Samsung’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service has amassed 88 million monthly active users, the company disclosed Monday.
While previously sharing viewership growth metrics and numbers around device availability, it's the first time Samsung publicly released an MAU figure for its FAST service.
Based on audience and engagement, Samsung said TV Plus is the No. 1 most-used app on Samsung TVs in the U.S. In addition to the MAU metric, Samsung said global viewership on the FAST increased 50% year-over-year. It wasn’t immediately clear if Samsung measured viewership growth by MAUs or a different metric, and a spokesperson didn’t respond to questions from StreamTV Insider before publication. We will update with any additional information or clarification. *Update: A Samsung spokesperson confirmed that the 50% viewership growth is defined as growth in engagement in hours of viewing globally, applicable year-to-date and year-over-over.
Samsung TV Plus comes built-in on the electronics giant’s devices and globally is available across 630 million active devices, including Samsung smart TVs, Galaxy mobile phones and certain smart home appliances. It will soon be available in 30 territories worldwide, following recent launches in Singapore and the Philippines, with an upcoming debut planned for Thailand.
While Samsung TV Plus is widely available globally, the company said its FAST service growth was fueled by its core U.S. user base of Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X, who over-index in the advertising demo of 18-49 years.
TV OS competitor Roku as of the end of June counted 83.6 million streaming households for its smart TV and streaming device platforms. Streaming households isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison to FAST MAUs, but the company’s FAST service The Roku Channel regularly lands among the top five most-popular apps on the Roku platform. Per its Q2 letter to shareholders, The Roku Channel was the No. 3 app on its platform in the quarter by both reach and engagement. U.S.-based smart TV maker Vizio, as of the end of Q2, had 18.8 million active accounts for its SmartCast TV OS platform, which offers the built-in WatchFree+ FAST service.
Launched in 2015 Samsung TV Plus, meanwhile, appears to be continuing a growth trajectory. Last November it shared that the FAST saw a more than 60% bump in yoy viewership - but again didn’t disclose more details around that metric at the time.
Samsung is touting the new 88 million MAU figure as it continues to build out the TV Plus FAST service into a more “everyday TV” experience with a wide variety of content, which provides opportunities to increase user engagement, collect viewing data, and importantly, generate advertising revenue. Globally the service has more than 3,000 linear free streaming channels with an array of entertainment genres as well as news, and also offers TV series, films and other programming on-demand.
“The success of Samsung TV Plus reflects our commitment to delivering a superior user experience with high-quality content that resonates with consumers. When we embarked on this ambitious journey, our vision was to offer a premium streaming alternative that was both simple to use and free,” said Salek Brodsky, SVP and general manager at Samsung TV Plus, in a statement. “The strategic bets we made nearly a decade ago have established a strong foundation for a service now enjoyed by 88 million streamers each month, and the path ahead is bright and promises continued growth well into the future.”
Other TV OS players also serve up FAST services, such as previously mentioned The Roku Channel and Vizio’s WatchFree+, as well as LG Channels, Google TV’s Freeplay and Amazon Fire TV Channels. It also has competition in the FAST space from standalone tech and media-owned services like Paramount’s Pluto TV, Fox’s Tubi, Xumo Play and Amazon’s Freevee, among other independent players.
As Samsung looks to attract both viewers and advertising dollars, it’s put an emphasis on building out its content offering as well as ad capabilities. At this year’s NewFronts executives from Samsung laid out plans to bolster content and engagement on the free streaming service, including with more sports (as seen earlier this year with niche but popular participation sports like a dedicated 24-7 pickleball channel, as well as more mainstream spectator like MLB content, the PGA Tour and Formula 1), kids programming and expanding the amount of on-demand content if offers.
Earlier this month Samsung TV Plus looked to capitalize on the popularity of Korean content, inking deals with major production companies CJ ENM and New ID to bring more than 4,000 hours of on-demand K-content to the service, making it one of the largest providers of Korean scripted and unscripted TV series and movies in the U.S. On Thursday the service boasted growth of on-demand viewing, which it said surged more than 400% yoy globally, although without providing a comparison statistic.
On the advertising side, it’s teeing up new experiences like adding gaming elements to turn ordinary ad breaks into interactive experiences, such as trivia, which can be played using the remote as a controller and without the need for a console.
Samsung TV Plus’ user metric comes as the FAST space is increasingly crowded, but viewers continue to turn to the readily available free streaming options.
Per TiVo’s Q2 Video Trends Report, North American viewers are tuning in to free streaming, with nearly 62% of respondents reporting they use at least one free AVOD or FAST service – although that figure declined slightly from the roughly two-thirds that said the same in Q2 2023.
Exclusive free streaming services are also starting to rise to the attention of some consumers as they weigh which smart TV to buy.
The same TiVo report surveyed consumers on top reasons driving them to purchase a particular brand of smart TV, where around 30% (among consumers who plan to buy a smart TV within the next six months) consider having an exclusive free TV service as a top software feature playing into the decision. But while becoming more of a draw, having a built-in FAST service still isn’t as important to as many consumers as other leading factors that influence TV buying decisions, including having a major streaming apps built in, hardware capabilities like image quality, screen size, as well as low price.
Article updated with clarification from Samsung on the 50% viewership growth metric.