A TV startup which has sold to Viacom for over $300m will be making the upper management of Universal Music Group grin this week.
Los Angeles-based Pluto TV is an ad-funded platform which delivers over 100 live and original channels as well as thousands of licensed on-demand movies, all free to users, via its app.
The company, which splits ad revenues with its network partners, has this week been acquired for $340m in cash by Viacom, the owner of Comedy Central, MTV and BET.
Viacom is now expected to push its back catalog to Pluto’s 12m-plus monthly active users, while using the service to promote newer premium shows.
Universal Music Group was an early investor in Pluto TV back in November 2014, the year after the startup was born. UMG participated in a $13m Series A funding round alongside eight others, including UTA Ventures and Queensbridge Venture Partners – the investment vehicle founded by rapper Nas.
The music industry connections to Pluto don’t stop there: the company’s Executive Chairman is Ken Parks, who left Spotify after eight years in 2015 to join the TV startup.
Parks was content chief at Spotify before he exited for Pluto, and was the first hire Daniel Ek ever made in the US market.
Pluto TV’s audience streams billions of minutes of content each month across devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Sony PlayStation consoles, as well as built-in integrations on smart TVs from Samsung and Vizio, and mobile apps on Android and iOS.
Of the firm’s 12m-plus active users, 7.5m access the service via connected TVs.
“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,” said Bob Bakish, Viacom President and CEO.
“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.”Music Business Worldwide
