Skip to main content

Sonos’ unannounced video streamer reportedly uses an advertising giant’s software

Close up of Sonos logo on a Sonos Arc soundbar.
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Sonos reportedly has partnered with online advertising company The Trade Desk on its as-yet unannounced (and almost certainly delayed) video streaming device, according to Janko Roettgers, who in his September 12 Lowpass newsletter cited “multiple sources with knowledge of the partnership.”

The Trade Desk is a publicly traded company, currently valued at just over $50 billion, and describes itself as “the omnichannel advertising platform built for the open internet.” In August, Roettgers reported that since 2019 the company has been building its own smart TV operating system to compete against Roku, Amazon, and Google. But that’s something that The Trade Desk has denied, according to Digiday.

Recommended Videos

While there has been plenty of speculation that Sonos might be preparing to enter the streaming video arena — in part based on a 2023 Bloomberg report that claimed such a device was under development — little has been said about the software Sonos might use.

Sonos’ current platform, which has faced enormous challenges since it released a poorly executed app update in May, is entirely oriented around music streaming. While Sonos does have soundbars — as do Amazon Fire TV and Roku — they’re only meant for audio playback and don’t have a traditional operating system in the same sense. Sonos has apps for iOS and Android (and that includes Fire OS), but it hasn’t ever directly played in the space occupied by Roku, Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple’s tvOS. The Sonos Ace headphones, released just after the software meltdown, were the company’s first foray beyond the traditional speaker category. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence also said that two new products that were ready for release before the end of the year are shelved until the app and platform situations are rectified.

Roettgers suggests that a partnership with a third-party like The Trade Desk would solve a number of problems simultaneously. If Sonos can license a pre-built platform, it would alleviate the need to develop one from scratch. Given its ongoing problems with the existing Sonos app and the tens of millions of dollars it’s spending to fix it — plus recent layoffs “for long-term success” — it likely has few resources to spare for other software initiatives.

Roettgers notes that creating the necessary relationships with streaming giants like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO is no easy feat. The Trade Desk reportedly already has these relationships.

“The company recently began selling ads for Netflix, and also counts major media companies like NBCUniversal, Fox and CBS among its partners,” Roettgers wrote. “The Trade Desk has secured agreements with a number of major streaming services to participate on its platform, according to multiple sources.”

The Trade Desk apparently is content to let Sonos have a lot of control over the look and feel of the software, which could be yet another reason why the two companies might partner on this project. Roettgers points out that streaming platforms owned by Roku, Google, and Amazon have strict licensing requirements that impact the interface, branding, and even remote control design of their licensee’s devices.

Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen is a contributing editor to Digital Trends' Audio/Video section, where he obsesses over the latest wireless…
Sonos adds Dolby Atmos Music and hi-res audio support for Amazon Music
Man holding the Sonos Roam portable speaker.

Sonos users who subscribe to Amazon Music can enjoy Dolby Atmos Music and lossless, hi-res audio on select Sonos speakers starting today, December 7. To get these new features, you'll need an Amazon Music Unlimited account and the latest Sonos software, which you can grab by opening the Sonos S2 app and going to Settings > System > System Updates > Check for Updates.

Dolby Atmos Music tracks from Amazon Music will work on Sonos' two Dolby Atmos-compatible speakers, the $899 Sonos Arc and the $449 Sonos Beam Gen 2. However, if you have these speakers grouped with non-Atmos-compatible speakers when you play your desired tracks or playlists, the streams will default to the highest quality, non-Atmos format supported by all speakers in the group.

Read more
LG TVs can automatically kill the soap opera effect for Prime Video content
TV showing filmmaker mode logo.

LG is rolling out an update to the Filmmaker Mode feature on all 2020 and 2021 4K and 8K UHD Smart TVs starting this week. The update will let these TVs respond to a signal embedded in certain streaming shows and movies by automatically switching to Filmmaker Mode. For now, the feature only works with Amazon Prime Video content, but presumably, it could be applied to any streaming content from any service.

For the uninitiated, Filmmaker Mode -- the brainchild of the UHD Alliance -- is the TV industry's answer to the growing frustration over what's commonly known as the "soap opera effect." Motion-smoothing technologies that are designed to help modern flat-panel displays do a better job with fast-motion video, like sports content, have the unfortunate side effect of making lots of other content (like movies and TV shows) look unnatural and, in many cases, low-budget -- thus the soap opera analogy.

Read more
AT&T is renaming its streaming video service yet again
AT&T TV rebrands as DirecTV Stream.

AT&T is going to rename its streaming video services, which include AT&T TV, AT&T TV Now, and AT&T Watch TV, to "DirecTV Stream" on August 26, according to The Verge. Why the name change? It appears to be part of an effort to establish a new brand for the company's video properties, which were formally spun off into a new company earlier in August.

And while that might be a perfectly legitimate reason to change the service's name, it's enough to make our heads spin. Since 2019, AT&T has engaged in a confusing set of product launches and rebranding efforts that have used both AT&T and DirecTV names. The company's original effort at a cable TV alternative streaming service was called DirecTV Now. You could use it with your existing broadband internet connection and it didn't require a set-top box. This service was rebranded as AT&T TV Now, but ended up eventually being absorbed by AT&T TV, a service that still delivered live TV content over the internet, but required a dedicated Android TV set-top box, making it the logical successor to AT&T's U-verse TV service. All the while, the company kept alive its AT&T Watch TV service, which is a very lightweight package of more than 35 live TV channels.

Read more