Combining the intuitiveness of TV with the diversity of OTT
through ad-supported free streaming (FAST)
Samsung Electronics' ad-supported free streaming service "Samsung TV Plus" has surpassed 100 million monthly active users (MAU) worldwide. After leading the global TV market for the past 19 years, Samsung Electronics' hardware leadership is now expanding into a massive ecosystem as a media platform.
On the 13th, Samsung Electronics announced this news through its newsroom, saying, "This achievement shows that Samsung TV Plus's strategy has established itself as an alternative viewing method at a time when cord-cutting is spreading."
As paid OTT (over-the-top) services have become the mainstream in the media market, consumers have enjoyed an abundance of content. However, alongside repeated subscription fee hikes, "choice overload" has worsened, with viewers spending excessive time searching for the content they want.
Amid this trend, Samsung Electronics chose a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, which quickly attracted viewers around the world who were thirsty for a simpler viewing experience by combining the intuitiveness of traditional TV, where content appears as soon as you turn it on, with the diversity of OTT services, where you can select content tailored to your tastes. Samsung TV Plus had 88 million MAU in October 2024, and the figure has increased by 12 million in about one year and two months.
Samsung TV Plus is steadily expanding its overall content offering while enhancing content using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. It has remastered popular dramas from the 2000s in high definition by applying AI-based picture and sound enhancement technologies, presenting a viewing method that allows existing video assets to be newly experienced in line with today's viewing environment. In addition, by adding popular creator channels such as "Pani Bottle" and "Hip Euddeum," it has strengthened lifestyle web entertainment content focused on travel and exercise.
Samsung TV Plus currently offers about 4,300 channels and more than 76,000 titles of video-on-demand (VOD) free of charge in 30 countries around the world. With a monthly viewing audience of 100 million, Samsung TV Plus is now on par with the world's three major broadcasters.
Choi Joonheon, Head of the TV Plus Group in the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, said, "Samsung TV Plus has grown into a global media platform that is naturally consumed in the daily lives of viewers around the world," adding, "We will continue to strengthen our differentiated competitiveness in the FAST market by diversifying channels and securing premium content."
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