The Chief Technology Officer at Pluto TV shares what’s driving growth at the streaming giant and what inspires him as a leader in the industry. (Hint: It’s not just about cutting-edge tech.)

Does this scenario sound familiar?: settling on the couch after a long day only to spend hours mindlessly scrolling through a never-ending list of channels, video series, documentaries, movies, and more. Yet, despite all the options, you can’t find a single thing you’re excited to watch.

“The paradox of choice” is a common pain point among many cable and streaming customers. And with so many new players in the content distribution game, Pluto.TV might have found the key to winning over audiences, and the overall streaming wars: the art of curation.

“One key differentiation between Pluto TV and others entering the space is our thoughtful, artisan approach to programming,” says Vibol Hou, chief technology officer at Pluto.TV. “Pluto TV’s programming team is comprised of curators who tap into the zeitgeist of nostalgia and new, and program channels that appeal to broad audiences.”

Thanks to its attention to quality content, Pluto TV has grown substantially since its humble beginnings. It all started with three engineers working in a closet. Upon launch in 2013, Hou says the Pluto TV took on the .TV domain because it aligned with the company mission. “We wanted to be television for the Internet,” he says.

Today, Pluto TV is now part of the Paramount Streaming ecosystem. Says Hou, “Not unlike its planetary namesake, we were the underdog and now we are a billion-dollar company spanning three continents in over 30 countries…. and we are just getting started.”

Hou has also come a long way, with each previous position and stint preparing him for the ultimate role as CTO at Pluto TV. He was born in Khao-i-dang refugee camp in Thailand and immigrated to Long Beach, CA with his family in the early 1980s. There he attended grade and high school before earning a degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego. After graduation he held various leadership roles at other video and streaming startups.

Here, Hou shares more about his career, what inspires him, what’s going on behind the scenes at Pluto.TV—and what’s really fueling success at the streaming giant.

Can you tell us more about your career in tech and what led you to Pluto.TV?

More than 20 years ago, I started my career as a software engineer at a small video startup called stimTV where I worked my way up to leading the engineering group. During that time my team and I were awarded a coveted Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for Best Use of “On Demand” Technology by the National Technology of Television Arts & Sciences.

A few years and a couple companies later, my former CEO at SpinMedia reached out to me about joining a small company that needed help launching its product. That company was Pluto TV. I consulted for Pluto TV to help launch the service which led to being asked to consider the CTO position. I accepted. That began a six-year journey to build Pluto TV. In 2019, Viacom (née ViacomCBS, now Paramount Global) acquired Pluto TV.

What is your role at Pluto TV and what do you love about the company?

I am the Chief Technology Officer at Paramount Streaming where I oversee all Streaming technology and engineering efforts across the company. As CTO of Pluto TV, I lead a diverse and global team charged with architecting, building and operating the technology behind our platform. I have a fantastic team. Coming to work every day, seeing the business growth, seeing the vision come to life, is always inspiring.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, can you describe what Pluto TV is all about?

Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service with hundreds of channels and thousands of movies and television series on-demand across all types of devices. We are easy to use with no registration or credit card requirements. Anyone can drop in and stream for free to access live, linear channels as well as VOD (video-on-demand). We offer channels and content with broad appeal across categories including movies and television, news & opinion, sports, comedy, reality, crime, classic TV, game shows, lifestyle & culture, gaming & anime, music, en Español, kids, and more.

Could you tell us more about what differentiates Pluto TV? What sets it apart from other similar streaming services?

Pluto TV prides itself on the art of curation which has the ability to increase perceived value, as well as drive prolonged engagement. Pluto TV has a team of more than 75 curators who apply their love and passion for entertainment to crafting original channels that are unique to Pluto TV’s platform.

What was the inspiration behind Pluto TV?

Pluto TV was created in 2013 with a mission to resolve the paradox of choice based on the overwhelming amount of content and fragmentation across streaming at that time. The idea was to create a lean-back experience, consisting of curated, thematic channels that challenged the trends of the time. Our CEO and cofounder, Tom Ryan, took a calculated risk and bet on three contrarian principles that were prevalent in streaming at that time: ad-supported when others were going ad-free, live linear when all else was on-demand, and free in the age of subscription.

What is one of your greatest achievements as a company? Something you are particularly proud of.

I am particularly proud of our rapid growth and getting to watch our company go from a closet on Melrose Avenue with three engineers in 2014 to a billion dollar company with over 750 team members working on the brand in 2022.

What are your future plans with Pluto TV and what can your customers expect?

Our mission at Pluto TV is to entertain the planet. My team and I are propelling this mission forward by growing our content partnerships to add more entertainment, making our UX smarter by introducing personalized recommendations of channels and movies and introducing new features to enable our customers to further customize and save their favorites and watch lists.

When it came time to launching this global endeavor, why did your team opt for a .TV domain?

.TV as a domain made sense for us. We wanted to be television for the Internet. Pluto.com was already taken so that made the decision that more clear and easy for us. It was meant to be.

When viewers arrive to your website, what do you want them to see and how should they perceive your brand?

A whole new world of entertainment. We appeal to both broad and niche audiences alike, with a little bit of weird mixed in for fun.

Last but not least, how is .TV part of that brand image goal for you?

.TV is the very definition of what we are. We look forward to viewers just dropping into Pluto TV, leaning back and enjoying our hundreds of channels, across all genres, for free.