If you’re an app developer interested in making sure your users are aware of the best content and that they will stay highly engaged, read below for my tips on how to leverage the “Recommended by Your Apps” row on Fire TV.

What is the "Recommended by Your Apps" row on Fire TV?

This recently introduced feature places a new row on the home screen where locally-installed apps can send recommendations. These recommendations can highlight content relevant to your app’s users, which will ultimately encourage users to keep coming back to use your app.

How do I build these recommendations to slot into the "Recommended by Your Apps" row?

We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to start utilizing this feature. Our recommendations are based off the standard Android ContentRecommendation.builder API. You’ll be able to control how your recommendations look, and can further customize them using some Amazon-specific enhancements to the API.

Do you have any sample code I could review to see how to configure the recommendations?

Absolutely. This is a basic example that you can use as a starting point, and then tailor to your app’s needs.

The main component is the ContentRecommendation object.

mNotificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
//Sets an ID for the notification, so it can be updated
int notifyID = int_value;

ContentRecommendation rec = new ContentRecommendation.Builder()
        .setContentImage(myBitmap) // From API 23 this method also accepts Icon as argument.
        .setContentIntentData(ContentRecommendation.INTENT_TYPE_, mIntent, mRequestCode, mBundle) // For more information on setContentIntentData(), see https://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/app/recommendation/ContentRecommendation.html
        .setText(mText)
        .setTitle(mTitle)
        .setBadgeIcon(R.drawable.)
        .setGenres(mGenres)
        .setContentTypes(mTypes)
        .setProgress(mMaxLength,mProgress)
        .setMaturityRating(mMaturityRating) // This method won't have any influence on ratings on Fire TV. Use the com.amazon.extra.MATURITY_RATING setting instead.
        .setRunningTime(contentLength)
        .build();

Notification notification = rec.getNotificationObject(mContext);

This will then be extended with Amazon extras that are added to the notification object for things like Maturity Ratings, HD tags or customer ratings.

Are there any best practices you could share about what and when to send these recommendations?

We’ve assembled some best practices around recommendations here. As a general rule of thumb, keep a great customer experience as the guiding principle. You want to point users to something they’re genuinely going to enjoy. The more you can tailor your recommendations to a user’s individual tastes based on previous interactions with your app’s content, the more likely they’ll appreciate it.

What types of apps are using recommendations on Fire TV?

It truly runs the spectrum from video to music to games. Spotify sends recommendations for things like Discover Weekly or Release Radar to ensure you always know about the latest music from new and favorite artists. Twitch sends featured live streams based on the content creators you enjoy most. And TED TV brings you the most inspirational talks from speakers around the world.

Do you have any practical examples as to what constitutes good recommendations?

We’ve found that the nature of your app will really dictate what recommendations customers will find most compelling. For subscription video apps, new episodes of shows or recent film releases tend to pull people in. In the case of streaming music apps, new albums, mixtapes, and live concert recordings are likely to be of interest to your users. Or if you have user-generated content as a primary focus of your app, passing recommendations highlighting trending videos can help customers stay up to date with the current zeitgeist.

Where do I find more information?

We're glad you're interested in learning more! Click here to read the technical documentation on recommendations.