Pluto TV gets French in February

ViacomCBS has announced the expansion of its AVOD service Pluto TV to France on February 8.

The streamer’s debut will make it the first free ad-supported television (FAST) service to launch in France, the company claims. The service will be available on ‘all major streaming devices’ via apps for Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, iOS and Android mobile devices.

Pluto, which requires no sign-up, will launch with 40 curated channels in France with a library that includes content from ViacomCBS brands and third parties. The company also said that there will be a significant amount of local French content available thanks to partnerships with a large number of publishers, broadcasters, and distributors.

Channels available at launch include Pluto TV Ciné, Pluto TV Action, and Pluto TV Drama, and a number of others which cover genres such as kids, animation, reality TV, lifestyle, crime and investigation, comedy, sports and documentaries.

The expansion to France follows a busy 2020 in which Pluto increased its reach to countries across Latin America including Brazil. In total, Pluto TV is now available in three continents and 24 countries with almost 36 million active users worldwide.

The company added that the next market to get the streamer will be Italy, with a launch planned for late 2021.

Olivier Jollet, senior vice president of emerging business at ViacomCBS Networks Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia, said: “The launch of Pluto TV in France marks an important step for the growth of our company’s streaming presence in Europe. Pluto TV has already demonstrated its strong appeal in many markets across the world like the UK, GSA, Latam, and Spain. I’m sure that with its market-centric approach and extensive reach, Pluto TV’s innovative digital model will transform the French streaming and television market, both in terms of consumer experience and Ad sales offer.”

The announcement follows up ViacomCBS’s reveal of its launch plans for its SVOD service Paramount+. The rebooted version of CBS All Access will rollout in the US and Latin America on March 4, before being rolled out into the Nordics on March 25 and Australia in the middle of the year, where it will replace ViacomCBS’s existing streamer 10 All Access.