Skip to main content

Screen Wars Thought Leader Interviews are also available on

SpotifyApple PodcastGoogle Podcast
State of the Screens

Viacom Buys PlutoTV Streaming Service, Its Biggest Digital Push Yet

By January 30, 2019No Comments

Big news: Viacom is buying PlutoTV for $340M.

What is PlutoTV? PlutoTV is an ad-supported video streaming service that offers content from 130 film and TV partners. Similar offerings include Tubi, the Roku Channel and Amazon IMDB Freedive.

PlutoTV users by year:
1)
2016–5M
2)
2018–12M

Solid growth: For all of our readers on Wall Street that is a 55% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)!

Quick math on PlutoTV advertising:
1) Annual revenue — $150M
2) Monthly revenue — $12.5M
3) Monthly revenue/user — $1.04
4) Ad minutes/hour — ≈ 3
5)
30s spots/hour — 6
6) CPM $ —  $30
7) 30s spots/month — 35
8) Viewing hours/user/month — 5.8

Pluto TV users by type (% of total):
1)
Connected TV — 7.5M (63%)
2) Non-connected TV — 4.5M (37%)

More #1: Viacom to acquire Pluto TV for $340 million

More #2: Viacom Gets Into Streaming By Acquiring Pluto TV

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.