Canadians are turning to FAST services as an alternative to traditional TV and SVODs, and Pluto TV is aiming to be established as their first choice.
The joint venture between Paramount Global and Corus Entertainment launched in Canada in December 2022. After a year on the Canadian screens, it is now reporting more than a billion minutes of monthly viewing and a 96% ad viewing completion rate. It has also increased the number of hours of content it offers from 20,000 to 40,000.
Speaking to MiC on its one-year anniversary, Paramount Global’s EVP and head of international advertising sales and integrated marketing, Lee Sears, says that Pluto’s success can be attributed to filling the gap between the decline of traditional TV and the rise of paid subscription services.
“FAST is a growing and critical piece of the streaming pie when looking at the overall landscape,” Sears says. “The streaming and content ecosystem will always require a diversity of services and FAST is a great additional choice to the traditional platforms.”
A recent report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM) found that one in six Canadians ages 18 and up tune into content through a FAST channel. More tellingly for the future, perhaps, is the research from MiQ that shows 67% of Canadians own a connected TV.
Free, Sears notes, is a powerful attribute and it’s a singular FAST advantage. “It’s hard to cancel something you don’t pay for,” he notes wryly.
Although FAST overall has battled a reputation as merely a respository of library content, Pluto is taking a different tack. Now and into 2024, it’s building out its library of popular, evergreen channels and titles (like CSI) by bulking up on branded channels that will attract dedicated fans and hopefully attract new ones. As Horizon Media recently reported, fans are an important non-age-specific demo of the future, as audiences continue to fragment into smaller and more specialized silos.
The year ahead will see the service expand into new genres and focus on celebrity-led content, true crime, anime and home construction/renovation. Coming in January are channels including: Crime Files; Leave it to Bryan (from celeb contractor and Corus brand-builder Bryan Baeumler); anime superstars Sailor Moon and Naruto, and Paw Patrol for the kids. There’s also new music-focused channels such as MTV Biggest Pop; MTV Spankin’ New; Yo! MTV, and MTV Classic.
Those new channels join recent channel additions like Income Property Channel featuring all things Scott McGillivray; Pluto Westerns; Love Pets and the Real Distster Channel.
On brand-focused FAST channels, fans can stream live or on demand to their heart’s content, paying only with their attention. And to capture that, Pluto’s wares include banners, in-stream video and pre-roll video ads of five and 60 seconds.
According to MiQ, 51% of Canadian advertisers currently include CTV in their marketing mix. The report did not quantify the investment the current percentage represents, but estimated that spending will reach $1 billion CAD by 2025.
