Samsung Electronics India has announced a significant milestone for its free ad-supported TV service (FAST), Samsung TV Plus, as it becomes the first Asia-Pacific (APAC) market to offer more than 100 channels. This achievement was marked with the addition of seven new channels, further enhancing the platform’s variety and content offerings.
Indian Samsung Smart TV users can now enjoy an even broader range of high-quality global and local content across various categories such as news, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle, all available for free. The recently added news channels include Zee News, Zee Business, ABP News, ABP Ananda, ABP Sanjha, Zee 24 Ghanta, and Times Now Navbharat.
Since its launch in India in 2021, Samsung TV Plus has seen a big increase in its local news offerings. Samsung TV Plus initially launched globally in 2018 as one of the first FAST services by a device manufacturer. Since then, it has steadily expanded its reach and content offering, now delivering over 1,600 channels worldwide and more than 30 owned and operated channels.
Samsung has partnerships with leading Indian broadcaster and media groups such as NDTV, 9x Media, TV Today, One Take Media, Republic, SAB Group, and Qyou.
Samsung TV Plus Numbers in India
Recent data reveals that advertising-based video on demand (AVOD), including Samsung TV Plus, is outpacing subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) growth in India when it comes to time spent streaming.
In the first quarter of this year, AVOD accounted for 89% of all streaming time on Samsung Smart TVs in the country. Samsung TV Plus’ MAU in India has also increased by 71% year-on-year, with the average session time showing an impressive 240% growth.
This surge in popularity aligns with global research conducted by Amagi, which indicates that the APAC region has the highest FAST performance compared to North America, Europe, and Latin America. The study examined factors such as growth in hours of viewing, which increased by 320% YoY between Q2 2022 and Q2 2021, and growth in ad impressions, which rose by 891% during the same period.
Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director at Samsung Ads India said:
“The growth of Samsung TV Plus is something we are very proud of in India. We have successfully launched, and continued to invest in, a service that is unique to the market and is clearly resonating with audiences, content providers and advertisers alike. The greater range of premium content provides audiences with greater choice of free content -whilst also giving the opportunity for advertisers to reach audiences in a more targeted and addressable environment. Samsung TV Plus will continue to play an integral role in the growth of FAST in India by offering greater value, variety and accessibility to free TV content for audiences.”
Kunal Mehta, Head Partnerships at Samsung TV Plus India said of the announcement:
“The launch of more premium content and local channels unique to India indicates the value and growth that Samsung TV Plus offers as a service. And to be the first market in APAC for Samsung to reach one hundred channels is testament to this, and the appetite for FAST content. We are always on the lookout for new potential partnerships with content providers who see the great potential that a rapidly growing FAST service like Samsung TV Plus India has to enable their content to reach more and new audiences.”
Krishna Rao Vijayanagar
Krishna Rao Vijayanagar, Ph.D. is the Editor-in-Chief of OTTVerse, a news portal covering technological and business news in the OTT space. With extensive experience in video compression, ABR streaming, video analytics, monetization, and more, Krishna has held multiple roles in R&D, Engineering, and Product ownership at companies such as Harmonic Inc., MediaMelon, and Airtel Digital. Krishna has published numerous articles and research papers on the latest trends in OTT and frequently speaks at industry events to share his insights and perspectives on the fundamentals and the future of OTT streaming.