This year we added the best free streaming service to the 2018 Cordie Awards for our readers to vote on. According to our readers, the Roku Channel was the best free streaming service with 43.8% of the vote.
In second place was Pluto TV at 40% followed by Sony Crackle at 8.2% and Tubi at 7%. Right now, at least according to our readers, the top two are the Roku Channel and Pluto TV with all other services falling way behind.
How this survey will look in 2019 is very much open. Several companies have floated the idea of launching a free ad-supported service. Viacom and Walmart seem to be the two biggest. (Walmart already offers some free content on Vudu, but there have been reports of Walmart working on a fully fledged standalone free ad-supported service.)
Look for 2019 to be the year where we see a flood of new free ad-supported services. For a content owner, it makes sense to take content you own that currently does not have a streaming deal and put it online with ads. The cost of services like Sony Crackle is surprisingly low when you already own the content. Keep an eye for even more of these type of services to launch in 2019.
Did you know we have a YouTube Channel? Every week we have a live Cord Cutting Q&A, and weekly Cord Cutting recap shows exclusively on our YouTube Channel!
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews. Need cord cutting tech support? Join our Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.