Streaming guide JustWatch has announced the launch of its own direct streaming service, JustWatch TV, rolling out this October across the UK, Europe, North America, and Australasia. Announced at the Toronto International Film Festival’s new industry market, TIFF: The Market, the platform bundles free ad-supported viewing (AVOD), digital rentals (TVOD), and an ad-free subscription model directly into its existing web and mobile apps.
Launch partners include major rights holders Paramount, New Regency, Fremantle, Bleecker Street, and Vortex Media. The Berlin-based company plans to leverage more than a decade of search and intent data drawn from its 50 million monthly active users to shape its content catalogue.
The move marks a fundamental shift in business model, ending JustWatch’s historical role as a neutral, independent aggregator. For 12 years, the service functioned as a digital directory for finding where films and television series were hosted across 1,500 different providers. By hosting and monetising content directly, JustWatch transforms from a discovery gateway into a direct market rival to the very streaming services whose libraries it indexes and whose marketing budgets it courts through its JustWatch Media ad division.
David Croyé, Founder and CEO at JustWatch Group, said in a statement,
Every day, millions of people come to JustWatch searching for simpler ways to watch and discover hundreds of thousands of movies and TV shows. For over a decade, our mission has been to connect fans with their favorite films and shows, particularly the hard-to-find and previously unavailable titles. With the launch of JustWatch TV, we aim to make content discovery, access and engagement even easier.”
The service’s commercial structure raises practical questions. Operating a search index carries low overheads; running high-bandwidth video infrastructure, managing ad insertions, and maintaining digital rights management require significant operational spend. Securing licensed studio catalogues from companies such as Paramount also presents potential editorial friction: an aggregator incentivised to sell its own rentals or serve its own ad-supported video streams faces an obvious commercial conflict when ranking third-party search results.
Quentin Carbonell, SVP of Global Content Acquisitions and Strategy at JustWatch, added,
JustWatch TV is designed to meet that demand head-on, offering a straightforward solution at a time of fragmentation. We are curating film and TV hits and hard-to-find gems that you can watch for free or rent on JustWatch, or easily rediscover them on your favorite services. This way, JustWatch TV aims to support the whole industry, from filmmakers to distributors to streaming platforms across the world.”
The rollout covers ten countries in October: the UK, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. JustWatch has not yet disclosed specific subscription pricing or rental fees for its premium tiers.
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