From Vintage to Ubiquitous: How Bob Ross & American Public Television Repainted the Streaming Landscape

After 40 years on the air, “The Joy of Painting,” and its iconic host, Bob Ross, endure as a beloved source of arts education. But without a steady supply of new episodes, Bob Ross Inc. needed a new strategy to carry on the late, iconic instructor’s mission to get the world to paint.

Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.

Between 1983 and 1994, an Air Force veteran with an improbably perfect perm taught aspiring artists and dedicated hobbyists how to create mountains, clouds, and “happy little trees” with small, rapid strokes of a brush.

That painter was Bob Ross and over the course of 403 episodes the soft-spoken landscapist invited viewers to paint along as he crafted beautiful nature scenes on his public television series, “The Joy of Painting.”

The Challenge: (Re) Crafting an Icon

Joan Kowalski is driven by a mission: carrying on Bob Ross’s life’s work of getting people to paint. When she took over as President of Bob Ross, Inc., Joan knew she had to infuse the brand with youth, or Bob’s important work and mission would be gone forever.

More than 25 years after “The Joy of Painting” ceased production, the show was competing for views at a time when audiences had more content to view than ever before. The series was still airing on public television broadcasts and some, but not all, episodes of the show were available on subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) services. A YouTube channel was created to host the series, but posting to YouTube meant competing with an inscrutable algorithm to remain at the top of young audience’s homepages.

Kowalski, and long-time distribution partner, American Public Television, knew they needed to bring Bob’s dulcet instructions and positive encouragement to another generation of potential artists, while preserving Ross’s original vision of complete accessibility. But without a new supply of content, distribution and monetization would be an uphill battle.

The Solution: Powered by Matchpoint

So when Cineverse approached Bob Ross Inc. and American Public Television about building a FAST channel dedicated to Bob’s work – powered by their Matchpoint streaming technology – they knew this would make his zen, mindful approach to painting more accessible than ever.

Launched in April of 2020, the Bob Ross Channel is a nonstop feed of “The Joy of Painting” available on major platforms like Roku, LG, and Samsung.

Thanks to Matchpoint Dispatch, American Public Television was able to deliver 388 episodes of “The Joy of Painting” to a single source – more than 20 platforms.

Dispatched provided a 360-degree distribution process so everything from quality control to rights management and automated content delivery was handled in one ecosystem.

Best of all, dynamic ad insertion allowed American Public Television to monetize a beloved trove of content quickly and efficiently.

The Impact: Covering the Landscape

Since its inception, The Bob Ross Channel has generated more than half a billion views and 840 million ad impressions. Better yet, the channel is viewable for free on nearly two dozen platforms like Samsung, Roku, and LG, delivering on Bob Ross’s goal of making painting education available to all.

Those outstanding results, presented in clear and easy to understand visualizations from Matchpoint Insights, have turned Joan Kowalski into something of a data devotee.

But it’s not just Insights generating unexpected outcomes. Matchpoint Dispatch powered a complete translation of the show into Spanish and the launch of The Bob Ross Channel en Español. And FAST channel provider PlutoTV has joined in on the new era of “The Joy of Painting,” celebrating Bob’s birthday by hosting a painting live stream and even giving away Bob Ross branded paint sets.

Beyond the world of streaming, Bob Ross has reached new heights of popularity. The world’s largest exhibit of Bob Ross paintings opened in North Carolina at the end of 2023. Road races and group painting events are held in Ross’s honor. Ball State PBS even launched Happy Little Fest to celebrate, “all things Bob Ross.”