fuboTV Rebranding as Simply ‘Fubo’; Launching New Ad Campaign Produced by Ryan Reynolds
The best-known live TV streaming service for sports streaming is getting a rebrand, well, kind of. Don’t worry though, users won’t have to remember a new name. fuboTV is dropping the “TV” and permanently capitalizing the first letter to simply be known as “Fubo” — which is what a lot of people called it already.
Fubo is going all-out to ensure that potential customers know it’s the same service, even if its branding looks a little different. Those efforts will be spearheaded by a new ad campaign starring 15-time NBA All-Star, NBA champion and Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett, and veteran NFL quarterback and commentator Mark Sanchez; the campaign is co-produced by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Productions.
“fuboTV has grown in size and scope, with multiple brands under our global umbrella, since we launched our core cable TV replacement product in 2015,” Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler said. “Alongside our continued growth, our consumers have affectionately shortened our name to Fubo and we feel that name represents the premium media brand we are today. We’re building on this momentum with an updated visual identity and new ad campaign, created in partnership with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort, to continue to drive profitable growth as we head into baseball season.”
The rebrand to Fubo reflects the company’s emphasis on efficient growth. Fubo was the fastest-growing live TV streamer in the fourth quarter 2022, achieving 224,000 net subscriber additions compared to a total of 371,000 additions amongst all reporting companies in the space. As of its last quarterly earnings report, Fubo had 1.231 million total users.
“The reason Maximum Effort believes in Fubo is it’s the one product that captures the best of cable and the best of streaming, while having the very meaningful differentiator of live sports,” Reynolds said. “While cable fights cord-cutters and streaming services fight the cash content war, Fubo is building an experience and suite of services that can win.”
Reynolds is a noted sports fan, so his involvement with Fubo makes plenty of sense. In addition to the new partnership, Reynolds is one of the owners of Wrexham AFC, a Welsh soccer team that is the subject of the FX documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham.” Fubo has a content agreement with Reynolds' Maximum Effort Productions already. The agreement includes a first-look deal for unscripted content, a blind scripted deal, and the launch of a Maximum Effort Network on Fubo.
The new logos and branding material will roll out across Fubo products in the coming months. Launching amid the World Baseball Classic and the start of the Major League Baseball season, Fubo’s new brand ad campaign is summed up by the line, “If Sports Fans Built a Streaming Service,” and highlights Fubo’s unique product experience, built for the most hungry, competitive and digital-first sports fans.
Despite the rebrand, it may become harder for MLB fans to watch their favorite team on the service in the coming months, through no fault of Fubo’s. Fubo announced a carriage agreement with Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs) in December, and the channels are available now. But Bally Sports’ parent company Diamond Sports Group is in the midst of bankruptcy court proceedings, and it may lose the broadcast rights to its MLB teams depending on how those efforts go for the company.
However those proceedings turn out, they won’t affect Fubo’s efforts to rebrand itself by dropping the “TV.” Fubo users should start to see the new logos, and new ads announcing the rebrand very soon.
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, 25 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs). In total, you should expect to pay about $91.99 per month, after adding in their RSN Fee. Fubo was previously known as “fuboTV.”