Only a month after VIDAA released its smart TV operating system in the United States, the company has announced yet another crucial launch in its streaming expansion. The subsidiary company of Hisense is launching a streaming hub of free ad-supported video called VIDAA Free. The service will be available on televisions powered by VIDAA, which is the standard installed operating system on Hisense, Toshiba, and more than a hundred other TV brands.
The streaming service offers video on demand (VOD), live linear, and ad-supported content, and is currently only available in the U.S., though the company intends to expand internationally within the year. As the name suggests, the service is currently free, and it serves to provide a gateway for users to access free, ad-supported content from some of the biggest and most popular streaming brands in the world while monetizing through advertising.
The creation of VIDAA Free is the natural next step in the company’s rapid rise. In only three years, the operating system has become a formidable force in the industry, now available in 180 countries and territories and streaming over a billion hours of content per month. While the company only began operating in the U.S. in January, it’s been steadily growing throughout the world, starting in Europe and spreading through the Middle East, APAC, Australia, and most recently Latin America.
While a lot of VIDAA’s success as such a young operating system has been due to its crucial partnerships with major streamers like Pluto TV and Disney+, the most vital key to its success has been its relationship with Hisense, a Chinese electronics manufacturer whose TVs have experienced a similarly meteoric rise in popularity over recent years.
Hisense’s partnership with VIDAA, one of its subsidiaries, has been mutually beneficial for both companies. Hisense’s ambition to compete with major manufacturers like Samsung and LG has pushed it forward, with the company achieving a 30% increase in TV shipments in the first three quarters of 2022 as well as eight straight months of growth since March of last year. Since most Hisense TVs carry the VIDAA operating system, VIDAA has been growing with its parent company.
Now, both companies are entering the United States market, ready to make a splash similar to what they have done in other markets around the world. And with VIDAA now having deals with a majority of the major streaming platforms — including Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV+ — there’s no telling how big it can grow. With the launch of VIDAA Free, VIDAA joins an ad-supported video-on-demand market that has only been increasing in popularity in the U.S. in recent years. But with VIDAA’s track record elsewhere in the world, there’s no reason it shouldn’t see similar success in this new frontier.