Pluto TV’s ‘Programmed By Humans’ campaign builds upon the popular ‘Stream Now. Pay Never.’ series and places a spotlight on the heart and humanity behind the award-winning service, namely its human programmers. The multifaceted campaign highlights the human-powered innovation behind Pluto TV that builds upon the best parts of television and adapts it for the future of streaming television. The campaign also broadcasts the diversity of programming available on the service with three unique commercial spots each featuring a different genre represented on Pluto TV: sci-fi, romantic comedy and true crime. Each spot speaks to the distinctive quality of the subgenre where fictionalized expert curators, based on Pluto TV’s real-life programmers, appear in living rooms to resolve the paradox of choice and highlights the free, easy-to-use, ‘something for everyone’ value proposition.
In a crowded streaming landscape, the key for Pluto TV was to differentiate itself from other services and address common viewer frustrations, such as search fatigue and an overwhelming number of options. This campaign sought to address these issues head on and highlight how Pluto TV has movies and TV shows for everyone, curated by real people who are as equally big fans of TV and movies as the viewers. With nearly a decade of experience, Pluto TV boasts a dedicated and proprietary team of over 50 curators who apply passion and expertise alongside audience behavior and insights with advanced technologies to deliver the best entertainment experience for all audiences. The creative focus was to spotlight what sets Pluto TV apart in the increasingly competitive streaming market: the human element of curation that is intrinsic to the very human experience of watching television. By utilizing three unique comedic spots, the service demonstrated the strength of its streaming model and showed audiences that Pluto TV is free, easy to use, and has something for everyone.
The campaign took flight across global linear, CTV, digital, out-of-home, streaming audio, terrestrial radio and social platforms in October 2023. Tapping into the power of the Paramount Global ecosystem, the campaign was also promoted across the company’s marquee lineup of linear, streaming and digital properties.
The campaign resonated incredibly well with audiences and generated a significant amount of buzz, contributing to a meaningful increase in brand awareness and consideration, while communicating Pluto TV’s unique model of being programmed by humans rather than AI or computer algorithms.
Overall sentiment was very positive and the campaign resulted in 2B+ impressions across linear, digital, social, OOH, and audio. Two-thirds of consumers claim to have seen at least one element of the campaign, with most recalling multiple elements. Those who recalled the campaign expressed significant greater interest in and likelihood to engage with the brand and had more positive perceptions of Pluto TV overall. Five in six viewers who recalled the campaign said they had already taken action, either seeking to discover more about Pluto TV or actually watching the service.
The campaign was also featured by many press outlets at its debut, with many noting the contrast between other streaming services’ reliance on AI versus Pluto TV’s ‘programmed by humans’ approach, as communicated in the three ad spots. In a testament to the relevance and clarity of the campaign’s message, The Verge’s headline read “Pluto TV pits human curation against streaming algorithms in new ad campaign.”
