In a new move to develop its presence on connected TV, TVzavr.ru, a free online video content site, has launched a free application for LG Smart TV. The portal has also improved its app for Samsung TV sets, which can now be controlled by voice or gesture, the news agency RIA Novosti reported last week.
Smart TV content has been developing over the past two years, with a number of initiatives by major players. In 2011 Scartel (Yota) launched “Yota Play,” a VOD service accessible from Samsung and LG TV sets, Samsung’s Blu-ray players and home entertainment systems; meanwhile Yandex, the Russian search giant, embedded its widget in Samsung’s Smart TVs.
Earlier this year Samsung released Phereo 3D Photo, an application for Samsung Smart TV sets and Blu-ray players developed by a subsidiary of i-Free, a leading Russian mobile content publisher. This past October the shopping platform ShoppingPlus made its service available to users of LG’s Smart TV.
Yet a Russian expert told RIA that TV sets with a smart TV function have not shown strong commercial traction in Russia to date, and that no more than half the owners of such devices actually use this function.
Established in 2010, TVzavr.ru attracts a monthly audience of more than 130,000 users between 12 and 54 years of age in large Russian cities, according to TNS.
