FAST service Pluto TV will make its debut in Sweden, Denmark and Norway on May 18.
The Paramount Global streaming service will partner with NENT’s Viafree service for 210 curated and exclusive live, linear channels. From launch, viewers will be able to explore titles from the Paramount library, such as Catfish, South Park, or Dora the Explorer; dedicated channels with Viafree content like Frozen Roads, MasterChef DK and Amazing Makeovers.
In a Broadband TV News interview, Olivier Jollet, GM and SVP Pluto TV International, said the relationship with Viafree and NENT was an important part of the proposition. NENT will be responsible for advertising sales, using established relationships within the sales houses, and is contributing a number of local titles to the service “Because the Pluto TV inventory is full screen, multiple usage taking place on the big screen through connected TV devices, we really have the opportunity to bring ads which have the impact of TV ads but with the capability of digital measurement targeting and so on.”
Significantly, Viaplay’s own free streaming service will close, giving Pluto TV a free run.
“What is really transformative in the case of the Nordics launch is that ViaFree will disappear as a platform and everything will be consolidating integrated with Pluto TV,” explains Jollet. NENT will also sell the advertising on the venture, as part of what Jollet describes as a “win-win” partnership. “Paramount is able to bring really all the best of the US content, a lot of our own house content from MTV, Nick, the Paramount movies and so on. And at the same time, we’ll have the best local content coming from NENT.”
In the UK, Pluto TV benefits from content from the Paramount Global-owned Channel 5. However, the terrestrial broadcaster also maintains its own streaming service, Demand 5.
Jollet says it’s about finding the right balance between international content and local content. “Pluto TV is a new kind of TV and reality TV has always been local in every region where we launch and in the Nordics we have the chance to partner with NENT, which is a fabulous content producer in the region.”
In the Nordics, Pluto will be subtitled in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, with some dubbing on children’s shows.
The intention is to reproduce the partnership model further as Pluto rolls out further. “We either have the opportunity to compete against each other for the free streaming market or to build a kind of giant in the regions and a strong player by joining forces.
“This model is something that we can reproduce we see in almost all the European market, some T- VOD platforms doing well, but limited to the audience of the channel with a little bit of an incremental audience. Pluto TV is broader in terms of target group and can offer a range of content, trying to re-create the TV landscape, and making our product available for any kind of user”.
Pluto will be available across all major devices, including Samsung, LG connected TVs, Android on Chromecast, and iOS devices including Apple TV.
