{"id":649202,"date":"2013-03-27T16:27:49","date_gmt":"2013-03-27T20:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=624961"},"modified":"2013-03-27T16:27:49","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T20:27:49","slug":"quietly-opera-is-working-on-becoming-a-smart-tv-powerhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/649202","title":{"rendered":"Quietly, Opera is working on becoming a Smart TV powerhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quick: What\u2019s the first thing that pops in your head when you think of Opera<\/a>? If you\u2019re anything like me, it\u2019s probably the company\u2019s desktop browser. But there\u2019s more to Opera: The company has been hugely successful in mobile, bringing in more than $400 million in ad revenue in 2012 alone, and it\u2019s now getting ready to repeat that success story on\u00a0the TV.<\/p>\n

Opera has been active in TV<\/a>\u00a0for some time. The company\u2019s browser software-development kit has been powering TVs and connected devices from Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp and Philips as well as the new Boxee TV, just to name a few. Frode Hernes, VP of products and connected devices at Opera told me during a phone conversation last week that consumers already use an estimated 30 to 50 million TVs and connected devices that are powered by Opera.<\/p>\n

But Opera\u2019s role on your TV may get a lot bigger soon. Last year, it launched the Opera TV Store, a HTML-based app store that is now shipping with Sony\u2019s Bravia TVs and coming to other vendors soon. And Hernes told me that it plans to launch advertising for TV apps before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

These ads will include offers to try and install certain apps within other apps, much in the same way advertising is working on mobile phones. \u201cWe have done the technical integration,\u201d Hernes told me, but the inventory just isn\u2019t there yet. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit early,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope to have significant income next year\u201d from TV ads, he added.<\/p>\n

The company has also been adding additional features to its app store, including the capability to display apps side-by-side next to live TV and other content, and it is getting ready to switch its rendering engine from Opera\u2019s own browser engine to Chromium<\/a> to keep up with the latest in HTML5 development.<\/p>\n

However, some of these changes might not find their way onto TV sets until 2014, simply because consumer electronics manufacturers take their time with integrating new software. \u201cThis is not like the mobile market,\u201d Hernes said.<\/p>\n

Consumers have often been on the flip side of those long release cycles, getting products that are already outdated as soon as they\u2019re getting on the shelves of retailers, often with no chances for any product updates.<\/p>\n

However, this could change once ads add additional monetization opportunities to smart TVs: Instead of operating on razor-thin margins and simply moving from one generation to the next, companies could actually be incentivized to add features and services to existing devices already in consumer\u2019s homes, Hernes predicted. \u201cThis is one way of keeping the device relevant after it is sold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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