NBCU-owned Rotten Tomatoes launches a streaming channel, currently available on The Roku Channel and which will later expand to Peacock and Comcast’s Xumo.
There is no doubt that Rotten Tomatoes is continuing on its path to become something much greater than its Tomatometer movie and television rating scores.
As part of an expansion of its entertainment footprint, Rotten Tomatoes has launched a new over-the-top streaming service on Tuesday, known as The Rotten Tomatoes Channel, which will initially debut on The Roku Channel, a streaming service owned by NBCUniversal’s Fandango. In addition to NBCU’s Peacock platform and Comcast-owned Xumo, the OTT service is also expected to be rolled out to other platforms such as internet pay-TV providers, as well as NBCU’s Peacock platform and Peacock platform.
RT’s first linear video channel will offer a 24-hour schedule of premium programming from Rotten Tomatoes in addition to a series of new and original shows. The programming will be culled from RT’s stable of shows or its own.
It is Fandango’s intention to expand its audience reach with the launch of The Rotten Tomatoes Channel, and at the same time offer new entry points into the entire Fandango ecosystem (i.e., to drive movie tickets and digital sales or rentals) as good reasons for its launch.
The Rotten Tomatoes Channel will feature a number of shows, including “Countdown,” a show that discusses the best upcoming movies and shows based on the Tomatometer and panelists; “The Vault,” and much more. From Rotten Tomatoes archives, you can enjoy a nostalgic look back at interviews, red carpet chats, games, and more; “Trailers Reloaded,” a collection of trailers of the biggest films and shows of the past few decades; and “Rotten Tomatoes Essentials,” which traces back the eras and genres defined by movies, shows, stars and directors.
“Versus” is one of the series that will be in the mix, in which Tomatometer scores, box office data, and other metrics will be used to resolve some of the most famous movie and TV debates ever; “Oral History” will cover films, shows, and franchises from the perspective of the people who made them; and “Aftershow” will discuss some of the most recent movies from the perspective of movie lovers, critics, and industry experts.
There are now more than 3.5 million users on Rotten Tomatoes, a site that aggregates movie reviews, with the company acquiring the service from Warner Bros. in 2016.
Rotten Tomatoes has undergone a series of revisions over the last few years in an attempt to create a more diverse pool of critics that it uses to calculate its scores – under fire for a lack of diversity in the critics it uses.