Amazon Prime Video may get YouTube TV’s great multiview feature
A look at Amazon Prime Video’s code shows that Amazon is building one of the best YouTube TV features: multiview. It would literally be a game-changer for one of the top streaming services.
The potential new feature was spotted by Android Authority during one of their regular APK dives. In the latest build of the Prime Video app, version 3.0.389, they discovered code strings such as “exit_multiview_text.” Based on these strings, it appears that Amazon is working on a version of Multiview that will allow viewers to customize what appears in the different boxes.
Multiview, especially the way YouTube TV uses the feature, is best for live sports like NFL Sunday Ticket or March Madness. There you can watch up to four streams at the same time. YouTube TV has added the ability to stream non-sports content, but most people use it for sports. This year, the company added the ability to use a basic version of multiview in the mobile app, which offers “predetermined” options.
Amazon has had clear ambitions to add live sports to Prime Video for a few years now. For the past few seasons, Prime has streamed Thursday Night Football for the NFL, and recently signed an 11-year deal to stream NBA and WNBA games.
One piece of code appears to be an attempt by Amazon to add a multiview button to the Prime Video mobile app, specifically on Android. That code shows that users cannot rewind, pause or fast forward in multiview, indicating a more live offering.
While the code indicates an ‘Android_player’, which refers to a TV app or Prime Video TV app integration, it doesn’t make it clear how many streams can be combined in the version of multiview.
Based on what’s been found, these strings are a start so far, but they don’t tell us how Amazon’s version of Multiview might work. Will there be four or more streams? Can you build a multiview with the games or shows you want to watch, or is this predetermined?
It’s also unclear how far along Amazon is in building Multiview, so we could see this feature very soon or it may never come to fruition. That’s the risk with APK teardowns, because they give us hints about what companies are building, but the features may change or be canceled in the meantime.