Pluto TV entered another market this month: Canada. The new foray caps off a year where the free, ad-supported service expanded rapidly around the globe and kicked off 2022 by surpassing $1B in revenue.

As President and CEO Bob Bakish often says: Investors were befuddled when Viacom decided to purchase Pluto TV in 2019—but now it’s taking off like a rocket ship. Pluto TV now has 72M MAUs globally and is in more than 30 countries. Olivier Jollet, EVP and international GM of Pluto TV, says the rocket ship’s journey will continue as the platform proves to advertisers that it’s a worthwhile partner.

“The Pluto TV inventory has the impact of TV with the measurement and the targetability of digital. That’s the best of both worlds,” says Jollet. “That's the reason why we see more and more big TV clients shifting budget into Pluto TV… The industry is evolving fast, the advertising market is changing, and Pluto TV is clearly one of the winners of this change in the market.”

Jollet spoke to the Paramount Newsroom about how his team is convincing advertisers to work with Pluto TV, the rapid expansion of the lean-back service, and his proudest moment of the year.

Nicole Bitette: How many countries is Pluto TV currently in and how rapidly did that expansion take place?

Olivier Jollet: We are live in more than 35 markets and we have incredibly expanded our global footprint in just four years.

When Pluto TV was acquired by Paramount, we were just beginning our adventure outside of the U.S., first in the UK, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. After our first steps into the European market, we immediately landed in Latin America followed by Italy, Spain and France. Just this year, we launched in the Nordics (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) through a partnership with Viaplay, and more recently, in December in Canada with our most robust content offering to date thanks to our partnership with Corus Entertainment.

The pace of the roll-out has been amazing. Our goal is to entertain the planet and clearly we see that Pluto TV is a global proposition that is appealing to audiences across the globe. There are still a number of key markets that we want to explore. This is truly just the beginning.

NB: How do you keep that momentum going?

OJ: It’s important to keep the momentum alive. When you are in launch mode, you tend to forget a bit about the business as usual. It is important to balance our bandwidth, between really scaling the existing markets, while continuing to launch in new ones. Our efforts are focused on three areas, with the first being content. It is our top priority to bring a great mix of global and local content, and more channels, to our fans and audiences around the world. The second is broader distribution. We want to reach the users wherever they are, and to do so, being on all platforms is key. That’s why, we have focused significantly on expanding our distribution footprint this year, through our incredible partnerships.

Last but not least, we focus on monetization. We need to bring revenues to our content partners and educate the market about this “new world” and business model; we want advertisers to understand the new opportunities that Pluto TV can offer them. To do this, we must explain the value of our inventory, which has the impact of TV with the measurement and the target ability of digital in a premium, brand-safe environment for advertisers. Pluto TV is the best of both worlds. That's the reason why big TV clients are deciding to shift their budget to Pluto TV. The advertising industry is evolving fast and Pluto TV is clearly a frontrunner when it comes to this change in the industry.

NB: What are some of the channels that you find successful in other markets?

OJ: At Pluto TV we strive to serve every kind of audience. With over 100 channels in each market, we truly offer something for everyone spanning movies, crime, comedy, news, sports, lifestyle and kids. Channels focused on crime, drama and comedy tend to resonate most with our audiences, globally. And our Paramount library is also popular with our viewers, from dedicated SpongeBob and South Park channels to familiar IP from CBS, like Survivor and NCIS. More recently, we started to launch a lot of what I call nostalgic TV content like Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Walker Texas Ranger, all of which have been incredibly successful.

One of the key elements to our success is that we leverage more than 400 content partnerships around the world to bring our audiences a mix of global and local content. For example, we recently had the Copa Libertadores Femenina running in LatAm and the World Rallycross Championship in the Nordics, thanks such partnerships.

Pluto TV is the new Free TV, and local content is key. We deliver a quality lineup of local shows and channels in all markets thanks to partners such as Corus Entertainment, who we joined forces with for our most recent launch in Canada, brining viewers our most robust content offering to date with more than 110 channels. We have teams on the ground in every single region bringing the best content possible to the local audience, and they are doing such an outstanding job.

We are also able to leverage the power of our ecosystem. A recent example is the incredible success of the 24/7 Gran Hermano (Big Brother) channel on Pluto TV in Argentina. This show is breaking records on Telefe, our Free to air Network in the market, where we drive viewers to the 24/7 channel on Pluto TV, allowing fans to tune in around the clock to see what is happening in the Gran Hermano House.

NB: Can you talk about your upcoming goals for the next few quarters and the goals that you've accomplished thus far?

OJ: 2022 has been an incredible year of growth and success. In addition to expanding into new markets, we also focused on increasing the programming and distribution in our existing markets. We launched more than 850 channels across all international markets this year. The programming team has been highly dedicated to ensuring we curate the right channels for each audience in our territories.

The last thing, which people tend to forget, is that when you're running an ad-supported business, you need to attract advertisers. We've been incredibly focused on educating the advertising industry about the value of the Pluto TV inventory. It is something that takes time, but I think we're seeing great growth—even exponential revenue growth. We've recently been sold out in the UK, the Nordics and Germany, proving that the Pluto TV model works for both the users and the advertisers.

NB: What content are you personally excited about?

OJ: Tulsa King. I'm a big gangster mafia fan and Sylvester Stallone is amazing in this new series. It's really powerful and authentic—I think it's brilliant.

NB: What are you proud of from your team at Pluto TV this year?

OJ: As a platform, we serve a wide range of audiences and communities. . It's a goal of ours to address current topics and ensure the content we provide reflects the diversity of our viewers across the globe. When the war in the Ukraine started, there were a lot of refugees arriving in Poland, Germany and across Europe. Within a week, our team, in partnership with Nickelodeon, worked closely to put together a Pluto TV Nick Ukraine channel, showcasing the best of Nick’s shows in Ukrainian entirely for free.

That's something I'm really, really proud of. It's not a lot but offering a little bit of happiness and an escape for those kids experiencing such a heavy and complicated moment was really fulfilling. This project and the teams’ efforts attached to it, demonstrates the dedication of our teams and the culture that we have as a company.