Amazon adds Matter Casting to its smart displays and TVs

Amazon might never formally endorse AirPlay or Google’s media-casting tech. But the company will be the first to support Matter Casting, the video- and audio-beaming feature of the Matter smart home standard, on its smart displays and smart TVs, Amazon announced this morning at CES 2024.

Once Matter Casting comes to Amazon’s Prime Video app for Android and iOS, users will be able to cast content to supported Amazon devices — starting with the Echo Show 15 — by tapping the new dedicated Matter Casting button. Beyond the Echo Show 15, Amazon says that Matter Casting support will arrive on Fire TVs, including smart TVs from Panasonic with Fire TV built in, and — on the app side — Plex, Pluto TV, Sling TV, Starz and ZDF later this year.

“Customers can begin watching a movie or browse for their next favorite show from Prime Video on their phone, and cast it to their compatible Fire TV device or Echo Show 15,” Amazon writes in a post published on its official blog. “This is an industry-first demonstration of implementing Matter Casting.”

Matter Casting is an open local networking protocol that doesn’t require a specific hardware stack. It’s available to any app or hardware maker to implement and not limited to specific operating systems or partnerships, making it easier to implement than proprietary alternatives.

However, while the overarching Matter standard is backed by Apple and Google in addition to Amazon, the former two tech giants have little real incentive to adopt Matter Casting given their respective proprietary casting technologies are well-established. Tellingly, Google announced this week that its casting tech, Chromecast, will be built into all of LG’s new TVs — but gave no mention of Matter Casting.

The Matter Casting spec — which was developed with major input from Amazon — can accomplish more than casting, in theory. It allows control of a television’s core functions like volume adjustment, changing the channel and switching between HDMI ports. But it’s incumbent on app and device makers to build in support for those functions.