ViacomCBS Expands Pluto TV Reach With Spain Launch, Service Coming to France and Italy in 2021
The Pluto TV global expansion is well underway as ViacomCBS is bringing the streaming service to three new territories—Spain, France and Italy. While Pluto TV will be available in Spain by the end of this month, the service won’t begin to roll out in the other two countries until 2021. ViacomCBS plans on launching Pluto TV in France in the first quarter of 2021, according to Variety.
Though launching in Europe may be more challenging than the U.S. ViacomCBS has aligned with Movistar Plus—“the market’s biggest content investor…for an ad-sales alliance” that will see “Movistar Plus selling Pluto TV’s conventional advertising in Spain” Variety reports. With the partnership, ViacomCBS plans on having 100 channels on Pluto TV in Spain by the end of 2021.
“Streaming is a key area for us in ViacomCBS, one of our core pillars for our future growth. We have just announced P Plus at a global level as a premium service, and Pluto is a critical asset in the AVOD area,” said Raffaele Annecchino, president of ViacomCBS EMEA and Asia, digital and mobile strategy VCNI.
Pluto TV previously launched in the U.K., Germany and Austria before being acquired by ViacomCBS last year.
At launch, Pluto TV in Spain will offer channels such as Cine Comedia, Pluto Thrillers, and Pluto TV Cine Romántico, as well as series-based channels Ana y los 7, Curro Jiménez, and Andrómeda. Kids channels include Pluto TV Junior and Pluto TV Kids.
When it launches in France, Pluto TV will be ViacomCBS’ first free service in the market, offering premium content currently available on through multiple pay platforms.
The expansion of Pluto TV comes just shy of a month since ViacomCBS announced they would be rebranding CBS All Access to Paramount+ in an effort to compete with the likes of Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and Peacock. One of the more alluring points of the new service is the fact that it’s getting additional content when it relaunches in early 2021 expanding to 30,000+ TV episodes and movies from the company’s library.