbook looks more or less like this:
→ TV OS license fees (if any)
→ Own and operated streaming services (e.g. The Roku Channel, Samsung TV+ etc.)
→ Channel Store / App Store commissions (on new sign ups for SVOD, a cut of ad revenues or ad inventories)
→ Audience development budgets (streamers buy real estate to promote content from their services)
→ Ad placements (brands and agencies buy real estate to promote their brands and products).
→ And remote buttons.
Remote real estate
Every year, TV manufacturers release new hardware. The remotes’ design doesn’t change much but one part does: the line up of branded buttons/keys on remotes. A year before new models hit shelves, discussions are held between platforms and content partners to see who will take a button where.