The free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform Samsung TV Plus officially debuted in Southeast Asia this month.
The FAST platform is available on Samsung smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and smart monitors in Singapore and the Philippines, and will debut in Thailand later this month.
“Across Southeast Asia, the appetite for ad-supported TV is soaring, with TV viewing time doubling in the last 12 months across APAC,” Ed Love, the lead executive in charge of Samsung TV Plus in Southeast Asia and Oceania (SEAO), said in a statement. “Now is the right time to carve our own path within the region’s thriving ad-supported market by delivering hugely popular global and local content that provides something for everyone, for free.”
Currently, Samsung TV Plus curates more than 20 global live TV channels offering content like “Survivor,” “Mythbusters” and “Don’t Tell the Bride.” In the coming months, Samsung TV Plus in Southeast Asia will also offer Euronews, Red Bull TV and a marathon channel for the hit game show “Deal or No Deal.” ITV Studios, Banjay Entertainment and Tap Digital Media Ventures are supplying content for some of the channels, Samsung said.
Earlier this month, Samsung revealed its FAST platform reaches a global audience of over 88 million monthly active users (MAUs), though some have noted that Samsung smart TVs automatically launch Samsung TV Plus by default (this can be turned off in the settings).
Still, the reach of Samsung TV Plus is impressive — few other service providers or platforms can claim tens of millions of international streamers, if not more.
Southeast Asia is one of the few corners of the world where traditional linear television still dominates, and where streaming services are just now starting to chip away at that lead. For companies like Samsung, it presents an opportunity to enter the market with digitally-distributed content and a connected TV platform that offers targeted advertising, similar to what the company offers to marketers in other parts of the world. Samsung smart TVs gained the ability to deliver targeted messaging through Samsung Ads over the past year, the company said.
“The success of Samsung TV Plus around the world has enabled us to build a robust blueprint for Southeast Asia,” said Alex Spurzem, the Managing Director of Samsung Ads SEAO. “We’re dedicated to offering viewers and advertisers more premium content, completely free on the big screen, all at the unmatched scale only Samsung can deliver.”
