Barcelona-based and Japanese-owned streaming platform Rakuten TV is officially taking its rapidly growing free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) business outside of its traditional European stronghold, marking a significant new chapter for the company with expansions into the United States, the Middle East, and its home market of Japan.
The ambitious global rollout was formally unveiled by Rakuten TV CEO Cédric Dufour during an industry presentation at the prominent MIPCOM television conference in Cannes on Monday. Addressing international media and industry executives, Dufour emphasized that the company’s expansion strategy will not rely on a simple copy-and-paste approach of its successful European framework. Instead, the platform is tailoring its offerings to meet the unique demands, viewing habits, and competitive landscapes of each newly targeted region.
The most prominent hurdle and opportunity for the company lies in the United States, a territory that Dufour characterized during his Cannes address as the most developed and intensely competitive FAST market in the world. Rather than attempting to saturate an already crowded field with generic content, Rakuten TV is entering the U.S. market with a curated selection of exclusive owned-and-operated FAST channels. Headlining this American debut are premium movie channels such as Rakuten TV Comedy and Rakuten TV Action. According to Dufour, these channels have been meticulously programmed to provide a diverse mix of films specifically curated to avoid content overlap with other FAST channels currently available to American viewers.
For its U.S. market entry, Rakuten TV has secured strategic distribution partnerships, launching first on the TCLtv+ app, with additional platform integrations slated to roll out in the near future. This initial footprint on hardware-integrated streaming apps positions the service directly in front of audiences who increasingly rely on smart TV operating systems for their free entertainment needs.
Moving beyond North America, Rakuten TV is also setting its sights on the burgeoning digital entertainment landscape in the Middle East. The company is actively preparing to launch two dedicated FAST channels—Rakuten TV Top Movies and Rakuten TV Action—in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia by the end of this current year. In these territories, viewers will be able to access the channels through the TCLtv+ app as well as the TCL Channel across both markets, alongside a specialized launch on LG Channels within the United Arab Emirates.
Beyond these initial movie offerings, the company is already looking ahead to future growth in the region. Rakuten TV is currently exploring the possibility of launching multiple genre-specific channels and single-IP series tailored specifically to resonate with Middle Eastern audiences, reflecting the company’s commitment to localized content strategies.
In its home territory of Japan, the rollout will leverage the vast technological infrastructure of the company’s parent organization. Rakuten Group, the Tokyo-based technology conglomerate that owns Rakuten TV, will act as the primary technical integrator to deliver FAST channels directly to its proprietary FAST platform, R Channels. This synergy within the broader corporate ecosystem demonstrates how the streaming service can utilize established domestic networks to scale its operations efficiently.
These upcoming global launches will significantly build upon an already robust international foundation. Rakuten TV currently operates more than 120 owned-and-operated channels across Europe, backed by a massive catalog of more than 500 FAST channels distributed across 43 different territories, all anchored by the central Rakuten TV application.
Reflecting on the scale and ambition of the company’s international strategy during his MIPCOM presentation, Dufour noted that the current wave of geographic expansion is only the beginning of what the organization envisions for its enterprise division, signaling that further market entries and technological developments could be on the horizon as the global streaming wars continue to evolve.