Early years (2014–2019) Pluto TV first launched its beta website on March 31, 2014, and was co-founded by chairman and CEO Nick Grouf, Tom Ryan, and Ilya Pozin. Pluto TV was originally developed to provide curated channels of existing online content, offering a slate of nearly 100 categorized channels featuring content aggregated from various video-sharing platforms (including
YouTube,
Vimeo, and
Dailymotion) as well as additional content provided through partnerships with original web content services and television networks (including
Funny or Die,
QVC,
Refinery29,
RocketJump and
TYT Network). On May 14, 2014, Pluto unveiled a
digital video recorder feature on its website known as "myPluto"; users could "record" content by clicking a "save show" button that would archive content from the channel as it played. On July 1, 2015, Pluto TV announced that it had signed a deal with
Hulu (now Disney-owned) to distribute the ad-supported video content available for free on Hulu's website including current-season episodes of programs from
ABC,
NBC and
Fox, recent and older classic television series, and domestic and foreign animated programs. Under the arrangement, Hulu handled advertising for content made available through Pluto TV. In the weeks preceding the Hulu deal, Pluto TV had separately reached content agreements with
AOL,
Endemol Beyond USA,
Shout! Factory,
Jukin Media and YouTube content channels Devin SuperTramp, Multicom, Around the World in 4K and Amazing Places on Our Planet to distribute their programming on the service. In October 2015, 20 additional channels featuring content from
AwesomenessTV,
Cracked,
IGN,
Just for Laughs,
Legendary Digital Networks,
Newsy,
The Onion and DHX Media (now as
WildBrain) were brought onto the service's lineup, bringing the total number of curated channels offered by Pluto to around 120. On May 15, 2016, Pluto TV signed an agreement with
Sony to make the Pluto TV app available on the PlayStation Store for download by users of the
PlayStation 3 and
PlayStation 4. In 2016, Pluto Inc. raised $30 million in
series B venture capital funding from
ProSiebenSat.1 Media,
Scripps Networks Interactive, and venture capital firms Luminari Capital, Chicago Ventures and Third Wave Ventures, valuing the company at $140 million. The round was led by German television network
ProSieben, with additional funding from telecommunications company
Sky UK. On May 15, 2017, Pluto TV launched a traditional video-on-demand offering, consisting a large library of films and television series licensed from such distributors as
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Lionsgate,
Warner Bros.,
Viacom (which acquired the service itself two years later),
Sony Pictures,
Fremantle,
Monstercat,
King Features Syndicate along with two Canadian studios,
Nelvana and DHX that are made available for individual viewing to Pluto users.
Variety reported that , the service was averaging 6 million users per month, By October 2017, Pluto TV reached over 15 million users. On October 17 of that year, Pluto TV announced that it received a $5-million investment from
Samsung Venture Investment Corporation as part of an $8.3 million round of funding raised by various investors. On March 15, 2018, Pluto TV entered into a partnership with
SpotX to provide advertising monetization services for Pluto, including engendering sales from media buyers breaking into over-the-top content services. On July 19, 2018, Pluto TV announced an agreement with
Sony Pictures Television to stream over 200 movies and TV shows from Sony Pictures. On October 1, 2018, Pluto TV expanded into parts of Europe, with the launch of a platform on Sky's
Now TV service in the UK, offering an initial slate of more than 12 curated channels. Also in October 2018, Pluto TV picked Tru Optik to help with advertising inventory. On December 4, 2018, Pluto TV launched a regional service in Germany and Austria, also through a separate collaborative agreement with Sky, with the app's content made available initially via the Sky TV stick; the German/Austrian service originally incorporated a slate of 15 streaming channels (consisted of both Pluto-exclusive services with both German and English-language content as well as channels compiled by third-party content providers).
Purchase by Viacom/Paramount Global/Paramount Skydance ownership (2019–present) On January 22, 2019,
Viacom (with CBS re-merging months later) announced its intention to acquire Pluto TV for $340 million. Viacom's plans for Pluto TV included using the service as a marketing tool for its portfolio of linear media brands (including incorporating more licensed content from Viacom-owned properties) and to serve as a distribution outlet for its in-house digital content brands (such as
AwesomenessTV), expanding the service into Latin America, and entering into partnerships with internet and mobile providers to cross-promote the service, and offer advertising inventory and revenue sharing. The deal was completed on March 4, 2019. On March 18, 2019, Viacom (through its
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) unit) announced plans to launch Pluto TV worldwide; VIMN President James Currell explained that the company believed the global Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) sector was "becoming too crowded and capital intensive," choosing to focus on building scale through ad-supported streaming platforms. On May 1, 2019, Pluto introduced branded channels based on
Viacom Media Networks-owned cable outlets and other Viacom properties, including content from
Paramount Pictures (films only),
Nickelodeon (kid-aimed),
BET (African American-aimed),
Comedy Central,
VH1,
Logo,
TV Land and
MTV (music-aimed), along with
Spike-branded channels based on the network's past formats of men's interest and outdoors programming. The free channels are not simulcasts of their namesake networks, as contractual restrictions with traditional pay television providers prevent it from distributing the full linear feeds, but instead focus primarily on archival content and series that Pluto TV has acquired from other content providers. Some of these branded services are direct offshoots of their linear counterparts, while others (such as
CMT,
Cheer 24/7, TV Land Sitcoms, TV Land Drama, MTV Teen, VH1: I Love Reality, and Nickelodeon offshoots
Dora TV and
Totally Turtles On July 1, 2019, the service launched a Spanish-language programming tier, Pluto TV Latino, consisting initially of eleven
Spanish and
Portuguese-language channels (including two sports-focused channels,
Lucha Libre and
Combate World, that were previously assigned to the service's main sports tier) that incorporate programming originally produced natively in those languages and Spanish-dubbed versions of English and Portuguese programs. On August 13, 2019,
National Amusements announced that Viacom and
CBS Corporation—which had split into two separate companies in 2005, five years after the original
Viacom first acquired CBS's assets—would
recombine their assets into a singular entity to be named
ViacomCBS in a deal valued at up to $15.4 billion. Following the announcement,
Deadline Hollywood, citing sources within the company, identified Pluto TV as a potential outlet for CBS streaming content. Pluto had recently carried
CBS News's
CBSN, and technology and video-game-oriented
CNET Video. Additional channels from CBS, including the
New York and
Los Angeles services, and an
Entertainment Tonight-branded entertainment news channel (ET Live), were added to the service on November 13, 2019, prior to the completion of the merger. In September 2019, Pluto TV became available on mobile platforms in four European countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK; the service first became available in those countries on
iOS and
Apple TV devices on September 6, and on Android devices on September 24. By November 2019, the service was estimated to have 20 million monthly active users. On February 3, 2020, ViacomCBS announced that Pluto TV would launch in Latin America at the end of March, offering 17 channels available in two languages, Spanish and Portuguese at launch; additional channels would be added on a monthly basis with more than 80 channels expected to be available by the end of 2020. Alongside content carried by ViacomCBS Networks International-owned local versions of its corporate parent's US media properties, co-owned Argentine network
Telefe and
Porta dos Fundos would also provide content for the service. The service was expected to launch in
Brazil in December 2020, but was anticipated and was launched on November 17, 2020. In January 2020, Pluto TV unveiled a new logo at CES 2020, and later unveiled a redesign of its Apple iOS apps, which included a new channel guide and on-demand menu interface. The redesigned interface—finally removes the new logo—was rolled out to the website and desktop app the following day on February 21, its Roku app on February 26, and Android devices and other platforms on March 2. On February 20, 2020, ViacomCBS estimated that Pluto TV generated a monthly average of 22 million viewers in the fourth quarter of 2019, with expectations of its user base reaching 30 million monthly viewers by December 2020. The company also announced that Pluto content would be incorporated into a revamped version of CBS All Access, which would also add content from ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks cable properties,
Paramount Pictures and
CBS Television Distribution. ViacomCBS CEO
Bob Bakish stated that Pluto TV—which will remain a free, standalone offering—would be part of the company's refocusing on three core streaming services, alongside the subscription-based CBS All Access and
Showtime's OTT service, which would act as its mid-level and premium offerings and which Pluto will also be used to upsell along with ViacomCBS's other niche streaming platforms. On July 9, 2020, the service launched an app for
Virgin Media customers in the UK. On October 8 of that same year, ViacomCBS announced Pluto TV's launch in Spain, Italy and France, with 40 channels and thousands of hours of on-demand content. On July 17, 2021, Pluto TV added several new channels including
News 12 New York, Pluto TV Home, and
Professional Bull Riders' RidePass. A deal made between Pluto TV and PBR allowed for Pluto TV to be the exclusive home to RidePass content. On September 29, 2021, Pluto TV's parent ViacomCBS agreed to pay $3.5 million and enter into a consent decree with the FCC to provide clear and accessible
closed captioning, which would often not be passed down to the consumer via Pluto TV apps or websites despite either being part of a program already or being captioned by the live programming provider. The FCC's determined the service had not implemented proper and visible settings to allow the passthrough of captions, removed captioning capabilities, and did not maintain email or telephone captioning support
hotlines required by the FCC to address viewer complaints. Under FCC rules, all nonexempt full-length video programming delivered over the Internet must present closed captions if originally aired over American television with captioning, if the programming had previously been shown on television in the U.S. with captions. This effectively applies to most television programming created after 1984, along with the 1990 Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990, which mandated a requirement for captions to be accessible on all but the smallest televisions. On November 29, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that Pluto TV would launch in Sweden, Norway and Denmark by 2022 as part of a joint venture with
Nordic Entertainment Group, phasing out the company's existing AVOD service Viafree upon launch. On March 16, 2022, it was announced that the launch date of Pluto TV in the three countries will be on May 18, 2022. On February 16, 2022, Pluto TV's parent company, ViacomCBS Streaming, was renamed
Paramount Streaming, in-line with the rebranding of parent company ViacomCBS to
Paramount Global. On May 18, 2022, Pluto TV was launched in the Nordics through a partnership with
Viaplay Group (formerly called Nordic Entertainment Group). On July 13, 2022, Pluto TV added five new channel categories: Game Shows, Daytime TV, Home, Food, and Lifestyle & Culture, and two new channels: ''
Let's Make a Deal and The Judge Judy Channel. Additional channels devoted to Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune'' were added in August 2022. On September 1, 2022, Pluto TV launched two new channels, the 2K-themed movie channel, dubbed "00s Replay", and
The Ed Sullivan Show. More channels were added throughout the month:
CSI: Miami and its spin-off
CSI: NY, launched on September 13,
60 Minutes launched on September 24, and
Hallmark Movies & More and
Rachael Ray launched on September 26. On October 31, 2022, Pluto TV announced that it would add 6,300 episodes of classic CBS-distributed series to its on-demand library by the end of 2022, including
Cheers,
Criminal Minds, Frasier, and
Star Trek. On December 1, 2022, Pluto TV launched in Canada in partnership with
Corus Entertainment, which is handling marketing and Canadian advertising sales. Corus also contributed channels to the service that are drawn from its networks and libraries, such as
Global News,
Property Brothers,
Anna Olson, and
Bryan Baeumler. The next day, the service added additional Christmas-related channels for the holiday season, as well as More
Star Trek, Confess by Nosey, and
AMC en Español. On December 15, 2022, Pluto TV launched a new advertising campaign featuring talk show host/actress
Drew Barrymore. On April 11, 2023, Pluto TV launched the Latin-aimed
CBS Sports Golazo Network in the United States to take advantage of Paramount Global's worldwide soccer rights, including discussion shows and live games. On November 1, 2023, Paramount announced that Pluto TV would merge with
My5 in the UK, with its full launch date set to be planned for the second half of 2024. Paramount later called off the merger on August 20, 2024, opting to relaunch My5 in 2025 and keep Pluto TV as a separate service. My5 and
Channel 5 were both rebranded to simply
5 in that year. In October 2024, the service announced a new partnership with
NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution. As of December 2024, according to
Media Technology Monitor, Pluto TV was the most popular free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service in
Canada. In April 2025, Pluto TV announced the addition of The
Martha Stewart Channel, The
Emeril Lagasse Channel, and
ALLBLK Gems to its permanent channel lineup. After the Paramount–Skydance merger was completed on August 7, 2025, CEO
David Ellison stated that Pluto TV and Paramount+ (along with
Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service
HBO Max if Paramount Skydance's planned merger with WBD goes through) will move to a unified technology stack beginning in 2026. While he did not rule out the possibility of consolidating the two or three services into a single app in the future, Ellison has only confirmed the backend integration at this stage. == Programming ==