Comcast integrates Pluto TV into X1, Xfinity Flex platforms

Ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV is making the move over to Comcast pay TV platforms Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex.

The service, which is owned by Viacom, said it launched today on X1. It was already available on Xfinity Flex, a streaming video platform service Comcast launched for its broadband-only subscribers back in March.

For Pluto TV, a deal with Comcast puts the AVOD in a more accessible spot for a big potential audience. Comcast ended the first quarter of 2019 with more than 27.4 million total customer relationships.

The deal to integrate Pluto TV with the X1 arrives shortly after Pluto TV reached a deal to integrate on Cox’s Contour, which is a licensed white-label version of X1. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish in May said that Pluto TV’s launch on X1 was coming soon, and added that Pluto TV already has another large distributor deal already signed with a few more in the pipeline.

“For Viacom, Pluto TV was always more than a DTC play. We saw it as an opportunity to broaden our partnerships with existing distributors, and our early experience has proven just that,” Bakish said.

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Pluto TV is a free-to-watch streaming video service that offers more than 100 channels in a traditional channel grid guide. The company was acquired by Viacom earlier this year for $340 million. Viacom has since launched curated channels for Pluto TV based on its existing cable channel brands including Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. On July 1, a Spanish-language version of Pluto TV, Pluto Latino, is launching in the U.S.

Viacom has repeatedly said it expects Pluto TV to be a $1 billion domestic advertising revenue opportunity. Viacom CFO Wade Davis said that his company would be making incremental investments in Pluto TV to help grow the company’s product and engineering teams, as well as accelerate the integration process with Viacom as it relates to ad tech and infrastructure. He said it will allow Viacom to sell Pluto TV advertising inventory “more fluidly” across the company’s entire pools of advertisers and marketers.