Comcast acquires AVOD player Xumo

Comcast has acquired US AVOD Xumo from Panasonic and Meredith Corp.

Xumo offers ad-supported live and on-demand streaming content and features over 190 channels such as ABC News, Fox Sports and USA Today.

In a succinct statement, Xumo said: “The talented team at Xumo has created a successful, growing, and best-in-class set of streaming capabilities. We are excited for this team to join Comcast and look forward to supporting them as they continue to innovate and develop their offerings.”

Xumo will continue to operate as an independent business within Comcast, while being overseen by SVP Rebecca Heap.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but CNBC claimed that Comcast paid upwards of US$100 million for the streamer. The outlet also speculated that the company could utilise Xumo’s prominent placement within Panasonic and Vizio TVs to advertise its Xfinity broadband services to users.

It is unclear whether this will alter Comcast’s reported plan to buy Walmart’s Vudu, as reported earlier this week. The broadcaster reportedly is interested in having Vudu sit as a complement to its upcoming premium streaming service Peacock.

This is the latest AVOD acquisition by a major player since Viacom effectively started a buying war with the US$340 million buy of Pluto TV in January 2019.

It has also been reported this week that Lachlan Murdoch’s new Fox is interested in buying Tubi in a deal believed to be in excess of US$500 million.