Rakuten TV Launches its AVOD Service in Europe
15.10.2019 11:30:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Rakuten TV, one of the leading video-on-demand platforms in Europe, today announced the launch of its first AVOD - ad-supported video-on-demand - channels within the platform. This new business model will allow viewers to watch a wide range of content for free.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191015005048/en/
Rakuten TV's new UI 4.0 including "Free" section (Photo: Rakuten TV)
The free section of Rakuten TV will launch with an initial offer including Hollywood and local content to be expanded to additionally include exclusive Rakuten content, TV series, documentary series, news and sport channels in the coming months - with a combined linear and on-demand offer.
Among the exclusive content, Rakuten TV will present on its AVOD channel Matchday - Inside FC Barcelona, the new documentary series about FC Barcelona from the inside, offering previously unseen and exclusive scenes from the players’ private lives. Narrated by John Malkovich, Matchday – Inside FC Barcelona is a creation of Barça Studios, FC Barcelona’s own production house, in collaboration with Kosmos Studios, Rakuten, Inc. in association with Rakuten H Collective Studio and Producciones del Barrio.
Expanding its business model proposition, Rakuten TV will be the first to combine TVOD and AVOD products across Europe, meeting the changing needs of viewers. The free ad-supported channels will enrich the original proposition of Rakuten TV - Your Cinema at Home - offering Smart TV viewers the best cinematic experience with the latest new releases in the best audiovisual quality. Thanks to the presence of a remote control button providing direct access to the app on major Smart TVs, Rakuten TV content will be just a click away for over 30 million households across Europe.
In a time when the streaming industry is increasingly changing and exploring avenues such as AVOD, Rakuten TV is proud to pioneer this trend in Europe as the main VOD platform combining different business models - TVOD, AVOD and SVOD - which are oriented around meeting all audience needs.
Jacinto Roca, Rakuten TV Founder and CEO, stated: “We are incredibly proud to take this step after having tripled our presence in Europe just a few months ago. Rakuten TV continues to evolve rapidly alongside consumer trends within the industry, where there is a clear trend of advertisers moving away from linear TV and towards VOD. This is a unique opportunity for Rakuten TV which has already direct access to millions of European households through its branded remote control button of the main Smart TV brands. This is the mere beginning of a huge project which will see the launch of additional channels and exclusive content in the coming months”.
The service will be available in beta version, across the complete 2019 SMART TV line up, and will be progressively rolled out in other platforms including mobile and desktop.
Advertising sales will be managed by Rakuten Marketing, a subsidiary of Rakuten Inc. Nick Stamos, Rakuten Marketing CEO, stated: “Advertisers and agencies are eager to be among the first to showcase their brands in this exclusive and groundbreaking advertising platform. As VOD is emerging as a powerful media channel, our clients have been anticipating this launch from RakutenTV, so we are very excited to bring this new proposition to market across Europe.”
Rakuten Viber, Rakuten’s instant messaging service, will also be involved in the project, leveraging its community of 2 million Barça fans to promote Matchday.
Nielsen will be the data partner (DMP-data management platform) used to target advertisements at a digital level
This news comes alongside a renewed platform design for Rakuten TV, with a more attractive look & feel, a more intuitive user interface and a simpler user journey. Within the new interface, viewers will discover the new channel offering featuring ad-supported content inside the ‘free’ section implemented within the header menu.
The announcement took place during the conference “AVOD on the Rise” at MIPCOM 2019, where Founder and CEO of Rakuten TV, Jacinto Roca, spoke about the AVOD industry and its evolution with other top players in the entertainment field.
Rakuten TV
Rakuten TV is one of the leading Video On-Demand platforms in Europe. It offers a TVOD service (Transactional VOD) providing viewers a true cinematic experience with the latest new releases in the best audiovisual quality. It also includes an AVOD (Advertising VOD) section, Rakuten TV Free, in a blend of thematic channels embracing Hollywood classics, local, exclusive and themed content, all for free.
Rakuten TV is available in 42 countries and forms part of Rakuten, Inc., one of the world’s leading internet services companies, offering a wide variety of services for consumers and businesses, with a focus on e-commerce, fintech and digital content. Rakuten, headquartered in Japan, is also known for its partnerships with FC Barcelona, the NBA, the Golden State Warriors, Davis Cup and Spartan Race.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191015005048/en/
Contact information
Media Contacts:
For further information please contact:
Premier PR – Rakuten TV
Charlie Wainwright - Premier PR on behalf of Rakuten TV
charlie.wainwright@premiercomms.com
0207 292 7372
Rakuten TV
Fabiana Cumia – Communication Director – fabiana.cumia@rakuten.com
Iraia Arza – PR & Communication Specialist – iraia.arza@rakuten.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Thales Secures Significant U.S. Army LOCODA Radio Order Following Rapid Development Push23.6.2026 20:42:00 EEST | Press release
Delivering capability at mission speed, Thales subsidiary, Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI), has secured an order for up to 5,000 Low Cost Data Architecture (LOCODA) Radio Adaptable Transport (RAT) platforms. The Thales RAT solution, which was conceived, developed and field-ready less than four months, modernizes voice and data communications and integrates effortlessly into radio mounts across all current and future U.S. Army vehicle platforms. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260623043996/en/ Thales Radio Adaptable Transport (c)Thales The LOCODA RAT platform provides soldiers with a reliable, adaptable communications capability they can depend on across any mission and environment. By reusing existing vehicle radio mounts and supporting a wide range of radios and mission modules, it reduces setup time and simplifies integration in the field. Soldiers gain secure, flexible voice and data connectivity tha
Epicor Prism Launches Across European Markets, Bringing Embedded, Industry-Specific AI to Manufacturers23.6.2026 18:55:00 EEST | Press release
Epicor has expanded its AI-driven ERP strategy in the UK and select European markets with the general availability of Epicor Prism, a portfolio of vertical AI agents designed specifically for the supply chain industries. Embedded directly in Epicor Kinetic, Epicor Prism gives customers conversational access to live ERP data and related documents without needing specialised analytics skills or separate AI tools. The launch reflects a broader shift in ERP from systems of record to systems of outcomes that help users interpret data, make decisions and take action in real time — a transformation Epicor calls Cognitive ERP. Responding to pressure on productivity and skills European manufacturers are under growing pressure to raise productivity, strengthen supply chain resilience and remain globally competitive despite workforce constraints and ongoing digital skills shortages. While many organisations continue to invest heavily in ERP, turning operational data into timely insight at the poi
Airship Appoints Laura Zwahlen as Chief Revenue Officer23.6.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Airship, the mobile-first customer experience company, today announced the appointment of Laura Zwahlen as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Zwahlen will oversee all global revenue-generating activities, driving the alignment, execution, and strategy across Airship’s sales, account management, and customer success teams to accelerate the company’s market leadership and customer impact. She will report directly to CEO Brett Caine. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260623145620/en/ Laura Zwahlen, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of Airship Zwahlen brings more than 20 years of go-to-market and revenue leadership experience, with a proven track record of guiding technology organizations through rapid growth, strategic acquisitions, and public offerings. Previously, she served as CRO at NextRoll (the parent company of AdRoll and AdRoll ABM) where she led global revenue teams and drove initiatives centered on sustainable growth
INRIX Data Reveals How the 2026 FIFA World Cup Is Reshaping Traffic Across 11 U.S. Cities23.6.2026 17:56:00 EEST | Press release
INRIX, a global leader in transportation data and analytics, today announced the launch of its 2026 FIFA World Cup Data Hub, providing transportation agencies, event organizers, media, and travelers with a comprehensive, real-time view of how the world’s largest sporting event is moving millions of people. The 2026 FIFA World Cup spans 16 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, making it the most geographically diverse World Cup in history. With matches across 11 U.S. stadiums attracting millions of fans from around the world, transportation demands vary as widely as the cities themselves. INRIX is uniquely positioned to capture that complexity at scale with unprecedented speed, backed by a data infrastructure no other company can beat. Drawing on more than 300 million connected vehicles and devices, a 50-petabyte transportation data lake, and 44 billion data points generated daily, INRIX can analyze traffic conditions around any U.S. stadium within hours of a match. The c
IQM achieves milestone in quantum error correction, enabling fault-tolerant computing in the near-term23.6.2026 17:41:00 EEST | Press release
IQM Quantum Computers, the global leader in superconducting quantum computers, today announced a significant achievement in quantum error correction, using directional tile codes, marking a major step toward practical, large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260623243333/en/ IQM achieves milestone in quantum error correction, enabling fault-tolerant computing in the near-term The research, available on arXiv, and co-authored by IQM researchers and collaborators at Freie Universität Berlin, the University of Edinburgh, and Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, introduces ‘directional tile codes’, a new family of quantum error-correcting codes that resolves one of the central tensions in quantum computing. As IQM prepares for its planned Nasdaq listing through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: RAAQ), this research advances a core pillar of its technology ro
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom