Redbox has taken another step forward in the streaming market by launching Free On Demand, a new ad-supported streaming service hosted by the famous video rental company. Featuring titles that are “curated to the tastes of Redbox audiences,” the Free On Demand service will deliver hundreds of options every week for people to watch free of charge.
At launch, some of the first titles offered by Redbox’s Free On Demand streaming service include Trespass, Lord of War, The Illusionist, Haywire, and Maggie. The company also says that the weekly mix will cover “fan favorites, cult classics, and popular titles” alike.
“Today’s audiences are fueling an unprecedented demand for premium quality on-demand content that is free with advertising. We expect to see continued growth in AVOD, making Free On Demand a significant addition to our free streaming platform,” Chris Yates, GM of Redbox On Demand, said in a statement.
Because of its mass presence in grocery stores and other retailers since 2002, Redbox is primarily known for its red-colored video rental kiosks. The self-service kiosks allowed viewers to rent DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD movies with the option of returning them to any other Redbox location. For a time, Redbox also offered video game rentals before switching its focus strictly to movies and TV content. The company also offered a Netflix-like subscription dubbed Redbox Instant for about 19 months before it was shut down due to low subscription numbers. In 2017, Redbox also introduced Redbox On Demand, giving people the option to digitally rent or purchase movies without the need for a subscription.
Redbox has since evolved further to stay alive with other streaming services detrimentally affecting the video rental business. Earlier this year, the company launched Redbox Free Live TV, an ad-supported channel-based video on-demand service in the vein of Pluto and Xumo. Along with their own featured channels Redbox Rush (action and adventure), Redbox Comedy, and Redbox Spotlight, some of the channels on the service offered include FilmRise (Unsolved Mysteries, Forensic Files), Fremantle (Family Feud), TMZ, People Are Awesome, USA Today, and Maverick Movies.
Additionally, Redbox has gotten in on exclusively hosting movies as Redbox Originals. The first Redbox Original, Bob Saget’s indie comedy Benjamin, debuted through the service in 2019. Months later, Redbox formed Redbox Entertainment to acquire the rights to other movies and TV series for the service. Some of those titles include Fred Durst’s stalker thriller The Fanatic with John Travolta; the crime drama Running With the Devil starring Nicolas Cage and Laurence Fishburne; Josh Trank’s Capone with Tom Hardy as the titular gangster; and the action thriller Becky with Kevin James as a cold-blooded killer.
Redbox Free On Demand is currently available on Roku, iOS, Android mobile and TVs, and Vizio. Support for LG, Xbox, Samsung, and Google Chromecast is also expected to be added soon. As the prevalence of streaming services has almost completely decimated the video rental business, it’s remarkable that Redbox has managed to survive, and offering more free content will hopefully help keep the company around moving forward. This news comes to us from Deadline.
