At I/O 2024, “Chromecast built-in” was quietly rebranded to “Google Cast.” Notably, this is reversing a branding change made in 2016.
At the end of 2016, the original “Google Cast” brand was phased out in favor of “Chromecast built-in.” Given the consumer awareness of affordable “Chromecast” dongles, this change made sense.
The name was still in use this January when LG announced at CES that its 2024 webOS-powered televisions are getting Chromecast built-in (and Google Home) support. During the on-stage announcement, Google said:
Today, we’re thrilled to announce LG TVs in 2024 will now have Chromecast built-in. This means that LG TV users will be able to start a video on their phone or their Chrome browser and with just a tap of the Cast icon be able to start watching on the best screen in their house.
The Pixel Tablet with the Charging Speaker Dock also had this branding.
In announcing that Android Automotive is getting Cast support at I/O, the company said: “Google Cast (formerly Chromecast built-in) is coming to cars.”
The updated branding is referenced on Android.com (with chromecast.com/built-in redirecting to that page) and this Google Support article:
Google Cast (formerly Chromecast built-in) delivers multi-screen TV and audio experiences with speakers.
“Google Cast” inherently gets “Google” into the name, so that could be why this change is happening today.
In terms of Casting functionality, end users shouldn’t expect anything to change, but expect product packaging to feature a new badge.
One question today is how this will impact branding for future Chromecast dongles made by Google. We reported in April that Google is working on a new Google TV-powered Chromecast. I don’t quite see Google dropping the successful Chromecast brand — though “with Google TV” is clunky and should be removed. Today’s branding change could be aimed at reserving “Chromecast” for first-party products.
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