Starting October 20th, the smash-hit Netflix original series Narcos will be available to stream for free, but not on Netflix. Pluto TV, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS, will be the first free (albeit ad-supported) streamer to air the crime drama that helped make Pedro Pascal a star. For any stubborn holdouts who still don't have Netflix, this is great news.
Narcos was one of Netflix's biggest originals series and helped cement them as a TV giant during its run from 2015-2017. It followed Pablo Escobar for its first two seasons, then stayed with Pascal's DEA agent for season 3, and finally rebranded as Narcos: Mexico for another two seasons, with a third potentially on the way. As it was such a massive hit for Netflix, it's actually been redistributed before. Back in 2016, Narcos was aired on Univision, marking a first for backward distribution. Pluto TV's airing will be a first of its own, with Narcos being the first show by a paid streamer to also air on a free one.
Deadline reports that Narcos will air on Pluto TV's crime drama and Narco Novelas channels, and will air in both English and Spanish. Episodes will premiere every weeknight at 10 PM ET, with catchup episodes the next day starting at 8 PM ET, and weekend marathons. A new season will premiere every month through February 2021. In a publicity statement regarding the move, Pluto TV's Amy Kuessner had this to say:
“As the adoption of ad-supported streaming continues to accelerate, we are excited to build on that momentum and align with esteemed creators and producers in search of new ways to introduce audiences to their coveted collection of award-winning content."
All things considered, this is a pretty huge move. Pluto TV may not ring a bell to some, but they have over 26 million monthly active users and are rapidly growing in international markets. Their system is based around acquiring the rights to the properties of other providers and simulating live TV on a free digital space. They have a few major IPs that they devote whole channels to, like the rapidly expanding universe of The Walking Dead.
It's probably not very likely that there's a whole lot of people who have just been waiting on Narcos to show up somewhere other than Netflix but this could well be an indicator of the next step for streaming. With more and more shows and movies going directly to streaming services, and more and more services popping up out of nowhere, it seems they may become the dominant form of distribution. The solution for anyone not willing to pay for 14 different streaming services could—should this experiment work—be ad-based streamers like Pluto. Narcos helped make Netflix the beast it is today. Maybe it can help Pluto become the second coming of network television.
Source: Deadline
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