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
Grindr for Equality Commits to Connecting 10M to HIV Prevention by 202827.7.2026 17:31:00 EEST | Press release
Today at the 2026 International AIDS Conference, Grindr for Equality committed to connecting ten million LGBTQ+ people to HIV prevention by 2028, leveraging its platform reach to advance the global effort to end HIV by 2030. The commitment is rooted in Closing the Gap, a new Grindr for Equality report drawing on survey data from Grindr users across ten countries. The central finding is consistent across countries: people know about PrEP but they are not taking it. The barrier is access and the funding that existed to address it is disappearing. "Connecting people is what Grindr does at a scale and in communities that traditional public health systems don't effectively reach," said George Arison, CEO and Chairman of Grindr (NYSE: GRND). "The global HIV response is losing critical funding at the exact moment we should be accelerating to end HIV by 2030. Grindr has the reach and the responsibility to help close that access gap -- and we are proud to step up." Fifteen million people use Gr
InterSystems Launches Data Studio AI Assistant to Accelerate Enterprise Data Exploration and Insights27.7.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
InterSystems, a creative data technology provider powering some of the world's most important applications, today announced the general availability of InterSystems Data Studio™ AI Assistant, a new generative AI-powered extension for InterSystems Data Studio that helps organizations more easily understand, navigate, query, and visualize data through natural language interactions. As organizations move from AI experimentation to production deployments, many are discovering that the greatest challenge is not the AI model itself, but providing AI systems with access to trusted, current, and business-ready information. Enterprise data is often fragmented across applications, databases, cloud services, files, data warehouses, and departmental silos, making it difficult for users and AI systems to generate reliable insights. “Organizations are increasingly looking for ways to turn their data into actionable intelligence without adding complexity,” said Scott Gnau, Senior Vice President, Data
PMI U.S. Opens $1.2 Billion Aurora Campus, Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing and Export Capabilities27.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Philip Morris International Inc.’s (PMI) (NYSE: PM) U.S. businesses (PMI U.S.) today celebrated the opening of its Aurora, Colorado manufacturing campus, a landmark investment representing total capital expenditures of $1.2 billion from 2024-2028. The campus expands the company’s domestic manufacturing capabilities, strengthens supply chain resilience, and positions Aurora as a strategic production and export hub supporting future growth. The site began commercial production in July 2026 and produces ZYN nicotine pouches, joining PMI U.S.’s growing modern nicotine manufacturing network, which includes operations in Owensboro, Kentucky, and Wilson, North Carolina. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260727514086/en/ PMI U.S. Opens $1.2 Billion Aurora Campus, Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing and Export Capabilities Situated on a 148-acre site, the approximately 780,000-square-foot campus is PMI’s first greenfield ma
Tecnotree Strengthens LATAM Growth with New Digital Transformation Contracts Worth USD 8.8 Million27.7.2026 14:20:00 EEST | Press release
Tecnotree, a global leader in AI-native Digital Business Support Systems (BSS) and digital platform solutions, today announced it has secured new digital transformation contracts across Latin America with a combined value of USD 8.8 million, reinforcing the company’s continued commercial momentum and expanding its presence across one of its key strategic growth markets. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260727931342/en/ Tecnotree Strengthens LATAM Growth with New Digital Transformation Contracts Worth USD 8.8 Million Across the engagements, Tecnotree will deploy its AI-native digital platform and B2B Marketplace for enterprises to simplify customer and business operations through intelligent digital engagement, real-time monetization, digital commerce and partner ecosystem management and AI driven marketing and experience management. By providing a unified digital foundation, the platform enables communications
Pure Lithium Corporation Appoints Mercedes-Benz Battery Veteran Dr. Tobias Glossmann as Chief Product Officer27.7.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Pure Lithium Corporation, a vertically integrated next-generation lithium metal battery company and developer of the patented Brine to Battery™ technology, today announced the appointment of Dr. Tobias Glossmann as Chief Product Officer. In this role, Dr. Glossmann will lead product and technology strategy, guiding the translation of Pure Lithium’s battery science into engineered products and directing the company’s product engineering efforts. Dr. Glossmann joins Pure Lithium after a 25-year career across Mercedes-Benz companies, most recently serving as Principal Systems Engineer at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America. His work spanned advanced battery technology development, from materials through complete battery systems, and he held companywide responsibility for high voltage safety. His career began in 2001 with battery systems development at DaimlerChrysler in Ulm, Germany, and later in Michigan, giving him more than two decades of experience across cell chemistry
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