Xumo is taking the ads out of ad-supported video on demand.
The streaming platform, owned by Comcast, is offering a weekly series of movies that viewers can watch without commercial interruption--the way viewers watch most programming when they pay for subscription streaming services.
Xumo is one of many free, ad supported streaming video services (AVOD ) that are picking up users as consumers start to balk at paying rising fees for an increasing number of subscription VOD (SVOD) services.
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Xumo is promoting its Ad-Free Movie of the Week by calling it a first for the AVOD industry.
The program raises its curtain Monday with the comedy Miss Stevens, starring Timothée Chalamet, Lily Rabe and Oscar Nunez. The 2016 film, which got a 91% Fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes, is available free without commercials through Oct. 10.
Not exactly the new Sopranos movie, but the price is right.
After Miss Stevens, the Ad-Free Movie of the Week is Hero, available Oct. 11-17.
To mark Halloween, Xumo is also making Marrowbone available without ads from Oct. 1 to Oct. 24 and We Need To Talk About Kevin will be commercial free Oct. 25-31.
The November and December movies will be unveiled at a later date, Xumo said.
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Xumo said it tested the Ad-Free Movie of the week concept in August with viewers on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 devices. The offering drove increased sessions per user, frequency of use, and ultimately, a more enjoyable streaming experience, Xumo said.
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The streaming platform is offering a weekly series of movies that viewers can watch without commercial interruption--the way viewers watch most programming when they pay for subscription streaming services.
"As an AVOD industry first, we’re excited to bring Xumo’s Ad-Free Movie of the Week to millions of users across all of our Xumo owned and operated properties,” noted Fern Feistel, senior VP of content operations and marketing at Xumo. “Not only are we delighting our audience, this is already proven to be a significant driver of retention as we continue to test new experiences.”
Xumo offers more than 200 digital channels of free programming across 12 genres, including sports, news, kids and family entertainment, live events, comedy and movies.
It reaches 24 million unique monthly users.
