Plex plans to start selling video subscriptions to users.
The company has not officially announced the move yet although the information was relayed through Variety.
The option to subscribe to video services through Plex is expected to go live next year. At the same time, Plex users will be able to purchase VOD content as well.
Plex subscriptions the one-stop missing link
Plex has always been considered a one-stop app by many. However, over the last few years the service has been slowly expanding into the streaming and TV markets.
Plex now lets users access free live TV, podcasts, web shows and more. By further padding out the service with video subscriptions and VOD purchases, Plex will reinforce its position as a one-stop app service.
While Plex won’t offer access to all the content you can think off, it apparently intends to provide about three-quarters of the “content you care about.” If Plex does what the report says it plans to, it has the potential to deal with the so-called subscription fatigue problem.
Not just paid subscriptions, but free content too
The timing of this informal announcement is not random. Earlier today Plex officially announced it had entered into an agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
The fruits of that deal won’t arrive until later in the year, but when that happens Plex users will gain access to a selection of Warner Bros. movies. That is, for free.
By the sounds of it, this will only be the start of things to come. The same reports suggests this is part of a wider ad-supported video streaming launch that Plex has planned for later in 2019.
In other words, Plex plans to launch an ad-supported steaming expansion a few months before launching paid subscriptions in 2020.
Plex walking the walk
While Plex seems to be capitalizing on its one-stop branding, it also appears to be backing up the marketing spiel. Providing all pans out as suggested, by some point next year Plex will be a full streaming ecosystem.
Whether it is free content via major companies like Warner Bros., free content via podcasts and web shows, live TV, paid content via subscription services, or VOD content, Plex will have it ready at the click of a button.
Most importantly, and where the real subscription fatigue solution comes in – all within the same app. This might also mean that Plex doesn’t just fix the subscription fatigue problem, but also the developing video app fatigue problem.