Younify TV, an app that consolidates streaming service watch lists to help viewers quickly find shows, is adding ad-supported services Tubi and Pluto TV to its free universal streaming guide.

The app started with major subscription services, but the popularity of free AVOD services persuaded Younify to expand its menu.

Fox-owned Tubi accounted for 1.3% of TV usage in September, according to Nielsen, more than Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max and Comcast NBCUniversal’s Peacock. Paramount’s Pluto TV accounted for 0.8%. 

“We started with the most popular SVOD services, and now that we have begun to promote and market Younify in earnest — and given the growing popularity of FAST platforms — the time is right to add Pluto and Tubi into the mix,” said Jeff Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of MediaMall Technologies, which launched Younify in June.

“Plus, as free AVOD services don't always require viewers to create accounts and log in to watch, there was a bit more development work that needed to be done in order to ensure that they would seamlessly integrate into our interface,” Lawrence said. “Now that these are live, we are planning to add even more, while continuing to build additional features and compatibility with CTV devices in the near future."

MediaMall, founded in 2003, created PlayOn, a streaming video recorders which enables users to view and record videos from online content providers.

Younify is designed to solve the problem of too much choice in streaming. According to Nielsen’s Gracenote unit, the number of titles available to viewers has grown 40% to more than 1 million from 2021 to 2023.

Viewers take as much as 10 minutes to try to find something to watch, with 20% ultimately abandoning their search.

Younify takes in watchlists, continue watching and recommendations from the services a user subscribes to and puts them into a single platform. Viewers make a choice and Younify launches the appropriate app and plays the show.

In the next few months, Younify plans to introduce platform-agnostic recommendations based on personal viewing behavior.

Younify does not have a business relationship with the streaming services. Users decide which apps that they use will be part of the guide.

Younify is free. The company plans to monetize what it learns about viewers’ behavior and preferences.

"Our plan is to gain scale, which will give us the ability to aggregate (non-personally identifiable) viewer behavior data that can be licensed to streaming services, measurement companies and advertising agencies,” Lawrence said.

“We are also having active discussions to form partnerships with platforms to license our technology and integrate it into theirs in order to enhance their user experience and search-and-discovery capabilities,” he said.

MediaMall Technologies has launched a version of PlayOn Cloud, an app/service that lets users record and download content from a dozen OTT services, that works with Android smartphones and tablets.

 The expansion follows PlayOn Cloud’s debut on iOS devices.

PlayOn Cloud currently enables recording and downloading for a dozen OTT services, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, Yahoo View, HBO Now, YouTube, and apps from Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, the CW, and PBS, and said more apps will be added.

The PlayOn Cloud app is free, but users must purchase recording credits, with one credit good for the recording of a full TV show or movie.

In tandem with the Android launch, PlayOn reduced the cost of a cloud recording from 99 cents to 40 cents, as well as discounted bundles of five, ten or 20 downloading credits.

MediaMall has previously insisted that PlayOn Cloud is legal,  holding that it’s protected by the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law and citing the 1984 Sony Betamax case. However, customers who use it run the risk of violating the terms of service of some OTT offerings.

RELATED: PlayOn Cloud Takes OTT Offline (subscription required) 

"This is a game changer for commuters, travelers, users with mobile data caps, and those who don't want to miss movies and TV shows when they expire from streaming services,” PlayOn president and CEO Jeff Lawrence, said in a statement. “While Netflix has recently offered some of its catalog for download, the vast majority of its most popular streams are not available to download in the Netflix app.”

PlayOn Cloud enables consumers to record content for later playback when the user doesn’t have access to an internet connection, but it’s also coming on the scene as OTT services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and others broaden policies to allow downloading, at least for a subset of their streaming libraries. MVPDs and programmers such as Comcast, Dish Network, Starz and Showtime also support downloading options.

RELATED: Hulu to Add Video Downloading ‘In a Few Months’

Comcast’s cloud DVR service for X1, for example, lets users “check out” a digital copy of a DVR recording to take with them for offline viewing on tablets and other supported mobile devices. Dish’s  $99 portable video device, HopperGO, lets subs take DVR-recorded TV shows and movies on the road for offline viewing.

Update: Awareness of those downloading options seem to be the big hurdle, according to a new study from downloading tech specialist Penthera reported here byVideoNuze. The poll of 1,000-plus adults 18-44 found that about one third or more of customers of SVOD services like Netflix didn’t realize that a download option was available to them.

MediaMall Technologies said it has added support for DirecTV Now on PlayOn Desktop, a workaround app for PCs that enables those OTT TV subs to view the service on more platforms and record and playback shows.

DirecTV Now, AT&T's OTT TV service launched late last year, had introduced apps or extended official support for platforms that include Web browsers, Amazon Fire TV players and sticks, Apple TV boxes (4th generation), Android and iOS mobile devices, the Chromecast streaming adapter (currently only for Android) and Chromecast-enabled TVs. 

PlayOn Desktop, MediaMall said, will also enable DirecTV Now subs to view the service on other platforms, including Roku players as well as Xbox, PlayStation and Wii consoles. DirecTV Now has a cloud DVR on its feature roadmap, but PlayOn Desktop also features DVR capabilities.

PlayOn’s app turns PCs into a streaming media center, allowing users to “cast” content to other devices for display on TVs.

The app is free to download, but the recording and media casting capabilities costs $7.99 per month, $29.99 per year, or $69.99 for a lifetime subscription.

Claiming it is bringing more than 100 channels alongside DVR capabilities to the Google Chromecast, MediaMall Technologies said its PlayOn and PlayLater PC-to-TV media server software has integrated support for the popular $35 streaming adapter.

MediaMall, which announced plans to support the Chromecast last fall, said this week’s launch of the updated software will enable the adapter to play content from networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central as well as Hulu, and to tie it together with a “uniform guide-like interface” – something the Chromecast does not inherently offer.

The company said its PlayLater product provides Chromecast users with DVR capability to record videos for casting later when they are no longer available online.

MediaMall’s technology set-up essentially expands the amount of content that can be delivered to the Chromecast prior to formal optimizations.

Following the recent addition of MLB.TV, the Chromecast supports Rdio, VUDU, Photowall, Crackle, Netflix, HBO GO, Hulu Plus, Pandora, YouTube, Google Play TV & Movies, Google Play Music, Vevo, Red Bull.TV, Songza, Plex, PostTV, Viki, and RealPlayer Cloud. Users can also cast a Chrome browser tab from their PCs or laptops to the TV. Aereo, which is in the middle of its Supreme Court battle with U.S. broadcasters, expects to be “Google Cast Ready” on May 29.

But users looking to do more on the Chromecast via MediaMall will need to buy its PlayOn PC-to-TV software, which goes for $29.99 per year or $59.99 for a lifetime subscription, load it on their PCs, and get the PlayOn mobile casting app. The PlayLater piece sells for $19.99 per year, $39.99 for a one-time lifetime subscription. Consumers can also buy a lifetime PlayOn/PlayLater combo subscription for $69.99.

“Chromecast is a great, inexpensive device for cord cutters but is somewhat limited in its content and casting capabilities,” said Jeff Lawrence, CEO, MediaMall Technologies, in a statement. “PlayOn gives Chromecast users a universal interface for TV-watching and vastly expands the list of available channels, and with very little fuss, it also brings a full-screen cross-browser web casting experience that users can’t get with the Chromecast alone.”

MediaMall said its PlayOn Browser extension also works with Roku devices, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.