Plex raises $50 million, wants to be a hub for your 'entire universe of media'

For years, people have associated Plex with personal media collections. Whether it’s movies, TV shows, music, or anything at all, Plex can connect you with your owned files in a simple and easy-to-use interface.

However, Plex also understands that many people are moving away from the idea of even owning media. With a veritable onslaught of streaming services out there, many people are shifting to simply relying on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Spotify, and others for all their media consumption needs.

Related: The best video streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, and many more

Today, Plex announced a growth funding round of a whopping $50 million. In its press release on the matter, the company makes it abundantly clear that a large chunk of that money is going to go towards bringing more streaming services into Plex. The goal is for the app to become nothing short of “a single pane of glass for [your] entire universe of media.”

Obviously, most people’s “entire universe of media” involves the biggest names in content, like Netflix and YouTube. If Plex is ever going to be that “single pane of glass,” it’s going to need to have those behemoths in its sights. Of course, the company makes no mention of the services it wants to bring to its platform. It already has deals with Crackle, music streaming service TIDAL, and several major Hollywood studios.

The end goal for Plex

What Plex really wants is to connect users with the content most suitable to them. If it were able to do this, it would be pretty powerful. As an example of what could be possible, think about Netflix’s content suggestion algorithm. You watch a documentary about serial killers and Netflix says, “Hey, here are some more documentaries for you to watch as well as this Hollywood thriller about a serial killer.” Now, imagine Plex doing that, but for everything.

Let’s say you listen to an album by The Police on TIDAL. The lead singer of The Police is Sting, and he’s also been in a bunch of movies. Now, because Plex knows you like The Police, it can recommend movies that star Sting. This is just a tiny example, but you can see how powerful it would be if there was one hub for all your various services.

Of course, for this to work, all the major companies need to be on board. Plex has $50 million to work with, but will that be enough to even get Netflix on the phone? Time will tell.

To learn more about Plex, check out this backgrounder video.