

The largest YouTube network, Fullscreen Inc., just flooded the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick appstore with over 300 apps, increasing the number of available Fire TV apps by 15% overnight. Each app is dedicated to one of Fullscreen’s over 50,000 partnered YouTube channels. The apps appear to be procedurally generated using the videos, playlists, and content from the associated YouTube channel.

Little thought has gone into making these apps. They use each channel’s YouTube header image as the app’s background image and the YouTube channel description as the app’s description, even when the content references YouTube specific features like “subscribing” and “like buttons,” which don’t make sense within a Fire TV app.

Based on the response of one YouTuber I asked, it appears the individual YouTubers whose content has been turned into a Fire TV app were not involved in the creation of these apps, and worse, were unaware these apps were even being released. This isn’t the first time YouTube channels have been appified and made available on the Fire TV platform. However, with past YouTube channel-turned-app instances, it was clear the content creators were directly involved in the app’s creation.

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