Xumo is an American over-the-topinternet television service owned by telecommunications conglomerate Comcast. Founded in 2011 as a joint venture between the Viant Technology subsidiary of Meredith Corporation and Panasonic, Xumo is a free, advertising video on demand service that primarily offers a selection of programming content through digital linear channels designed to emulate the experience of traditional television programming, and supported by revenue generated from video advertisements inserted into the service's programming streams in designated conventional television-styled commercial breaks. Xumo licenses its content directly from various content distributors, and has deals with more than 75 content partners as of 2020. Its content is available via its website and supported apps on mobile devices and smart TV models. The service's operations are based in the Los Angeles suburb of Irvine, California. As of February 2020, the service averages 10 million monthly active users. Comcast acquired the company in February 2020.
As of 2015, Vizio and Panasonic offered the service. Other manufacturers adding Xumo in 2016 include LG Electronics and Funai. As of May 2016, 78 channels were offered, with a total of 100 planned. The primary target audience is millennials who are not satisfied with multichannel television in the United States offerings. In February 2016, Time Inc. acquired Viant. The Vanderhook brothers began the company in 1999 as advertisementbanners.com, changing the name to Interactive Media Holdings in 2003 and Viant in 2015. As of July 2018, the Android app is live, users can download it in the Google Play Store. As of June 2019, according to CEO Colin Petrie-Norris, Xumo is available in over 35 million American households via a multi-screen distribution network of smart TVs, mobile, web, and streaming boxes. Xumo does not require a set-top box or dongle because TVs include it in a manner similar to Roku. Channel Plus from LG Electronics for LG Smart TVs with WebOS uses Xumo to recommend programs and provide advertising sold by Viant on some channels. Xumo has the capability to learn what users watch, adding frequently viewed channels and programs at the top of lists. On February 25, 2020, Comcast announced it would purchase Xumo from the Panasonic/Viant joint venture for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of the service—which will continue to operate as an independent business, albeit within Comcast's cable television division—stems mainly from Xumo's partnerships with smart TV manufacturers, which would allow Comcast to use Xumo's placement to market or showcase Xfinity and other Comcast services as well as use its technology to develop additional streaming platforms. The company plans to add content from the NBCUniversal programming library and the company's various television networks as well as use it to upsell its free/subscription hybrid service Peacock, akin to ViacomCBS's utilization of Pluto TV to offer content from its cable networks following the former Viacom's purchase of the rival streamer in the Spring of 2019.
Programming
Xumo is structured similarly to the pay television model, offering its content as designated channels categorized by program content type into 12 channel tiers:
News – consisting of mainstream news and opinion channels, as well as partisan, commentary-based outlets reflecting progressive and conservative viewpoints.
TV & Movies – general entertainment and movie channels.
Sports – includes live and previously-aired events, sporting news and analysis programs.
Kids & Family – channels aimed at children and family audiences.
Food, Drink and Travel – culinary and travel-oriented lifestyle channels.
Xumo content can be streamed through a number of desktop, mobile and internet-connected TV platforms including: Android and Apple iOS/iPadOS devices, LG Channel Plus and LG Channels set models, and Smart TV models manufactured by Vizio, Panasonic, Philips, Magnavox, Sanyo, Samsung, Hisense and Sharp Corporation. Outside of the contiguous United States, Xumo and its supported apps are currently available on LG Smart TV models powering its Channel Plus and LG Channels platforms distributed in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
