Popcornflix Announces Roku Download Numbers
According to the most recent announcement, the free streaming movie platform Popcornflix, has surpassed 400,000 downloads on Roku. Since that announcement the company has updated the tally and now claims 500,000 downloads (as of Monday August 8th), which means it added around 100k in the past 30 days or so. This puts it just behind the big players in the space, Hulu, Netlfix, Amazon to name a few.
There is one difference, well a couple, that make Popcornflix unique and compelling. Once is the price, it's free. With an ad supported streaming movie model, it doesn't ask users to pay a monthly fee like Hulu, or pay per episode or season like other streaming video services. The other is movie rights, Popcornflix parent company is Screen Media Ventures, LLC, and with distribution rights spanning digital, the company decided about a year and a half ago to leverage digital distribution to reach viewers directly. The company launched a year ago and hopped on the Roku platform about 6-months ago, even though Screen Media Ventures, LLC has been in operation for the past 13 years.
In an article in GigaOM, Gary Delfiner, SVP of Screen Media Ventures, LLC, the parent company of Popcornflix said, "We don't have huge movies, we have good movies". The library of movies gives users a fast and easy way to view hundreds of theatrically released titles and indie films, even if some have categorized the offerings as being in the 'so-bad-it's-good category'. But this hasn't stopped movie lovers from tuning in, and the company has plans to venture into other markets as well, most recently expanding to the UK and Canada.
In an email exchange, Delfiner updated the number of Roku downloads and also stated the company will be expanding aggressively in the connected TV market and are currently in talks with major electronics manufacturers toward that end. The company also has plans to expand to all English speaking countries as well as Germany, France, Russia, Latin America, and Brazil.
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