Two weeks after word first surfaced that Viacom had been holding acquisition talks with ad-supported streaming services, it has acquired Pluto TV for $340 million in cash.
Founded in 2013, Pluto TV is the leading free streaming service in the U.S., serving as a 21st century bundled experience, offering viewers more than 100 channels and thousands of hours of on-demand content.
By investing in AVOD, Viacom joins NBCUniversal in aligning with a streaming model that preserves the traditional role of advertising. Disney and WarnerMedia, by contrast, have emphasized subscription revenue in their forthcoming entries as traditional media looks to make up ground against Netflix and other streaming giants.
Los Angeles-based Pluto has attracted investments from Scripps Networks Interactive, Sky, Third Wave Capital Partners and Samsung Venture Investment Corp., the venture-capital arm of Samsung. It sources programming from more than 130 partnerships with media networks, major film and television studios, and a wide range of digital content producers.
Pluto has accumulated more than 12 million monthly active users, 7.5 million of which are on connected TVs. Viacom’s announcement of the transaction said Pluto has also secured new distribution deals that will make the service available on tens of millions of additional devices in the coming months.
“Today marks an important step forward in Viacom’s evolution, as we work to move both our company and the industry forward. Pluto TV’s unique and market-leading product, combined with Viacom’s brands, content, advanced advertising capabilities and global scale, creates a great opportunity for consumers, partners and Viacom,” Viacom CEO Bob Bakish said in the official release. “As the video marketplace continues to segment, we see an opportunity to support the ecosystem in creating products at a broad range of price points, including free. To that end, we see significant white space in the ad-supported streaming market and are excited to work with the talented Pluto TV team, and a broad range of Viacom partners, to accelerate its growth in the U.S. and all over the world.”
