Free streaming platform Plex has added 18, mostly music-focused, channels to its live TV lineup this week.
Sixteen of the new channels feature collections of music genres, such as Nothin’ But 90s, featuring 1990s grunge, pop, hip-hop and country; Flashback 70s; Today’s K-Pop; Y2K, featuring artists from the 2000s; The Spa, delivering instrumental electro-acoustic music, among others. The 16 music channels were provided by multi-platform music and in-store media solutions provider Stingray.
In the U.S. and Canada Plex has added the INFAST channel, which promise “fun & amazing stories to ignite your imagination.”
Earlier this month Plex brought on four new channels including Vice, AMC en Español, and ALF for U.S. viewers. It also added Shemaroo Bollywood, a South Asian movie channel featuring classic, contemporary and new Bollywood movies, which is available globally except for India.
Plex is available in over 180 countries on a variety of platforms including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Xbox. It features over 50,000 free titles, movies and TV shows on-demand, as well as hundreds of free-to-stream live TV channels.
Plex also positions itself as a streaming aggregation platform, where its platform acts as one-stop-shop to easily find and play any movie or TV show being streamed on the wide range of services available, including those users subscribe to.
Earlier this year Plex introduced a new upgrade as part of that effort to solve the so-called “streaming struggle” of being able to find where to find and watch content across paid and free streaming services via one navigation window.
The company likened its new “Discover” feature to doing for streaming what Google did for the internet by simplifying where find any TV title or movie in the wide ecosystem of options.
Speaking at the StreamTV Show in June, Scott Olechowski, chief product officer at Plex, cited user experience as the key differentiator among content providers.
“We have to deliver the experiences the user wants, because ultimately that’s all that matters,” he said.
In addition to helping users find content, the AVOD platform itself also offers on-demand options and more than 250 free linear TV channels.
In 2021, Plex raised $50 million in a growth equity round from existing investor Intercap, with plans to use the funds to build out the commercial side of the business including marketing, monetization and content.