New social features further Plex’s evolution from media server business
New social features further Plex’s evolution from media server business
新增社交功能，Plex 持续从媒体服务器业务转型
Plex is adding new social features to the platform. As of today, users can make and share “personalized lists on Plex of any movie, show or episode,” the company said in an announcement. Later this year, users will be able to import lists from other streaming services and react to other people’s lists.
Plex 正在为其平台增加新的社交功能。该公司在公告中表示，从今天起，用户可以创建并分享“Plex 上任何电影、剧集或单集的个性化列表”。今年晚些时候，用户将能够从其他流媒体服务导入列表，并对其他人的列表进行互动反馈。
This month, Plex will also launch a community forum that will allow people to “post and comment directly on any movie, show, season, or episode.” Later this year, Plex will introduce “Match Scores” based on a viewer’s history and past ratings to predict how much they’ll like a show or movie, Plex said.
本月，Plex 还将推出一个社区论坛，允许用户“直接针对任何电影、剧集、季或单集进行发帖和评论”。Plex 表示，今年晚些时候，他们还将引入基于观众历史记录和过往评分的“匹配分数”（Match Scores），以预测用户对某部电影或剧集的喜爱程度。
Plex already lets people rate content, and this year it will also allow them to react with emoji. Similarly, Plex will also enable people to respond to reviews and discussions with images. The goal, per Plex’s announcement, is to bring “a new layer of expression to every conversation.” Finally, a “Follow Anything” feature coming this year will provide users with alerts around movies, shows, actors, and crew members that they follow.
Plex 此前已允许用户对内容进行评分，今年还将支持使用表情符号进行互动。同样，Plex 也将允许用户使用图片来回复评论和讨论。根据 Plex 的公告，其目标是为每一次对话带来“全新的表达层面”。最后，今年即将推出的“关注任何内容”（Follow Anything）功能，将为用户提供关于他们所关注的电影、剧集、演员和剧组成员的提醒。
Plex’s announcement claimed that its users have already “made over 100 million watching decisions a month and created more than 45 million watchlists,” making the new capabilities relevant to how people use Plex today. “The addition of these features marks the next step in Plex’s vision to unify entertainment discovery and help users navigate an increasingly fragmented streaming landscape,” Plex’s announcement said.
Plex 在公告中声称，其用户每月已经“做出了超过 1 亿次观看决策，并创建了超过 4500 万个观看列表”，这使得这些新功能与用户当下的使用习惯高度相关。公告称：“这些功能的加入，标志着 Plex 在统一娱乐发现体验、帮助用户应对日益碎片化的流媒体环境这一愿景上迈出了新的一步。”
Plex is targeting a common challenge for streaming users: finding stuff worth watching across streaming services. “We believe the future of entertainment discovery is social and trust-driven,” Scott Olechowski, co-founder and chief product officer at Plex, said in a statement.
Plex 旨在解决流媒体用户面临的一个共同挑战：在各大流媒体服务中找到值得观看的内容。Plex 联合创始人兼首席产品官 Scott Olechowski 在声明中表示：“我们相信，娱乐发现的未来是社交化和基于信任的。”
Plex’s evolution
Plex 的演变
The new capabilities highlight Plex’s focus on features that go beyond its media server business. In 2019, Plex started offering free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels. By 2024, Plex was selling movie rentals, a stark contrast to its original business, which focused on letting people share their own media with friends and family. The California-headquartered company has since added the ability for users to leave reviews on movies, as well as to comment on other users’ reviews.
这些新功能凸显了 Plex 在媒体服务器业务之外的重心转移。2019 年，Plex 开始提供免费的广告支持流媒体电视（FAST）频道。到 2024 年，Plex 开始销售电影租赁服务，这与其最初专注于让用户与亲友分享个人媒体内容的业务形成了鲜明对比。这家总部位于加州的公司此后还增加了用户对电影进行评分以及评论他人评价的功能。
Meanwhile, Plex’s changes have raised concerns among some users about its commitment to self-hosting. For instance, Plex last year began removing users’ ability to remotely access a personal media server without paying a subscription fee. Plex also got rid of its Watch Together feature and redesigned its app to look more like a streaming service. And starting next month, the price for a lifetime subscription to Plex’s media server features will increase from $250 to $750. When launched in 2012, the Lifetime Plex Pass cost $75.
与此同时，Plex 的这些变革引发了一些用户对其“自托管”承诺的担忧。例如，Plex 去年开始取消用户在不支付订阅费的情况下远程访问个人媒体服务器的功能。Plex 还取消了“一起观看”（Watch Together）功能，并重新设计了应用程序，使其看起来更像是一个流媒体服务。从下个月开始，Plex 媒体服务器功能的终身订阅价格将从 250 美元涨至 750 美元。而在 2012 年推出时，终身 Plex Pass 的价格仅为 75 美元。
Plex’s evolution from its legacy business seems to be paying off. The company’s marketing VP, Scott Hancock, said in 2023 that Plex has had more people using its online streaming service than its media server features since 2022. Ad-supported streaming has also been a top revenue driver for the company, which is key as it seeks profitability. This all suggests that Plex’s expanding interest in streaming and rentals won’t end anytime soon.
Plex 从传统业务向新业务的转型似乎正在取得成效。该公司营销副总裁 Scott Hancock 在 2023 年表示，自 2022 年以来，使用 Plex 在线流媒体服务的用户数量已经超过了使用其媒体服务器功能的用户。广告支持的流媒体服务也已成为该公司主要的收入来源，这对于其寻求盈利至关重要。这一切都表明，Plex 对流媒体和租赁业务日益增长的兴趣在短期内不会停止。