Not enough aerial videos? DJI has an app for that

DJI wants to build its own YouTube for drone footage, or that is what its plans seem to suggest. The company announced a smart TV app for streaming aerial video. The app is initially being launched on Samsung Tizen TV and Apple TV. It is also available for Android 5.1 and later.

This announcement does not mean much for DJI's drone business right now. It shows the company has ambitions beyond just making drones, being possibly the only one capable of pulling something like this off as well. DJI is the largest drone maker in the world and can make it very easy for drone users to stream and upload video from their drones directly to the company's new app. For now, DJI says it is focusing on “high-quality aerial content.”

GoPro wanted to achieve something similar with a pivot into entertainment, but the company halted those plans late last year after its Karma drone recall and other financial troubles. GoPro could have filled an entertainment channel with footage from its wearable cameras, and drone recordings eventually, if not for the Karma fiasco and ensuing company problems.

DJI realizes there is an opportunity to create more demand for its products through entertainment. If people enjoy watching aerial videos, they might want to start making some of their own. The real question is whether the platform will become open to average users, especially those flying drones from other companies. Then DJI might actually have a chance of challenging YouTube in at least this one niche area.