ProSiebenSat.1 invests in global video service Pluto TV
Munich/Los Angeles, 10/13/2016: The ProSiebenSat.1 Group is further internationalizing its digital entertainment business by investing in Pluto Inc., a US company based in Los Angeles. ProSiebenSat.1 is investing a high single-digit-range in the rapidly growing company, acquiring about 14 percent of shares. This makes the media group the largest strategic shareholder. Scripps Networks is another new partner that will acquire an interest during this round of Pluto TV financing alongside current investors US Venture Partners and Sky Ventures. Pluto TV is an advertising-supported online television service with more than 100 linear live channels. Content includes television shows, films, and internet videos. Pluto TV already has partnerships with more than 100 content providers, including Bloomberg Television, Reuters, CBS, Paramount, and Time Inc. Its offerings currently reach more than five million active users per month.
Christof Wahl, Executive Board Member for Digital Entertainment ProSiebenSat.1: “The investment in Pluto TV represents a further logical step in our company’s digital entertainment strategy: The market for this kind of advertising-financed video streaming already amounts to four billion euros in the USA alone. We would like to help actively shape this dynamically growing mass market on an international scale and participate in this growth.”
ProSiebenSat.1 video service Quazer absorbed into Pluto TV
As part of the transaction, Pluto Inc. will acquire ProSiebenSat.1’s own video streaming service Quazer and takes over its team. Quazer represents the German counterpart of Pluto TV and offers its users more than 60 special-interest channels. A roughly 20-member team has built the portal in Berlin in recent months. For the time being, the brand names Quazer and Pluto TV will remain in use in their respective markets. The corporate offices will also remain in Berlin and L.A. As part of the new partnership Quazer’s managing directors Olivier Jollet and Sören Ziems will join the management team of Pluto TV.
Wahl continues: “With Quazer, we have demonstrated that we are capable of building a product and bringing it to market within just six months, a fact that attracted a great deal of interest on the part of this successful young American company. By working together, we will reach a global audience and will be able to offer advertising customers additional marketing opportunities.”
Tom Ryan, CEO of Pluto TV: “We’ve always had the ambition of being the global OTT destination for free television. This partnership is a giant leap toward realizing that goal. Combining both media power and digital expertise, ProSiebenSat.1 is the ideal partner to accelerate our entrance into German-speaking markets. Additionally, the talented Berlin-based Quazer team will strengthen Pluto TV, speeding the pace of both product innovation and international expansion.”
The investment in Pluto TV is one of a series of international investments and start-ups with an international orientation made by ProSiebenSat.1. For instance, the Munich media group internationalized Studio71, its own multi-channel network (MCN), through the acquisition of the US network CDS. The company now operates under the name Studio71 and, with around five billion video views per month, ranks among the top five MCNs worldwide. In addition, in 2015 the Red Arrow Entertainment Group, a production company of ProSiebenSat.1, founded Ripple Entertainment in the USA. Ripple Entertainment is a digital media company based in Los Angeles. Just recently ProSiebenSat.1 announced the foundation of glomex, an international marketplace for content exchange.
About Pluto TV
Pluto TV, the leading free OTT television service in America, carries and programs more than 100 channels in partnership with major TV networks, movie studios, publishers and digital media companies. Millions of viewers tune in each month to watch premium news, TV shows, movies, sports, live events, cartoons and trending digital series. Download the Pluto TV app free on mobile, web, and living room devices including Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Playstation, Xbox and more.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York City and Silicon Valley, Pluto TV is backed by USVP, Sky, Luminari Capital, Chicago Ventures, Terry Semel’s Windsor Media, United Talent Agency and other prominent investors.