Sound specialist Sonos has confirmed it’s working with The Trade Desk, one of the world’s largest publicly-traded advertising companies, on an initiative involving the Ventura smart TV operating system.
The report adds weight to the persistent rumors that Sonos is looking to compete with Apple in the TV streaming box segment, but the company has chosen its words very carefully to avoid admitting that’s the case.
Reports that Sonos is working on its own streaming box have kept popping up for a while, and it’s said that the device would rival products such as the Apple TV 4K, Roku Ultra or Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, providing access to all of the best streaming services, like Netflix etc.
It’s said that the Sonos device will run the Ventura OS platform, which is a new operating system developed by The Trade Desk that has not yet been released.
A press release from The Trade Desk quotes Sonos CEO Patrick Spence as saying that the audio equipment company is “excited to explore the integration of premium audio and video with The Trade Desk and the Ventura OS.”
That’s not an admission by Sonos that it’s definitely making a streaming device. It’s possible that Sonos simply intends to support other Ventura-based devices, so it can link them with Sonos speakers.
Still, there have been numerous leaks and reports about a Sonos streamer that it seems likely the company does have something in the works, and it could launch sometime next year. For instance, Janko Roettgers, who operates the TV industry insider website Lowpass, has posted multiple stories that appear to confirm a Sonos streamer is currently being developed.
Roettgers is very well connected and usually tends to get these things right. In a report in September, he claimed that the Sonos TV streamer will be a set-top box rather than a USB stick device, adding that it will use an operating system that’s based on Android. It’s notable that Ventura OS is indeed based on Android.
The involvement of the Trade Desk is telling, though. These days, TV device makers are increasingly shifting more towards advertising-based revenues rather than trying to make money from hardware sales, and such a strategy would definitely make sense for Sonos, as most streaming devices are not really premium products.
Sonos already has partnerships with video streaming services like Netflix, which will also be essential to the success of any streaming device it launches.
Sonos has not yet confirmed it, but all the signs suggest that we could well see the company launch a streaming box sometime next year.
