FILE PHOTO - The Viacom office is seen in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

(Reuters) - Viacom Inc VIAB.O said on Tuesday it will buy Pluto TV, a free video streaming TV service, for $340 million in cash to expand its advanced advertising business.

The owner of MTV Networks and Nickelodeon sees the purchase of the six-year-old company as another way to build a so-called direct-to-consumer business, Viacom said, while avoiding the capital intensive task of competing directly against subscription video services owned or to be built by Netflix IncNFLX.O, Walt Disney Co DIS.N and AT&T Inc's T.N WarnerMedia.

Viacom’s moves reflect a rekindled interest in advertising supported digital media kicked off by Roku, a device maker that helped viewers stream online videos on TVs that was spun off from Netflix. Amazon has also launched a free TV service recently.

Pluto TV claims 12 million monthly active users and licenses programming from 130 film and TV partners, including Viacom.

It is available on devices made by Roku IncROKU.O , Amazon.com IncAMZN.O, Sony Corp6758.T and Apple IncAAPL.O. The app is also available on smart televisions from Samsung005930.KS and Vizio.

Viacom said it sees Pluto TV as an important outlet for it to sell advanced advertising that has the ability to target viewers based on their habits.

While Viacom has no plans to make current shows on pay TV services available for free on the service, it sees Pluto TV as a way to make money off its archives.