What They Say
Protocol reports Samsung has expanded its advertising-funded TV Plus streaming service to web systems rather than just the firm’s own smartphones and smartTVs. It will also support ‘Chromecasting’ so that content can be viewed on any compatible display.
The service was ‘soft-launched’ without a public announcement and gives US viewers 140 channels. Some channels need a free Samsung account. The article highlights that Roku is also widening up and that the reason is that in Q1, Roku earned $108 million from hardware, but $467 million from advertising and other services. Samsung’s service is already on 50 million sets globally, but this will extend the number of devices.
What We Think
This was always the promise of SmartTV, but it has taken many years to get to the point where there is significant revenue and subscriber numbers. Samsung is showing the way and no doubt others will follow, although it will be much harder without Samsung’s global market share. (BR)
