New Google TV screensaver has media recommendations and information cards

Google has started introducing a new screensaver for the Chromecast with Google TV. In addition to the well-known landscapes, this also offers small cards with information such as the weather and recommendations for media to consume. The latter may also be an advertisement.

Images from the screensaver show YouTube videos, Spotify and YouTube Music content, voice commands such as ‘show me action movies with Tom Cruise’, and Google Podcasts content in the queue of tickets. The cards can be selected and work as a menu, shown by pictures at 9to5Google†

The new screensaver is enabled by default, but can be turned off in the system settings. After that, only the existing slideshow can be seen, possibly with the time and weather in a corner. Google suggests that the introduction of the feature, which the company calls proactive personalized results, will be spread ‘over the coming weeks’.

It is not entirely clear whether this new screensaver also contains advertising. The home screen of Google TV and Android TV does. That takes the form of movie and series recommendations that may be located on streaming platforms that the user does not subscribe to.

In the long run, Google TV should be the replacement for Android TV, so it is to be expected that this screensaver will become standard with Android-based media players and TVs sooner or later. google said in 2020 at its Made By Google event that it plans to replace Android TV with Google TV over the next two years. Under the hood, the latter is still Android, but with a shell that is more focused on media recommendations than advertising. With Android TV you can already see that such aspects are being taken over.