In March. Viacom purchased Pluto in a $340 million deal that would give Viacom full control over the free streaming platform. Since then, Viacom has reported 18 million monthly active users.
In an interview with Business Insider, Pluto CEO Tom Ryan shared the three factors that contributed to the success of the streaming service – adding content from major networks, expanding device support, and moving into a global market.
In addition to Viacom content being added to the lineup, Pluto has been adding channels from major names that cord cutters will recognize. With partners like the BBC, CNN, and the NFL, Pluto has been able to add even more content from top networks. Being backed by Viacom gives the platform Pluto TV users can watch sports, news, entertainment, movies, and more.
In order to make that content available, the ad-based service had to become advertiser friendly. According to Ryan, Pluto TV’s strategy is to be available on as many platforms as possible in order to attract advertisers. In addition to being available on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, iOS, and Android, Pluto has also reached deals to be integrated into smart TVs.
In October 2018, Pluto announced plans to expand into Europe.
“The launch of Pluto TV in Europe is a monumental achievement as we actively pursue our mission of entertaining the planet,” Ryan said at that time. “Olivier and his team have worked tirelessly to develop and launch Pluto TV in the UK with the perfect mix of our unique channel offerings, content partners, and features, all adapted to meet the sensibilities and affinities of the local audience. This is an exciting next chapter for Pluto TV on a global scale.”
The free streaming service is now available in the US, UK, Germany, and Austria. The company has said that they plan to be in Latin America in early 2020.
After sharing the three factors that contributed to Pluto TV’s growth, Ryan went on to tell Business Insider that he sees the surge of new streaming services being released soon as a benefit to ad-supported services like Pluto. With so many new services competing for paid subscriptions, Ryan believes free services will play the role of rounding out cord cutting setups without adding another line to a subscriber’s budget.
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