Glance gets a built-in spot on Android TVs in India, the US and Japan with Google

Picture your family TV after dinner. Nobody is watching. The screen just sits there, showing a clock or some pretty photos. Now picture that same quiet screen showing a jacket, a holiday spot or a new lamp, and you can buy it with the remote. That is the plan behind a new deal between Google and an Indian-born company called Glance.

On Wednesday, 21 October 2026, Glance said it will be integrated by default on Android TVs in the US, India and Japan through a partnership with Google. In simple words, Glance now comes ready inside many Android TVs in three big countries. Here is what that means, why a TV screen matters so much, and how a company like Glance earns money.

First, what is Glance?

If you have used an Android phone in India, you may have seen Glance without knowing the name. It started as a lock screen, the screen you see before you unlock your phone. YourStory described it as a pre-installed, customisable lock screen with news, sports, fashion and live shows. It said Glance had 235 million active users in 2023, and nearly half of them were under 24 years old.

Glance is part of the InMobi family. It is run by Glance InMobi Pte. Ltd., an associate of InMobi, and its backers include Mithril Capital, Google and Jio Platforms. Its CEO and founder is Naveen Tewari, who holds the same role at InMobi.

These days, Glance calls itself an AI shopping company. ET calls it a homegrown "agentic e-commerce platform". An agent here just means a smart helper that does some of the work for you, like a friend who knows your taste and picks out shirts for you at the mall.

What does "built in by default" mean?

When something is preinstalled or built in, it is already inside the device when you buy it. You do not have to go and download it. Think of the calculator app on your phone. Nobody installs it. It is just there.

But there is an important catch. The Glance screen on Android TV is opt-in. That means it stays off unless you choose to turn it on. Storyboard18 reports that users get an option to replace the default Google Backdrop with Glance's shopping and discovery screen, and that the switch is voluntary. Google Backdrop is the screen that plays on an Android TV when nobody is watching. So Glance does not take over your TV. It sits there as a choice.

What will people see on the screen?

Once a viewer opts in, the quiet TV screen turns into what ET calls interactive shoppable storefronts across fashion, travel, food, wellness and other lifestyle areas. A storefront is the front window of a shop. Here, the TV becomes the window.

Storyboard18 lists a few tricks. There are AI-based virtual try-on features, so you can see how an outfit might look. Glance's shopping agent also links the phone and the TV, drawing on hundreds of retailer partners. LatestLY describes a feature called "Shop the Look": you can interact with a curated look shown on the TV and buy the products through Glance's retail partners.

Naveen Tewari summed up the idea in one line: "We are moving beyond the era of the 'dormant' screen." Dormant means sleeping. He wants the sleeping TV to wake up as a shop.

Why is a TV home screen such a big deal?

Think of a samosa stall. The best spot is right at the school gate, where every student walks past. A TV home screen is that school gate. It is the first thing a whole family sees, on the biggest screen in the house.

Glance has been grabbing these spots one by one. In June 2026, it teamed up with Samsung to bring AI shopping to millions of Samsung smart TVs in the US. Rediff Money's report says it has also linked its shopping tech with Apple's iOS, and it already works with Airtel and DIRECTV. The statement said that, for Glance, the Google deal "marks a significant increase in its global distribution". Distribution simply means how many people can reach your product. More TVs means more possible shoppers.

Google gains something too. The same statement said the deal makes Android TV more useful, turning it into an interactive lifestyle platform instead of a plain screen for shows.

Here is a short video from Glance showing how its TV shopping works. It shows the earlier Samsung version in the US, not the new Android TV one, but the idea is the same.

Watch on YouTube

So how does Glance make money?

More than half of it comes from ads, going by its last public numbers. An ad is a brand paying to be seen, like a cricket team's shirt sponsor paying to put its name where fans will look.

Exchange4media reported that Glance earned Rs 336 crore from ads in FY24, the money year that ended in March 2024. That was about 36% more than Rs 248 crore in FY23. Its total revenue from operations, meaning all the money that came in from its main business, was Rs 614 crore, up 89%. Ads made up 54.7% of it. That leaves about Rs 278 crore from everything else.

Bar chart: Glance earned Rs 336 crore from ads and about Rs 278 crore from other sources in FY24, out of Rs 614 crore — In FY24, more than half of Glance's revenue came from ads.

The TV screen adds a new way for brands to reach people. When Glance launched on Samsung TVs, it said the move gives brands and advertisers "a measurable, performance-driven commerce channel". In plain words, a brand can show its product on the TV and then check how many people actually looked at it or bought it. The sources do not share how Glance and Google will split any money from the Android TV deal, so nobody outside the two companies knows that yet.

A number counting up to Rs 336 crore, Glance's ad revenue in FY24, with a bar for FY23 at Rs 248 crore beside it — Ad revenue grew from Rs 248 crore to Rs 336 crore in one year.

What should you take away?

A company that began on Indian phone lock screens now has a ready spot on Android TVs in India, the US and Japan. The screen is opt-in, so viewers decide. If enough people switch it on, the quiet TV in the living room could become one more place where brands try to catch your eye, just like your phone already is.

Next time your TV sits idle, notice what it shows. That blank moment is now something big companies want to fill.

Sources

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