Tubi, the free ad-supported streaming service, continues to grow under FOX since their March 2020 acquisition.
On their Q4 2020 investors call, FOX revealed that FOX TV stations, news media, and Tubi, all experienced record highs in the December quarter. Tubi’s growth, according to FOX, was due to “an influx of new advertisers.” When asked about the company’s goals for Tubi, FOX Co-Chairman Lachlan Murdoch said, “We expect to win in AVOD.”
Murdoch told investors, “While some streaming services focus attention on metrics like sign-ups or monthly active users, we think the most meaningful metric when measuring the performance of any AVOD service is total view time.”
Murdoch said that Tubi has seen total time of viewership grow by nearly 70% and revenue nearly double since their acquisition. He feels its the company’s tech stack that will separate them in the future.
Tubi has been a pleasant surprise for FOX since its acquisition in March 2020. While the initial investment may have cost FOX some serious cash, Tubi has continued to grow exponentially since then. In December, the service announced that their monthly active users reached 33 million, greater than the 28.4 million monthly viewers main rival Pluto TV announced back in November. However, both are growing — a good sign for the streaming industry.
But, that there continues to be increasing competition coming from The Roku Channel, Amazon’s IMDb TV, and Comcast’s Peacock and Xumo.
To help bring more visibility, FOX and Tubi also announced the start of ‘Free Like Tubi’ Week, a week-long multiplatform event, where consumers will be treated to a variety of giveaways spanning across TV, radio, digital and mobile devices, and even drive-ins and food delivery services. Partners include Pandora, Zynga, Postmates, Roku and Spotlight Cinema Networks, as well as daytime and late-night television staples The Ellen Degeneres Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live.