Fubo Exceeds Guidance, Reports 1.908M Customers in Q1 2024 as Fight for Survival Continues With Joint Venture Streamer
The company’s financial numbers are steadily improving as Fubo continues to work toward profitability.
The sports-focused live TV streaming service Fubo is currently fighting a battle on multiple fronts. Not only is it engaged in efforts to prevent three major entertainment companies from launching a product that could present an existential threat to its existence, but it is also combating the normal cyclical ups and downs of the streaming calendar. While the service will need to wait and see how the legal process plays out with the former point, the latter appears to be going about as well as can be expected. On Friday, Fubo reported that it lost 107,000 North American customers during the first quarter of 2024, but given that the beginning of a new year means the end of the college football and NFL seasons, that is to be expected. In fact, by ending March with a reported 1.511 million subscribers, Fubo surpassed its own projections of 1.425M.
Key Details:
- While Fubo lost 107,000 customers in North American during the first quarter of 2024, that total is better than anticipated following the end of the football season.
- Even though the stream is still not profitable, Fubo’s financial numbers are improving as well.
- The company is currently engaged in a “duel to the death” with a sports-focused sports streaming service scheduled to launch this fall.
While Fubo is primarily a North American product, the streamer did report an additional 397,000 subscribers at the end of Q1 bringing its global total to 1.908M, down slightly from the 2.038 million that it had at the end of 2023. At that time, the sports streamer reported having 1.618 million subscribers in North America. However, its Q1 2024 total of 1.511 million customers does represent an 18% year-over-year increase from the 1.285 million it had following the first three months of 2023.
Domestically, Fubo’s average revenue per user (ARPU) rose $1.03 to come in at $84.54 for the quarter. That also represents a 10% increase over the corresponding period from last year. In Q1, Fubo’s North American revenue totaled $394M, a 24% increase over the same three months in 2023. Despite these positive financial trends, the company is still operating at a loss, albeit a steadily declining one. During the first quarter of the year, Fubo reported a net loss of $56.3 million and a net loss margin of -14%. However, both of those totals are improvements from where the company stood a year ago when it reported totals of $83.4M and -25.7% respectively.
As Fubo moves toward profitability, that likely sheds additional light on the streamer’s increasingly aggressive tactics and rhetoric aimed at preventing the planned launch of a joint venture sports streaming service that will combine the sports rights and programming on Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. In February, Fubo filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the three companies accusing it of being anti-competitive and bad for consumers. Then, this week, Fubo sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to hold hearings over the proposed platform and the future of competition in the pay-TV industry.
While the streamer’s lawsuit is working its way through the legal process, members of Congress have yet to respond to the letter — which was co-signed by DIRECTV, DISH Network, NewsMax, and consumer groups — however, two representatives did request information from Disney, Fox, and WBD last month. Additionally, the Department of Justice has publicly stated that it would be looking into potential violations of antitrust laws as well.
Fubo CEO David Gandler has been aggressive in going after the JV streamer referring to it as a “sports cartel” and saying that his company is in a “duel to the death.” Because the forthcoming streamer is estimated to hold upwards of 80% of the major national sports rights, its introduction to the market is expected to cause considerable defections from live TV streamers, and as Fubo is aimed specifically at sports fans, it could be be a death knell for the steadily growing service.
Fubo
Fubo is a live TV streaming service with about 90 top channels that start at $79.99 per month. This plan includes local channels, 19 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs). In total, you should expect to pay about $94.99 per month, after adding in their RSN Fee. Fubo was previously known as “fuboTV.”