British entertainment subscription streaming service BritBox has expanded distribution in the U.S., with its SVOD app now available on Vizio smart TVs.
BritBox is co-owned BBC Studios and UK broadcaster ITV, featuring a collection of British titles including exclusive premieres, originals, as well as current series and soaps – most available within 24 hours after their UK premiere. Content spans a variety of genres including mystery, drama, comedy, lifestyle, documentary and the largest catalog of Agatha Christie titles. BritBox costs $8.99 per month or $89.99 per year following a free seven-day trial.
Integration on Vizio means availability to millions of U.S. households with the OEM’s smart TVs and a new content offering for users. And distribution could be poised to expand further down the line as Vizio itself is exploring licensing its smart TV OS to third-party TV OEMs. BritBox is already available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Samsung, LG, iOS and Android devices, Comcast’s X1 and Flex platforms, as well as a premium add-on channel through Amazon Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel and Apple TV Channels.
"BritBox is committed to providing exceptional British content to audiences around the world. We're thrilled to work with Vizio to bring the incredible lineup of BritBox films and series to millions of households,” said Reemah Sakaan, CEO of BritBox International, in a statement. “Our content is consistently enriched, providing an ever-evolving entertainment experience for viewers. With a diverse selection of titles spanning from crime to comedy, we will further enhance Vizio’s entertainment offering with the best of British TV.”
BritBox recently touted subscriber growth, announcing at the end of November that the service surpassed 3.4 million subscribers globally – and experienced a 15% bump in its membership since the start of 2023. The service launched in 2017 and by March 2020 had a subscriber tally of 1 million. It currently operates in eight markets including U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Coinciding with the subscriber announcement, BritBox disclosed acquiring "the hugely successful British crime drama” Blue Lights for viewers in the U.S. and Canada.
And as the streaming service looks to deep its reach across the eight territories where it’s available, BritBox earlier this month made leadership changes, snagging talent from Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix. That included naming Nimesh Katrina as CFO, effective April 2024. Katrina hails from WBD where he was GVP Finance for International Sport, and previously held roles at Discovery Networks in International Content. In addition, Alana McGaughey was tapped as VP of Global PR & Comms. Previously McGaughey was at Netflix where she led publicity campaigns for hit series including the final season of Ozark, and prior to that spent nearly 10 years at Starz.
“Bringing executives of the calibre of Nimesh and Alana onto the fantastic BritBox leadership team is testimony to the exciting mission and results we’re achieving,” said Sakaan in a statement at the time of the hires. “They bring a wealth of global streaming and content experience to us and join a business that has a unique clarity and model in today’s landscape. I can’t wait for them to unleash their ideas and energy onto our business and our ‘make it happen’ culture.”
Alongside personnel changes, BritBox last month launched a new Global Editorial team based out of London, New York and Sydney, which the company pegged as a “key driver in expanding and driving the service’s commissioning and acquisitioning strategy.”
Separately, BritBox in October became the latest streaming companies to be on the receiving end of a patent lawsuit filed by Dish Network over the use of adaptive bitrate technology.