Now streaming on Vizio TVs: Your top vacation moments — or any personal pics or videos from your camera roll.
Vizio, a value-priced leader in the U.S. TV market, is launching a public beta version of VizioGram, a feature that allows you to share photos and videos via its mobile app to select internet-connected Vizio TV models. Anyone with the Vizio Mobile app installed on their iOS or Android phone (and a Vizio account) can send images or video to a friend’s Vizio TV for viewing (once they have accepted an invitation).
Other connected-TV devices, like Apple TV 4K and Roku players, include the ability to share photos and videos (and music) on HDTVs. What’s different about VizioGram is that it’s designed to fling personal media to someone else’s television.
Why is Vizio doing this? In the highly competitive HDTV market, every distinguishing feature can potentially influence a consumer’s purchase decision. VizioGram is a personal touch that will sit alongside popular streaming apps on Vizio’s SmartCast operating system, like Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and Disney+.
In Q3 2022, Vizio reported that SmartCast active accounts hit 16.6 million, up 15% year over year, while time spent streaming on the platform hit 4.24 billion hours (up 17%) in the period. Ultimately, the company wants to introduce new ways, as with VizioGram, to keep customers engaged with their Vizio TVs even longer. Eventually, the company may look at other monetization opportunities for the feature, such as selling sponsored opt-in VizioGrams or subscriptions.
Meanwhile, the Super Bowl remains a key shopping season among consumers looking to upgrade their TVs. For this year’s NFL championship game, Vizio will have marketing activations showing off its TVs and the new VizioGram feature in Phoenix at Rob Gronkowski’s Gronk Beach festival (Feb. 11) and Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Tailgate party (Feb. 12).
The idea for VizioGram came from Vizio founder/CEO William Wang — who wanted to share videos from his family’s vacation in Turkey last summer with his mom, but she couldn’t watch them on her phone. So he directed Vizio’s engineering team to create a way for customers to send photos and videos directly to Vizio big-screen TVs.
“We created VizioGram to bring families together, no matter how far apart,” Wang says in a video promo for the feature.
VizioGram videos are limited to a maximum of 70 seconds each, and users can send up to 10 photos at one time. All of the manufacturer’s V-series TVs and select M-series models (from 2020 and later) are able to receive VizioGrams. The photos and videos have end-to-end encryption, so they are secure and viewable only to recipients. Shared VizioGrams will automatically delete within seven days after viewing, while those that are unviewed will expire 30 days after sending.
Officially launching Feb. 9 after a closed-beta period, VizioGram was named a 2023 CES Innovation Awards honoree in the software and mobile apps category.
More info on the new feature is available at this link. Watch the TV maker’s VizioGram explainer video:
