Freeview Play said this week it has hit another major milestone in its quest to dominate UK living rooms, with its platform now boasting more than 40,000 hours of free to watch, on-demand content.
In an update, Freeview Play said it has increased its catalogue of watch-on-demand content by more than 10,000 hours over the last 12 months. The company previously hit a milestone of 30,000 hours of on-demand content in February 2021.
Freeview Play offers a connected TV service that’s now watched in more than 17 million homes across the U.K. It combines both live and on-demand content from services such as the BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5, UKTV Play, CBS Catchup Channels UK, Horror Bites, STV Player, POP Player and BBC Sounds.
Besides those catch up TV services, Freeview Play also carries more than 80 live TV channels. Together, its content makes up more than 95% of the most-watched TV shows in the U.K. and, best of all, it’s entirely free for users to watch. o
Freeview Play said its expanded list of on-demand content includes shows ranging from blockbuster drama series Peaky Blinders to reality TV hits like Love in the Flesh and Married at First Sight Australia.
The service also provides access to boxsets such as Mood, Our House, The Ipcress File and The Curse. Other content includes series such as Luther, I May Destroy You, Stath Lets Flats and Derry Girls. It’s also the home of classics such as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Vampire Diaries, Charmed, Gossip Girl and The O.C..
Like all good services, Freeview Play boasts a slick user interface that makes it extremely easy to find something to watch. There’s a universal search functionality, plus a carousel that displays handpicked recommendations based on viewer’s tastes and viewing habits.
While Freeview Play is free of charge, viewers will need to buy a TV that supports the app, or otherwise purchase a Freeview Play set-top box to access it. The good news is that Freeview Play is increasingly becoming a standard application that's pre-installed on major TV brands, including LG and Samsung.
To date, Freeview Play said it has sold more than 15 million set-top boxes, and now claims over 11 million regular viewers.
“Freeview Play just keeps getting bigger and better,” said Freeview Play’s marketing director Owen Jenkinson. “Over the past few months alone more live channels have been added to the platform, such as W channel, and BBC Three, and our on-demand offering is now an incredible 40,000 hours strong.”
