TikTok Now Available On Smart TVs, US And Canada Only

TikTok ByteDance brings its popular video-sharing platform to Smart TVs. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - TikTok's parent company ByteDance is bringing its popular video-sharing platform to Smart TVs and streaming devices in the US and Canada.

Starting today, LG and Samsung smart TVs made after 2018 and devices based on Google TV or Android TV can download the new TikTok TV app. The app originally launched earlier this month as an Amazon Fire TV exclusive but has now expanded to other major platforms.

The social media company described its new launch as "a way to experience the joy and creativity of TikTok together at home." This includes support for users' "For You" and "Following" feeds, as well as access to a list of the most liked and most viewed videos from categories such as games, comedy, food and animals.

A new "Discover" page is also delivered with the app to help users discover new content and new creators based on their past viewing history and behavior.

While the smart TV screen landscape format may seem like a strange home for TikTok's traditional vertical video, smartphone-centric video, this move greatly expands the avenues in which users can consume its content.

It also has the potential to provide a channel through which video-based social networks can produce longer-form content or serve as asynchronous video chat platforms for the 1.5 billion users it hopes to boast about next year.