Viaplay on board for Scandinavian launch of Google Home
October 9, 2018
Nordic Entertainment Group has revealed that its Viaplay streaming service will be compatible with Google Home and Google Home Mini when they arrive in stores across Scandinavia on October 24th. Google Home is the first smart speaker to respond to voice instructions in the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish languages.
By linking a Viaplay account to a Google account in the Google Home app, users will be able to control Viaplay on a Chromecast or Android TV using voice commands in Danish, Norwegian or Swedish. Viaplay customers will therefore be able to use their voice to launch content and to control playback, such as seek, play and pause, on Viaplay’s full offering of movies and TV series included for all subscribing customers.
Kaj af Kleen, NENT Group SVP and Chief Technology and Product Officer, commented: “Voice search using smart speakers is one of today’s biggest consumer trends, there hasn’t been such a rapid adoption of a new technology since the smartphone. NENT Group is all about driving innovation and bringing audiences the very best entertainment experiences, so we’ve been exploring how best to use voice activation for our services and are very pleased to team up with Google for this pan-Scandinavian launch.”
Alexander Bastin, NENT Group SVP and Head of Viaplay and Viafree, added: “We want to make Viaplay as accessible and available on as many platforms and screens as possible. This partnership will enable our customers to enjoy their favourite content by using voice commands in their own language for the very first time, which shows the huge potential of combining great content with great technology. We’re looking forward to being at the forefront of the voice revolution, and will continue to explore how smart speakers can further enhance the Viaplay experience.”