Fresh from launching a broadband-powered successor to Freeview in collaboration with the BBC, ITV has rolled-out a huge update to its own streaming service. From today, ITVX viewers can now stream thousands of new TV show episodes from American cable network AMC free of charge.
New shows from the partnership started to drop in April, but the full catalogue is only now available.
The deal with AMC is a departure from previous partnerships between ITV and other broadcasters.
The broadcaster struck a deal with French production firm StudioCanal back in February 2023 to bring over 400 films to the streaming service, but these were only available to those who paid for an ITVX Premium subscription, which costs £5.99 a month or £59.99 for an annual plan. In contrast, AMC shows will be available for everyone to stream, with adverts for those without the paid subscription.
AMC shows will be categorised under two new sub-brands — AMC Stories and AMC Reality. Combined, these will include more than 1,100 hours of fresh content.
AMC Stories will celebrate award-winning drama and comedy shows from AMC Networks, with the likes of Brockmire, The Son, Lodge 49, Creepshow, Portlandia, Comedy Bang Bang, Finding Joy, The Spoils Of Babylon, and many more. These boxsets launched on ITVX last month.
AMC shows will be divided under two banners — AMC Reality for reality TV, which will arrive on ITVX in May, and AMC Stories for prestige drama and comedy series, available to stream today
AMC NETWORKS INTERNATIONAL
Starting today, AMC Reality will be available to all ITVX viewers.
This will be the banner used for irresistible reality television from AMC. ITVX viewers can expect to binge-watch the likes of Love After Lock Up, Growing Up Hip Hop, Amazing Wedding Cakes, Million Dollar Matchmaker, and LA Hair, to name just a few.
As well as the AMC Stories and AMC Reality sub-brands, shows from the US broadcaster will also be surfaced in relevant categories and search results across ITVX.
Discussing the flood of new content coming free of charge to ITVX viewers, Head of Content Acquisitions Sasha Breslau said: "We’re looking forward to bringing AMC Networks International UK’s premium scripted and reality titles to ITVX. We’ve enjoyed a very successful partnership with AMC already during ITVX’s first year — and now we’ll be showcasing even more of their best programming.
"We know that ITVX viewers love big stars, glossy scripted and jaw-dropping reality — and this deal has it all!”
If you don't subscribe to ITVX Premium, AMC shows streamed on the platform will be ad-supported. If you subscribe to the premium tier, these advert breaks can be removed.
AMC Networks International SVP for Business Development Tanya Gugenheim celebrated: "We are excited to grow our partnership with ITV and bring our high-quality and popular original content to ITVX users through AMC Stories and AMC Reality.
"Our partnership and these launches represent an important next step in our streaming strategy of utilizing our extensive library to make our content available to a broader audience, and we look forward to building on this strategy and taking advantage of future opportunities to come."
The announcement follows ITVX's most-successful month ever — beating all records for the streamer as well as its predecessor, ITV Hub.
A dizzying 315 million streams were watched on ITVX throughout January, the commercial broadcaster announced, thanks to live football and hit series like Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Love Island All Stars, and Trigger Point. ITV accomplished this record despite pulling two streaming apps from Prime Video Channels across Amazon platforms.
The record-breaking viewing figures on ITVX were driven by the FA Cup Quarter Final between Manchester United and Liverpool (6.1m), Love Island All Stars (43m), Mr Bates vs the Post Office (22m), After The Flood (20m), and Trigger Point (9m).
ITVX's record-breaking month comes off the back of a tough year for the streamer. ITVX shed 100,000 paid subscribers last year. According to the commercial broadcaster, it had 1.3 million subscribers as of December 31, 2023. Despite this drop, ITV says it’s “on track” to double the number of paid subscribers within the next two years to reach its target of 2.5 million ITVX Premium subscribers by 2026.
ITVX Premium costs £5.99 per month to watch without adverts, making it £1 more expensive than the most affordable subscriptions from Disney+ and Netflix, although these plans do have ad breaks.
Paid-for subscribers will gain access to exclusive shows from BritBox, which was subsumed into the streamer last year. It comes as the BBC offered an early glimpse at its plans to overhaul the experience on its own streaming service, BBC iPlayer, over the next 12 months to better compete with the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, and ITX.
To continue to grow ITVX, the broadcaster has announced plans to bring its streamer to more devices in the coming year, including PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles for the first time. ITVX is already on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, but not Sony or Nintendo-built competitors.
To benefit advertisers, ITV has confirmed plans to introduce subtitles for adverts. It will also debut Pause Ads, which will show an extra advert on-screen whenever viewers hit the pause button.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
ITVX replaced ITV Hub at the end of 2022. While it’s widely seen as an improvement, it still generates a range of complaints on social media for glitches and crashes. ITV has confirmed that it will invest in improving the streaming service in the coming months.
ITVX boasts 25,000 hours of shows, documentaries, and movies. Some of that content is reserved for paid ITVX Premium subscribers — roughly 7,000 hours, including boxsets from US broadcasters. It has 300 films, making it one of the largest free film libraries available in the UK.
ITV commands a 32.6% share of commercial viewing in the UK. Research from Kantar shows that 19.8m British households now have at least one paid video streaming service in their household.
