fuboTV reported on Tuesday afternoon that it had a strong Q2 2021 with 91,291 net subscriber additions bringing it to a total number of 681,721 subscribers — up 138% year-over-year. They’re reporting an all-time high in engagement with customers streaming 245 million hours of content during the quarter, a 148% increase year-over-year.
“As we have consistently highlighted, it is our view that there will be a major shift back to aggregation and bundling as the proliferation of SVOD services becomes increasingly burdensome and costly for consumers. Moreover, we continue to believe that consumers will ultimately favor a more personalized and interactive premium viewing experience,” said CEO David Gandler in the company’s shareholder letter.
The company now expects between 810,000 and 820,00 at the end of Q3 and 910,000-920,000 at the end of the year. In March, the company originally projected at least 760,000 subscribers at the end of 2021.
In comparison, the largest, Hulu Live TV ($65), announced that they had 3.8 million subscribers as the end of March, which was ahead of YouTube TV with 3 million subscribers in Q3 2020 (Alphabet hasn’t updated subscriber counts), Sling TV with 2.4 million, Philo with 800K, and AT&T TV with 646K subscribers (as of their final report in Q4 2020).
“We are very pleased with fuboTV’s performance in the first half of 2021 and believe that we are well-positioned to continue to execute on our long-term financial and operating goals, all while delivering a differentiated and world-class experience to the consumer,” said Edgar Bronfman Jr., executive chairman, fuboTV. “Our second-quarter results showcase the continued momentum in our business, with consumers choosing fuboTV over more expensive legacy pay-TV services due to our innovative product experience and customer-friendly approach at an affordable price.”
Fubo
Fubo is a live TV streaming service with about 90 channels for $74.99/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 $85.98/month, after adding in their RSN Fee. Fubo was previously known as “fuboTV.”
fuboTV said they plan to introduce a sportsbook during the fourth quarter of 2021, coming on the heels of a test carried out during the South American World Cup qualifying matches earlier this summer.
The beta test allowed viewers to look at live stats and then answer quiz questions. Viewers were able to predict possible outcomes, such as which team would score first. The test was meant to determine how a sportsbook might perform.
“Our hypothesis is that it’s going to be an engagement driver, but also in the bigger picture, it’s kind of our first step towards our overall gaming strategy,” Mike Berkley, fuboTV’s chief product officer said at the time. “Think of this really as a platform feature, where we can create a more enhanced viewing experience for every kind of content we provide on the platform.”
One feature the company expects to roll-out is “LiveSync”, which will automatically bring up the correct game in the fuboTV Gaming App, while you’re watching Live TV.
Earlier this summer, fuboTV dropped six A+E Networks channels including, A&E, History Channel, Lifetime, FYI, Lifetime Movie Network, and Vice TV.
In a quote to The Streamable at the time, fuboTV said, “It is always fuboTV’s mission to offer a leading package of premium sports, news, and entertainment programming while also balancing value and keeping costs as low as possible for consumers. To stay aligned with this mission, A&E Networks have left fuboTV as of June 30, 2021.”
One year earlier, fuboTV dropped Turner channels, including TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network from the service, with similar messaging. At the time, they dropped the channels in order to add Disney-owned networks like ABC, ESPN, and Disney Channel.
In recent months, fuboTV has added more than 100 ABC affiliate stations from broadcast groups across the nation including stations owned by Nexstar, Quincy, TEGNA, E.W. Scripps, and Hearst. The 115+ local ABC affiliates are in addition to national ABC feeds providing access to viewers across the country.