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TikTok gets a Fire TV app in the UK, France, and Germany

TikTok gets a Fire TV app in the UK, France, and Germany

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Following launches on Android and Samsung TVs

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Image: TikTok

TikTok is now available on Fire TV devices in the UK, France, and Germany, the video platform announced today. The app, which will be available starting today, lets viewers watch content from the service’s “For You” and “Following” feeds. There’s also a “Discover” page to help users find trending content. The app is available to download from the Amazon Appstore.

The service’s Fire TV app follows its launch on Samsung TVs last year and Google TV and Android TV in February. Thus far, these apps have been exclusive to Europe, but the company recently told Protocol that it’s working on bringing them to more markets. Meanwhile, in the US, TikTok launched an app called “More on TikTok” on Fire TV devices last year. That app is limited to a more curated selection of popular videos, rather than the personalized feeds TikTok’s other apps are built around.

Vertical videos on landscape TVs

TikTok’s experiments with TV apps are seen as an attempt for the service to reach a wider audience, but they could also allow it to benefit from the premium rates associated with TV-based advertising, according to Protocol. The launch of the TV apps has also coincided with TikTok’s push into longer videos. Earlier this month, it started letting all users publish videos up to three minutes long.

These TV apps present challenges for a service designed around quickly swiping through vertically shot videos on mobile. Using a remote typically isn’t as fast as a touchscreen interface, and each vertical video only takes up a small sliver of the middle of a landscape TV screen.

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