Plex to launch an ad-supported streaming service this year, plans to begin reselling video subscription services and add transactional VOD, in H1 2020
Get ready for yet another ad-supported video service: Media center app maker Plex is gearing up to add free movies and TV shows to its app …
Context & Ripple Effects
Plex has been assembling this pivot for years: the Watchup acquisition became an ad-supported news hub inside the app, then Plex Web Shows tested free brand-funded video on the same audience. By January, the company was in talks for ad-supported movies and premium subscriptions, explicitly eyeing Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video Channels.
First-order effects
- Plex's core media-server user base gets free movies and TV inside an app they already run, while Plex itself stops being just a library tool and becomes a storefront reselling other services' subscriptions alongside its own ad inventory.
Second-order effects
- Studios like MGM gain another global shelf — the eventual launch reaches ~220 countries — and subscription reselling puts Plex in direct channel competition with Amazon Prime Video Channels, pressuring both on rev-share terms.
Third-order effects
- If utility apps keep converting installed bases into ad-supported aggregation layers, the battle for streaming moves from who owns content to who owns the entry point — with AVOD as the default monetization for mid-catalog titles.
The trend: Media-center and device apps are turning their installed bases into ad-supported streaming storefronts, converging on the Roku Channel model of free AVOD plus resold subscriptions.