The Best Free Streaming Service Is Getting A Major Makeover (For Better And Worse)

Streaming is the future, and the future is upon us. People still watch old-fashioned TV, but broadcast and cable usage dropped below 50% in 2023 and has been on a downhill slide ever since. Cord-cutting has also accelerated rapidly in recent years. The problem? Streaming is only getting more expensive, with Netflix and seemingly every other streamer raising prices constantly. Hence, free streaming services can be a good place to turn. Now, a major one is getting a major makeover.

One of the best (if not the single best) free streaming options out there for quite some time, Pluto TV is essentially a free streaming substitute for cable, with lots of pre-programmed streaming channels that mimic the experience of watching TV in the pre-streaming days. Or, at least, that's what it was. Paramount Skydance, the streamer's parent company, has since elected to give the app an overhaul, and I got to see what it will look like first-hand.

As is often the case with these things, it's about taking the good with the bad.

At this year's ATX Television Festival, Pluto TV's SVP of Product Management, Tad Ro, gave me a demonstration of the new app, which is launching later this summer. The new app is modeled after an interface that Paramount+ Premium subscribers will recognize, and the whole thing is being done in the interest of corporate synergy, since Paramount controls both streamers.

Specifically, the new interface is prioritizing "content discovery," as is the case with many other paid streaming services. As a result, the live channels that Pluto TV is known for are no longer going to be the primary thing one sees on the homepage when they open the app. Rather, it's going to be a mix of on-demand content, as well as some live channel recommendations.

Pluto's historically been much more live channel based. "Basically replicating TV," as Tad Ro put it. No longer. Users will soon be dropped into an on-demand focused homepage, rather than the live channel experience. "That's essentially still there, but the dimension now as we see where young generations, Gen Alphas and Gen Zs, an on-demand, intentional discovery viewing of VOD," Ro explained.

Users will be encouraged to sign up for an account (if they haven't already) as soon as they open the app. Pluto TV may be free, but users can't unlock the app's full benefits without an account anymore. Other streamer's price increases have made it clear that the dream of streaming is dead, so making an account may be a small price to pay. Still, it's a meaningful change.

"There's a bigger push to get users to sign up and register so we can actually understand a user, how they consume content on Pluto," Ro clarified. "We can use that data to help personalize the experience both on Pluto and Paramount+."

Ro added that user accounts will eventually be merged as well, not unlike how Disney+ and Hulu operate under the same roof. The difference here is that one service is free, the other is not.

The new app is slick-looking but very familiar. It's not altogether unlike Paramount+, with a content carousel and a homepage "ripe for personalization." For longtime users of Pluto TV, though, it's going to feel very different. The live TV channels are still there, but one now has to navigate to them in the side bar. The new app prioritizes on-demand viewing.

"A lot of people didn't even know we had an on-demand section, but it's a deep, deep, deep catalog," Ro continued.

For viewers who get exhausted searching for something to watch on platforms like Netflix, Pluto TV's new app design will make it feel more like other streamers.

"It was the right thing for millennials," Tad Ro said regarding Pluto TV at its inception. "What really stood out for Pluto was the linear side of things because it was more passive viewing. You tell me what to watch. I don't even want to think about it."

Ro described the live channels as Pluto's "bread and butter," noting that "hundreds and hundreds of channels are still available." Now, however, "it's all about content discovery and leveraging the backbone of what Paramount+ is using," he added. Live content can be started from the beginning, bringing users into the on-demand interface.

"Our user data is telling us the younger trends are looking for on-demand," Ro explained. "Our biggest competitor is Tubi, and if you look at Tubi, they're way more AVOD." Tubi is one of the best free streaming services that can help replace Netflix, and the ad rates that support services like Pluto are a factor. "We all live because we're supported by ads," Ro noted. "The ad dollars are going towards on-demand. They think it's more intentional when the user is trying to find content versus the passing viewing side."

Live channel viewing will remain integrated into the homepage with a mix of personalized and curated carousels, like those on Paramount+. This will "simplify" the navigation menu by adding on-demand sections and a live TV tab. There's even an in-player browsing feature, meaning you can find stuff to watch while you're watching something. "Less clicks" and "less friction" is how Ro described it.

The new Pluto TV app launches this summer.