Today, fuboTV announced that it has added 43,000 subscribers for a total of 590,000 for the first quarter of 2021, which is up 105% from last year. As a result of the gains, the company now expects to finish 2021 with 830,000-850,000 subscribers, up from the 760,000 they projected earlier this year.
“As the shift of viewing from traditional pay TV accelerates, our differentiation in the marketplace - sports-focused programming, a tech-first and data-driven user experience and the planned integration of wagering and interactivity - firmly positions the company strongly for long-term growth,” said Edgar Bronfman Jr., executive chairman, fuboTV. “We remain steadfast in our mission to provide the world’s most thrilling sports-first live TV experience with the greatest breadth of premium content, interactivity, and integrated wagering.”
While fuboTV may not be as well known as other live streaming options when it comes to the streaming wars, it has nonetheless been steadily acquiring local affiliate stations and amassing a robust library of content in the process.
After adding Nexstar-owned ABC affiliates earlier this year, fuboTV continues to acquire local ABC affiliates from around the country. With the additions, they now have over 55 local ABC affiliates (in addition to a national ABC feed).
The national feeds won’t give local news, but they still televise national ABC programming, like “The Bachelor” and “Good Morning America.”
The national feeds also allow fuboTV to stream NBA basketball and NCAA college football.
Live sports is clearly FuboTV’s path forward. The platform has reached a deal which allows The World Cup 2022 qualifying matches of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) to be streamed exclusively on fuboTV.
Additionally, The Marquee Sports Network — the regional sports network operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group and the Chicago Cubs — announced a deal with fuboTV, meaning that fans from Chicago can watch the game on TV, mobile devices and computers without needing a cable subscription.
It’s an example of fuboTV honing in on local sports broadcasts. The platform has already done well to get some of the more coveted RSNs like MSG, NESN, AT&T SportsNet Southwest, and AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, which also carry a Regional Sports Fee.
Not content to merely broadcast sporting events, fuboTV is also in the process of adding features that cater specifically to sports viewers in ways that the competition lacks.
FuboTV CEO David Gandler said the company is doubling down on its sports-focused content offerings with an added focus on launching their own sportsbook by year’s end.
Rather than partnering with an existing brand, fuboTV acquired Vigtory, a smaller digital sportsbook, that will fully integrate into its sports coverage. While they won’t allow bets on TV, it will allow them to use viewer data to get the user the right bet slip on their mobile device.
“96% of our users watch sports, so it allows us to amortize sports content in ways that other services can’t given the more of a general entertainment-type audience that they have,” said Gandler. “We’re having discussions all the time, and hopefully, there’s an opportunity to bring them back at some point.”
Outside of the incoming sportsbook features, Gandler mentioned other sports-themed features will eventually find their way to fuboTV.
“We’re planning to launch free predictive games on the video platform. Those could launch nationally, allowing us to continue to A/B test and learn about conversion rates and how we plan to sort of add wagering into the video platform. So that’s an area of focus for us from a product perspective, which allows us to further differentiate from our competitors, both now in the gaming and in the video space.”
FuboTV is also rolling out a new viewer-friendly feature that allows users to record every game from a specific team. Instead of manually recording each individual game, you can simply program all of a team’s games to be recorded.