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
Andersen Consulting Strengthens Organizational Transformation Capabilities with Afiniti7.5.2026 16:30:00 EEST | Press release
Andersen Consulting announces a Collaboration Agreement with Afiniti, a global business transformation consultancy headquartered in the United Kingdom that helps organizations deliver and sustain complex change programs. Founded in 2003, Afiniti is a global business change consultancy based in the UK and U.S., supporting clients through complex transformation across people, process, systems, and data, and bringing change to life through creative consulting services. The firm primarily serves highly regulated, safety-driven, and asset-intensive organizations with large, geographically dispersed workforces across sectors including energy, utilities, life sciences, transport, and construction. Afiniti works with well-known brands to deliver end-to-end expertise across organizational, digital and AI, cultural, and operating model transformation, particularly in complex scenarios such as mergers and acquisitions, large-scale technology adoption, and underperforming change programs that have
Datavault AI Announces Board of Directors Has Requested Management’s Complete Plan for Dividend Spin-Out of Acoustic Sciences Division into Stand-Alone Public Company7.5.2026 16:07:00 EEST | Press release
Datavault AI Inc. (“Datavault AI” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:DVLT), a pioneering technology licensing company seeking to redefine data valuation, monetization, and secure Web 3.0 experiences, today announced that Company management has commenced its evaluation of a potential dividend spin-out of the Company’s Acoustic Sciences division which includes its ADIO®, WiSA®, Event Citadel™, and API Media operations into a new stand-alone public company, which is proposed to be named “API Media”. The Company has reserved the ticker symbol “ADIO” for the proposed spin-out entity and currently intends that API Media will be listed on NASDAQ following completion of the proposed transactions, which remain subject to approval by the Company’s board of directors, definitive agreement, and satisfaction of closing conditions, as well as any regulatory approvals that may be required in connection therewith. The Company has engaged Houlihan Lokey as its financial advisor and Paul Hastings LLP as its lega
Incyte Announces 24-Week Long-Term Data from Phase 3 TRuE-AD4 Trial of Opzelura ® (ruxolitinib) Cream in Adults with Moderate Atopic Dermatitis7.5.2026 15:50:00 EEST | Press release
Incyte (Nasdaq:INCY) today announced final 24-week data from the Phase 3 TRuE-AD4 study evaluating the efficacy and safety of Opzelura® (ruxolitinib) cream in adults with moderate atopic dermatitis (AD) who had an inadequate response, intolerance or contraindication to topical corticosteroids (TCSs) and topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs). These data were presented (Abstract ID: P0851) today at the 2026 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Symposium, being held May 7–9, 2026, in Athens, Greece. As previously reported, the TRuE-AD4 study met both of its co-primary endpoints at Week 8, with a statistically significantly higher proportion of patients on Opzelura versus vehicle cream achieving EASI75 (≥75% improvement in Eczema Area and Severity Index score from baseline) and, separately, IGA-TS (Investigator's Global Assessment Treatment Success, defined as an IGA score of 0 [clear] or 1 [almost clear] with at least a two-point improvement from baseline).1 Patients who
Rapid Medical™’s TIGERTRIEVER™ 13 Demonstrates Promising 90-Day Outcomes in DISTALS Trial, Reinforcing Pivotal Safety and Efficacy Findings7.5.2026 15:03:00 EEST | Press release
Rapid Medical™, a leading developer of advanced stroke treatment devices, today announced full results from the DISTALS randomized clinical trial, presented at the 11th European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) in Maastricht, Netherlands, showing that TIGERTRIEVER™ 13 can safely restore blood flow to the brain and may improve clinical outcomes in patients with distal and medium vessel occlusion (DMVO) stroke. These findings build on earlier results showing a threefold improvement in restoring blood flow compared with medical management alone (p<0.0001), with no cases of serious brain bleeding observed in the treatment group. “These results show we can now safely restore blood flow and suggest this will make a meaningful difference for the right patients,” said Jeffrey L. Saver, MD, UCLA, and Principal Investigator of DISTALS. “What’s important is that both the device and the trial were designed specifically for distal stroke. By using a device built for these small vessels and mea
2 Million Downloads in Six Months: Tabelog’s Multilingual App Solves Critical Dining Pain Points for Travelers to Japan7.5.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Tabelog (https://tabelog.com/en/), one of Japan’s largest (*1) restaurant search and reservation services operated by Kakaku.com, Inc., has announced that its multilingual smartphone app (iOS/Android) for travelers visiting Japan has reached 2 million downloads (*2). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260507560248/en/ 2M+ Downloads in 6 Months. The app also ranked #1 in downloads among Restaurant Search Apps in Japan for International Travelers (*3) in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the U.S., reflecting its immense popularity among global visitors. Download URL: https://tabelog-tourists.onelink.me/3eEh/iqkkho9r The Trusted Choice for Global Travelers: Solving Two Major Dining Pain Points in Japan For years, international visitors to Japan have faced two critical dining pain points: [Pain Point 1] The Information Gap: Most available resources are tailored for tourists, making it difficult to find the true loc
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