Redbox is the latest company to offer a free linear streaming television service — and just like the rest of its competition, you’re likely to find the same library of content due to just a handful of licensing deals.
The service, which hasn’t been officially announced, contains content from the Filmrise library — Unsolved Mysteries, clips from Family Feud, America’s Funniest Videos and a handful of others.
It’s the same content you’ll find on other AVOD services like Sinclair’s STIRR, ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV, Xumo TV, Tubi TV and Amazon’s IMDb TV.
The difference here is, it’s Redbox, which comes with potential exposure to a large group of shoppers anywhere there’s a Redbox kiosk, should they start to advertise the new service there.
The AVOD market, also known as FAST (free ad-supported streaming television), is expected to generate more than $27 billion in revenue within the next three years, so it’s no surprise why some media companies are eyeing it as an attractive cash grab.
But there could be another reason why Redbox wants in: It’s low-cost advertising. Filmrise is known to license their content on the cheap — it’s why so many startup sreaming TV services use them in the first place — and that can quickly show a return if customers gravitate toward other offerings.
For services like Amazon’s IMDb and Walmart’s Vudu, that means visiting other parts of their retailer’s website. For Redbox, it means reintroducing existing customers and exposing new ones to the company’s on-demand movie offerings — and, of course, those cute red kiosks at supermarkets and gas stations across the country.
Supporting platforms for Redbox Free Live TV have yet to be announced, but it can be streamed right now via Redbox’s website.
