Best daily deals

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.

What is Xumo? Everything you need to know about the free streaming service

It's a great choice if you don't want to spend any money.
By
October 31, 2022
what is Xumo
Xumo

Premium streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus continue to gain subscribers. However, in the past year, we have seen free, ad-supported streaming video services like take off in popularity as well. One of the oldest of these kinds of services is Xumo, and it has been gaining popularity and viewers during the recent coronavirus pandemic. So, what is Xumo? Here’s everything you need to know!

Read more: Best video streaming services

If you just want to jump in and check out the service (remember, it’s free), you can watch Xumo right now on its website at the link below.

What is Xumo?

what is Xumo
Xumo

Founded way back in 2011, Xumo is a streaming service with thousands of movies and TV shows available for free on a variety of devices and platforms. It’s entirely free of charge and makes money by inserting video advertisements in the same ad slots as broadcast television.

It’s currently available in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico.

In early 2020, Xumo was acquired by Comcast. In January 2021, Comcast announced that Xumo has 24 million monthly active users. Since then, the company has not released any updated user numbers.

How does it work?

Like most streaming services, all you need to do is access the service from a computer, phone, or other supported device, select the movie or TV show you want to watch, and start streaming.

With Xumo, you can browse through over 190 channels of streaming content to find what you want to watch. You can filter the channel lineup so you can watch content in different categories. You can also adjust the lineup so it shows channels in alphabetical order, or in terms of their popularity. You can also tap or click on the On-Demand section and browse through a number of different content categories.

Does the service run commercials?

Yes. In order to support itself, TV shows and movies on Xumo do run ads before and during their content. However, on average, the number of commercials is less than that of broadcast and basic cable TV shows.

Read more: Netflix alternatives

Is Xumo worth it?

Since the service is free to access, there’s no harm in just trying out Xumo to see if it’s worth checking out. While you will have to deal with commercials while watching movies and TV shows, you don’t have to pay a dime.

That said, you should keep in mind that most of Xumo’s content consists of older shows and movies. If you want the latest streaming content, you will still have to check out paid services like Netflix, Disney Plus, and others.

What platforms does Xumo support?

what is Xumo
Xumo

You can stream Xumo shows and movies from a variety of different platforms. You can download the Xumo apps for iOS and Android to watch its content on mobile devices. It’s also available on Roku streaming sticks, set-top boxes, and TVs that have the Roku OS installed. The same goes for Amazon Fire TV-based sticks, set-top boxes, and TVs. The service also is available on Android TV-based devices such as the NVIDIA Shield set-top box.

Xumo supports casting to TVs via Google Chromecast and devices that have Chromecast built-in. It’s available for the Apple TV set-top boxes. You can stream the service on Samsung, Sony, and Vizio smart TVs. LG Smart TV users can download either the Channel Plus or LG Channels app (depending on your location) which are powered by Xumo.

PC owners can use their web browser to surf over to the Xumo.tv site to sign up and watch content. Finally, Xumo is preloaded on the Comcast Xfinity and Flex cable TV boxes.

Xumo movie lineup

xumo exclusive
Xumo

The selection of movies on Xumo changes quite a bit. As a result, the movie lineup, both on its streaming channels and its on-demand library, will be different every month. You can watch everything from dramas to comedies to sci-fi films and independent movies on the service. While most of Xumo’s movies are older films, the service has started to dip its toes into offering exclusive original movies. The movies, which come from indie studio Magnolia Pictures, currently include dramas like Deadfall, starring Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde, and The Two Faces of January, with Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Dunst, and Oscar Isaac.

The 24/7 streaming channels also have dedicated channels for different movie genres. Recently, the channel lineup included Hallmark Movies and More, with a selection of films from the family-friendly Hallmark Channel. Recently, it added movies from indie film studio Magnolia Pictures, making this the first time the studio has offered movies to a free streaming service.

Xumo TV show lineup

The selection of TV shows on Xumo is a bit more stable. You will find a lot of older TV dramas and series on the service, plus a few more recent shows. It includes classic 1980s shows like 21 Jump Street and Hunter, alongside UK shows like Secret Diary of a Call Girl and more.

The channels section of Xumo has dedicated channels for Shout Factory TV, ConTV, and more. There are also live sports and news channels to surf through, including ABC, CBS, and other news channels.

In May 2022, Xumo launched a new channel called Xfinity What to Watch, which offers curated programming for different parts of the day. Family-friendly shows and movies will be shown on the channel from 7 am to noon, followed by episodes of What to Watch Live and Xfinity Hangouts from noon to 6 pm. More adult action, comedy, and sci-fi movies and shows will be on the channel from 6 pm to Midnight, and from Midnight to 7 am, there will be horror and thriller movies shown.

More and more channels are being added to Xumo. They include Motortrend,  Great American Adventures, and Sony KAL Hindi.

Xumo Radio

xumo iheartradio
Xumo

In March 2022, Xumo announced a partnership with iHeartRadio. It will allow Xumo users to access several live radio stations from the iHeartRadio network. The available channels offer 90s music to listen to, along with hip-hop, country, alternative, and Latino stations.

Coming soon: Xumo streaming platform and Xumo Play

xumo charter comcast
Comcast

In November 2022, Comcast and the nation’s second-biggest cable TV provider, Charter, announced the next evolution of the Xumo brand. The joint venture of the two cable TV companies will soon morph Xumo from a free streaming service to an all-new streaming platform, similar to Roku, Google TV, and Amazon Fire TV. That means that Xumo will be the name of its own streaming TV OS, with its own branded devices and smart TVs. The first Xumo-branded hardware products will go on sale sometime in late 2023, and will be sold by Comcast and Charter directly, along with Walmart retail stores. Comcast will rename its Flex streaming box to Xumo Stream Box, and will also rename the XClass TVs that it sells with its partners Hisense and Walmart as Xumo TVs.

So what about the Xumo free streaming service? It will also get rebranded as Xumo Play. That will happen sometime in 2023 as well. We will add more info on these projects as they are revealed.

Best alternatives

Xumo is certainly not alone when it comes to free streaming services. Here’s a look at just a few of its rivals.

Crackle

Crackle stock photo 2
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

One of the oldest of the free streaming services, Crackle not only has a solid amount of movies and TV shows to watch for free, but it also has a number of exclusive original films and series to stream. It also offers some extra features if you sign up for a free account, including parental controls.

Read more: What is Crackle?

Pluto TV

pluto tv smart tv
Pluto TV

Like Xumo, Pluto TV also offers on-demand access to thousands of TV shows and movies and hundreds of “channels” that stream content 24/7. You can watch live news, movies in a number of different categories, TV shows like Star Trek, Three’s Company, and more, including kids and Spanish language channels.

Read more: Best Pluto TV channels

Tubi TV

tubi tv app
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

The Fox-owned  Tubi TV offers a lot of new and classic shows and movies to stream on-demand. The service is slowly ramping up its original content, as well. Tubi TV also offers live local news from over 200 Fox TV affiliates across the United States.

Amazon Freevee

amazon freevee pc
Amazon

Amazon’s free content streaming service, previously known as IMDb TV,  has been gaining traction over the past year. You can watch great recent films on the service, along with terrific television shows like Lost or Mad Men for free. It’s also adding more original content, such as the UK spy drama Alex Rider and the crime drama Bosch: Legacy. We expect more original shows to be made available over the next year. It’s definitely one to watch.

Peacock

Peacock selection
Adam Birney / Android Authority

 

NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service lets you watch thousands of movies and television shows for free. It also has channels like Pluto TV that stream content including live news and more. For $4.99 a month, you can access even more movies and shows. You can also pay $9.99 a month to enjoy the service ad-free.

Peacock logo large
Peacock
NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service offers a lot of great movies and TV shows to stream on demand, along with live news and sports. Best of all, you can watch lots of its content for free, or watch all of it with a paid subscription starting at just $5.99 a month.

Other FAQs

At the moment, the service does not offer 4K streaming shows or movies.

Yes, you can share your Xumo account with others.

No, the service currently does not offer parental controls. Since it does show movies and TV series that have mature content, parents should be more vigilant when they allow their kids to access Xumo.

Yes, there are ads while streaming shows and movies on the service. They usually last about the same as a standard broadcast TV commercial break, if not shorter.

Unfortunately, the service’s mobile apps do not currently support downloads of its shows. However, that feature could be added at a later date.

The service recommends download speeds of at least 10Mbps for the best experience.