Most installed Google TV apps include Napster, Pandora, and CNBC

Music and financial news top the list for the most successful Google TV applications, according to a new six-month-long study from Xyologic.

The Android OS-based Google TV software, which currently runs on a variety of set-top boxes from Logitech, Sony, and others, allows regular television sets to gain access to content on the Internet. It also helps organize that content so it can more easily be found and consumed, and it adds support for developers to create TV-specific applications.

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Xyologic’s report found that 4,793,000 exclusive Google TV apps (meaning, apps that were created specifically for the TV and not a tablet or mobile device) have been installed since August 2011.  The bulk of those installations (4,441,000) come from apps that were preloaded by the Google TV device manufacturer, and make up the top six most installed apps. Those include Napster, Pandora, CNBC Real-Time, TV & Movies for Google TV, Photos for Google TV, and Twitter.

As you can see from the table below, pre-installing an app doesn’t necessarily translate to high usage or popularity. For instance, Napster has the highest install base and the lowest rating. Also, the fact that music, social, and photo apps are all among the most installs shows that Google TV still has a long way to go before it comes close to replacing your daily television watching habits. There should be more video-content apps toward the top.

The report also indicates that there are a total of 64 exclusive Google TV apps that have been downloaded a total of 352,000 times since August 2011. As for non-exclusive Google TV apps, the most popular apps in January 2012 include a handful of gaming and social applications, according to Xylogic’s research.

It’s possible that Google TV apps will gain more notoriety when the next generation of Google TV-enabled devices starts launching later this year. We already know the company is revising its YouTube application to make it more friendly on the platform just in time for people to check out its push for more original content. Google is also taking advantage of people’s desire to use their televisions as a gaming device, by pre-loading OnLive on to all Google TVs. I’d also expect Google to focus on creating an exclusive Google TV app for its new music service, which is sure to knock down both Pandora and Napster.