Samsung brings more content to TV Plus, the free ad-supported streaming package built into a range of Samsung devices and available on the web. The update introduces several new shows such as: Top gear, Law & Order Special Victims Unit, NCISand Chicago fire.
In addition to the new shows, TV Plus will receive two exclusive channels from Samsung: Ride or Drive, a station aimed at car fans, and Samsung Showcase, a channel dedicated to ‘concerts, events and special programming’. It is also partnering with A&E to launch a new home improvement channel called Home.Made.Nation.
And while Samsung already offers several local and national news channels, including ABC News Live, CBS News, NBC News Now and more, Samsung says it plans to expand local news and weather reports to more parts of the US. It also aims to double its video-on-demand library by 2023 by leveraging “new and expanded partnerships” with Lionsgate, Vice Media and more.
Samsung TV Plus, first launched in 2015, has been around for a while. The service is installed on TVs released in 2016 or later, Galaxy devices, and select Family Hub refrigerator models. Samsung even launched TV Plus on the web last year, making the free channels available to anyone without a compatible Samsung device. Currently, Samsung offers 220 channels in the US, as well as a total of 1,600 channels across 24 different countries.
Samsung says TV Plus saw 100 percent growth in consumer viewing over the past 12 months, with viewers streaming 3 billion hours worldwide. The general free ad-supported TV (FAST) streaming industry, which includes contenders like Paramount’s Pluto TV, NBC’s Peacock, Fox’s Tubi, Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb Freedive and IMDb TV), Roku and Comcast’s Xumo, is on the rise as well, filling the gap for those who may not have linear TV but don’t want to pay for a streaming service. In January, a report from the data analysis group Kantar revealed that 18 percent of US households now use a FAST service, a number that has doubled year over year.
