By Andy Fry
Reports are circulating that Samsung has been offering its streaming service Samsung TV Plus to rival smart TV manufacturers. First cited by Lowpass, the Korean giant has reportedly held discussions with major players include TCL. If that’s the case, it signals an ambition at Samsung to accelerate the expansion of its AVOD/FAST business.
So far, Samsung’s official line has been that Samsung TV Plus is primarily designed for its own ecosystem. But it has dipped its toe in the water in terms of making its content services more widely available, via its open source Tizen operating system. Tizen has been licensed to third party manufacturers in markets such as Italy, Turkey and Australia – and it is possible to access Samsung TV Plus in this way.
The desire to expand Samsung TV Plus’s universe is no surprise given the amount of money the company is investing in content rights, the growth in the platform’s viewing, and predictions about the likely expansion of the FAST market. Just yesterday, DTVE sister company OMDIA predicted FAST revenues will reach US$12 billion by 2027.
One obvious obstacle to the expansion of Samsung TV Plus is that some other smart TV manufacturers have already launched their own content platforms, LG and Vizio being notable examples. The big opportunity for Samsung would presumably be to embed its platform with high penetration Chinese firms like TCL.
