Last month, Netflix made the surprising decision to cut a major feature: without any notice, the company pulled the ability to cast videos from its mobile apps to a variety of smart TVs and streaming devices. Now, casting is only available on older Chromecast devices that lack a remote, Nest Hub smart displays, and select Vizio and Compal smart TVs.
This marks a significant shift for Netflix. Before these changes, the service allowed casting to a broad range of devices officially supporting Google’s casting technology, including Android TVs from manufacturers like Philips, Polaroid, Sharp, Skyworth, Soniq, Sony, Toshiba, and Vizio, according to an archived version of Netflix’s website.
But that’s not all. Netflix previously offered what it called “Netflix 2nd Screen” casting functionality on many other devices, including Sony’s PlayStation, TVs from LG and Samsung, Roku TVs, and many more. Basically, if a smart TV or streaming device had the Netflix app, it likely supported casting.
This technology was laid out by Netflix over 15 years ago. Back in 2011, some of Netflix’s engineers were looking for ways to better connect people’s phones with their TVs. As Scott Mirer, Netflix’s director of product management at the time, stated in 2013, “At about the same time, we learned that the YouTube team was interested in much the same thing — they had already started to do some work on [second] screen use cases.” The two companies collaborated with TV manufacturers like Sony and Samsung, leading to the creation of DIAL (short for “Discovery and Launch”) — an open second-screen protocol formalizing the casting process.
In 2012, Netflix became the first major streaming service to integrate a casting feature into its mobile app, allowing PlayStation 3 users to start video playback from their phones. The following year, Google launched its first Chromecast dongle, which borrowed concepts from DIAL and developed Google’s proprietary casting technology.
For a time, casting was incredibly popular. Google sold over 100 million Chromecast adapters, and Vizio even created a TV designed around casting, which came with a tablet instead of a remote. (That venture flopped; it turns out people still prefer physical remotes.) However, as smart TVs became more sophisticated and streaming services invested heavily in native apps, the necessity for casting declined. At CES, a streaming service operator mentioned that casting used to be crucial for their service, but nowadays, even among their Android users, only about 10% engage in casting.
As for Netflix, it seems unlikely that the company will reverse its stance on casting. They declined to comment on the discontinuation of the feature. It’s possible that casting was sacrificed to make way for new functions like cloud gaming and interactive voting. Gaming inherently involves connectivity across multiple devices, as Netflix utilizes phones as game controllers, and adding casting might have complicated the setup.
However, not everyone has given up on casting. In fact, the technology is gaining new fans. Last month, Apple introduced Google Cast support in its Apple TV app for Android for the first time. Over the past two years, both Samsung and LG have integrated Google’s casting tech into specific TV models.
“Google Cast continues to be a key experience that we’re invested in — bringing the convenience of seamless content sharing from phones to TVs, whether you’re at home or in a hotel,” says Neha Dixit, Google’s Android platform PM. “Stay tuned for more to come this year.”
Google’s initiatives are facing competition from the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which is responsible for the Matter smart home standard and has developed its own Matter Casting protocol. Matter Casting aims to offer a more open approach to casting, allowing streaming services and device makers to implement second-screen functionalities without needing to partner with Google.
“We are longtime advocates of using open technology standards to give customers more choice when using their devices and services,” states Tapas Roy, VP of Amazon Device Software & Services, a major supporter of Matter and its casting technology. “We welcome and support media developers wanting to build to an open standard with the implementation of Matter Casting.”
However, support for this technology has been limited. Currently, Fire TVs and Echo Show devices remain the primary products compatible with Matter Casting, and for some time, Amazon’s own apps were the only ones utilizing the feature. Recently, Tubi also adopted Matter Casting into its mobile apps.
Christopher LaPré, a technology strategist for the Connectivity Standards Alliance, admits that Matter Casting hasn’t yet become a breakout success. “To be honest, I have Fire TVs, and I’ve never used it,” he confesses. Alongside the scarcity of available content, LaPré highlights brand confusion as a significant issue. Many TV manufacturers have incorporated Matter into their devices for controlling smart lights and thermostats; thus, a TV with the Matter logo doesn’t necessarily guarantee support for Matter Casting.
Nonetheless, LaPré believes that Matter Casting could see an uptick thanks to two recent developments: Matter has recently added support for cameras, allowing for a new category of homegrown content for casting. The consortium is also exploring extending casting capabilities beyond screens. “Audio casting is something that we’re working on,” LaPré confirms. “A lot of speaker companies are interested in that.” The plan is to introduce Matter audio casting later this year, which may prompt device makers, publishers, and consumers to revisit the video casting landscape.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
Janko Roettgers
Close
Janko Roettgers
Lowpass author, Verge contributor
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow
Follow
See All by Janko Roettgers
Column
Close
Column
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow
Follow
See All Column
Lowpass
Close
Lowpass
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow
Follow
See All Lowpass
Netflix
Close
Netflix
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow
Follow
See All Netflix
Streaming
Close
Streaming
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow
Follow
See All Streaming
