Acquired by media giant ViacomCBS two years ago, Pluto TV is launching in Australia next year. While subscriptions for ad-free streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, Stan, and BINGE continue to rise, there’s also an ongoing demand for those who don’t want to pay for their streaming, a gap Pluto TV aims to fulfil.
What is Pluto TV?
Pluto TV is an advertiser-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) service that mainly provides content via digital linear channels to give viewers the conventional broadcasting experience. The platform’s revenue comes from the ads seen during programming. It was launched in 2014 and purchased by ViacomCBS five years later. Pluto TV is currently available in the US, some parts of Europe, and Latin America. The service also provides over 200 channels and 100,000 hours worth of content watched by more than 50 million monthly active users.
What can you watch on Pluto TV?
The Pluto TV content is divided by sections, such as Featured, Entertainment, Movies, Sports, Comedy, Kids, News + Opinion, and more. To copy the experience of traditional broadcast programming, it has its versions of popular cable networks. However, the channels offered by Pluto TV, may it be movie channels or sports channels, are not exactly the same.
There are News channels, too – NBC News, CBS News, and so on – but these news channels are pre-recorded clips and not live TV. As for sports, you’ll find familiar names like Fox Sports, NFL Channel, Major League Soccer, and World Poker Tour, but Pluto TV doesn’t air actual live sports. The platform, however, offers pop-up channels dedicated to specific shows on an open-ended basis, mainly TV series and sports that the major players haven’t picked up.
Pluto TV movies
Pluto TV is an ad-supported TV streaming platform that offers on demand content absolutely free, which means movies galore without paying a cent. Some of the films available for free viewing range from cult movies to blockbusters to hidden gems, including Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046, The Kids Are All Right, Busan, to name a few.
There are many more acclaimed titles to be found on the service with the likes of Monster (Charlize Theron), Carol (Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara), and Fences (Denzel Washington). While there’s a rich catalogue of on-demand entertainment content for free, it still is an ad-supported streaming service that licenses its content directly from providers, which makes Pluto TV legal.
How to watch Pluto TV app
Watching TV with Pluto is easy. Users can access Pluto TV app online on most mobile phones, tablets, and browsers, as well as through most smart TVs and streaming devices like Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. But since it’s designed to feel like a channel guide for a traditional cable TV or satellite network, Pluto TV doesn’t have a search function like other streaming services. In order to find the TV show or on demand movies you want to watch, you’ll have to browse its channels, or you can narrow your selection by picking a genre or category.
What to expect with Pluto TV Australia
Pluto TV is owned by ViacomCBS, Network Ten’s parent company. While the arrival of Pluto TV in Australia aims to strengthen the company’s position in the ad-supported streaming sector, it’s only meant to stand alongside 10 Play and not be the latter’s rebranded version. Earlier this year, Paramount Plus replaced 10 All Access in Australia.
Rod Prosser, chief sales officer of ViacomCBS and Network Ten, also assures this isn’t the case. “I can’t see how they would merge, but at this point, look, we’re really enthusiastic about the 10 Play product. So we, as I said, we’ll continue to invest and grow that library to grow the overall minutes,” he said.
The exact official launch of Pluto TV in Australia has yet to be announced.
