ITV Launching ITVX Streaming Service With Both Free Ad-Supported & Paid Subscription Options

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ITV has announced it will be launching a new streaming service called ITVX, which will have both a free option supported by ads, and an ad-free subscription model. Along with premiering some brand new original content, the service has also picked up a number of US dramas that previously did not have a UK home.

ITVX will let viewers choose to watch thousands of hours of content for free in an advertising-funded tier or trade up to a subscription service that provides all that content ad-free and in addition provides thousands more hours of British boxsets from BritBox and other partners’ content.

They are also adopting a “digital-first” approach similar to the one used by AMC and AMC+ in the USA, where a number of shows will premiere on ITVX first, and subsequently months later on ITV linear channels.

“The digital acceleration we are announcing today builds on everything we have achieved in phase one of our More Than TV strategy. ITVX will be a free service supported by adverts, with a compelling subscription proposition. This is fantastic for viewers – it will provide a simplified and seamless experience with thousands of hours of free content made up of both library and original exclusive content. The subscription tier will provide a premium offering and includes all of the content ad-free as well as BritBox and future SVOD content partners,” commented Carolyn McCall, ITV’s Chief Executive. “We are supercharging our streaming business, fundamentally shifting our focus to think digital-first, as well as optimising our broadcast channels, by continuing to attract unrivalled mass audiences. In doing so we are responding to changing viewing habits, but also the evolving needs from our advertisers. This will enable ITV to continue to be both commercial viewers and advertisers’ first choice.”

What Originals Will Be On ITVX?

One of the first shows to land under the new “digital-first” strategy will be the limited series ‘Spy Among Friends‘ (pictured above) starring Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce, based on the novel by Ben Macintyre. The series will premiere on ITVX first, before arriving six to nine months later on ITV’s linear broadcast channel. The drama follows the defection of a notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent, Kim Philby (Pearce), through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend, Nicholas Elliott (Lewis). The show examines espionage through their friendship, the fallout of which affects East-West relations to this day.

Other shows being launched in the same way include:

‘Nolly’ – based around the rise and fall of the inimitable ‘Crossroads’ star Noele Gordon, starring Helena Bonham Carter from Russell T Davies.

‘Confessions of Frannie Langton’ starring Karla-Simone Spence, Sophie Cookson and Patrick Martins. An adaptation of Sara Collins’ period drama, set around a slave turned maid who is accused of murdering the family she loved and worked for.

‘Three Little Birds’ – A six-part drama written by Sir Lenny Henry inspired by his mother’s stories about leaving Jamaica in the 1950’s for Great Britain, which became her lifelong home and where she raised her family.

‘Litvinenko’ – A four-part drama starring David Tennant about Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer whose death, from polonium poisoning in November 2006.

Other ITVX exclusive content will comprise a raft of exciting comedy, including a new series using Deep Fake techniques to create hilarious celebrity set-ups, as well as a feature-length film finale for ‘Plebs‘. New and compelling factual content will include ‘The Case Against Cosby’ – a premium documentary exposing new truths about accusations against Bill Cosby with exclusive access to survivors, as well as a landmark natural history series, ‘A Year on Planet Earth’, with many more streaming premieres to be revealed in the run-up to launch.

In addition to new content, there will also be a huge selection from ITV’s back catalogue. From ‘Broadchurch’ to ‘Brideshead Revisited’, the groundbreaking ‘Up’ documentary series to ‘Love Island’, ITV’s biggest shows past and present, including ‘Victoria’, ‘A Confession’, ‘Quiz’ and ‘Unforgotten’ will be available as full series boxsets, for free, on ITVX.

Content From The USA

ITVX will also be home to a wide selection of popular US series. In the first of a series of deals to be announced, ITV has concluded a wide-ranging content deal with WarnerMedia International Television Distribution for programmes including UK premieres of HBO Max series ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls‘ and The CW’s ‘All American‘, as well as ‘The OC’, ‘One Tree Hill’ and select series of ‘The 100’, ‘Supernatural’ and ‘Veronica Mars‘.

Movies & Live Events

Blockbuster films will also be a big part of the service and ITVX intends to stream 500 films for free in its first year alone, with a constantly refreshed selection of titles and 150 films on the service at any one time.

Whether it’s the forthcoming ‘FIFA World Cup’, ‘I’m A Celebrity’ or the ‘Love Island Final’, ITV will remain the home to the big events that bring the nation together, with all these must-watch events streaming live through ITVX, as they are broadcast on ITV’s channels.

Themed channels (known as FAST Channels – Free Ad-supported TV Channels)

As well as being able to live stream ITV linear channels, ITVX will have an ever-changing host of exclusive themed channels, data-driven to align with viewer preferences and popularity.

These constantly evolving pop-up channels will give a scheduled experience through a streaming service, with viewers able to choose where in the schedule they join.

With 20 channels at launch, including ‘Hell’s Kitchen US’, ‘True Crime’, ‘The Oxford Detectives’, ’90s Favourites’ and ‘The Chase’ as examples, viewers can have the “lean-back” experience of watching a curated, scheduled channel, as part of the ITVX offering. ITV intends to offer viewers a new themed channel, every week of the year on ITVX.

What About The Existing Streaming Services?

ITV currently are involved with two streaming services in the UK – the free ad-supported ITV Hub and subscription service Britbox. ITVX will integrate the two services onto one platform, but retain both ad-supported and paid subscription options.

Viewers will now be able to stream new programme exclusives, with adverts, for free; ranging from premium ITV dramas, documentaries, US series, comedy and reality shows to blockbuster films and much, much more.

As well as “streaming first” exclusives, all the drama and comedy ITV commissions will be made available to viewers in one go on ITVX, for free, as soon as the first episode has aired on ITV’s linear channels. The same will be true of the majority of reality series.

In the same service, subscription gives upgrade access to a premium tier where all of the free content can be viewed, without the ads, as well as a growing range of partner content, with exciting announcements to follow in due course.

BritBox

Subscribers will also have access to BritBox which showcases the biggest streaming collection of UK series from BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and includes exclusives such as Classic ‘Doctor Who’. BritBox has recently surpassed 733,000 subscribers, ahead of all business plan targets showing the popularity of the brand.

ITV has actually bought out the BBC’s stake in BritBox UK allowing them to integrate the service into ITVX. The BBC still retains their stake in BritBox internationally. ITV has also done a content supply deal with the BBC to retain access to BBC shows on the streaming service.

BritBox will remain the standalone subscription home of the best of British content including forthcoming originals ‘Why Don’t They Ask Evans?’ and ‘The Dry’, until later this year, when the content on ITV Hub and BritBox come together in what will be the new streaming home of ITV, ITVX.

ITV Hub

Until the launch of ITVX later this year, ITV Hub will continue to be the free streaming home of ITV, with ongoing plans to scale up the amount of content on the service in the run-up to ITVX launch. ITV Hub currently has 4,000 hours of content while ITVX will have around 15,000 hours at launch.

The pricing of the subscription tier in ITVX will be announced later this year.