• by Wayne Friedman , January 6, 2025

Xumo, the Comcast/Charter joint-venture streaming platform, has expanded a deal with Google allowing advertisers to buy advertising inventory through Xumo for those free ad-supported streaming TV channels on Google TV.

Under the existing deal, Xumo is redistributing 160 free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels that are currently offered on Google TV Freeplay. Those channels will be branded as “provided by Xumo.”

This broadens the ad inventory offered by Xumo alongside other advertising it sells, including premium inventory on Xumo Play, Xumo devices, and third-party inventory on other streaming and TV platforms.

As a growing streaming video distributor platform, Xumo is looking to expand into a competitive world that includes Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

Xumo has over 1750 streaming channels across 20 entertainment platforms worldwide, including Google TV, Xfinity, and others.

Xumo started up an internet TV service in 2011 as a joint venture between Panasonic and Viant Technology. Comcast Corp. acquired Xumo in 2020 for over $100 million with the intention to use it to complement its paid streaming service, Peacock.

Two years later, Comcast, a major cable TV/communication company, announced that Xumo would be a joint venture with Charter Communications.

With big declines in its cable TV business -- cord-cutting of legacy cable TV packages by subscribers -- both companies were looking for new ways to pull in TV consumers who have been moving to digital/streaming media.