The Tubi juggernaut rolls on. Fox just announced the AVOD service had its best quarter ever. The company reported 3.6 billion hours streamed on Tubi, up 40% from a year ago. The streamer now has 51 million monthly active users.
CEO Lachlan Murdoch said “strong results and broad-based operating momentum are underpinned by the most valuable news franchise in the country (Fox News), the leading live sports franchise (the NFL), our top broadcast network (FOX) reinforced by a strategic stations portfolio, as well as the emerging leader in AVOD (Tubi). This focused portfolio is delivering consistent growth for our shareholders in a thoughtful and disciplined manner.”
Analysts predict Tubi will generate $1 billion by next year. Tubi’s annual revenue was just $145 million when it was first purchased.
Tubi CEO Farhad Massoudi shared that Tubi plans to invest more in the content to expand its library. The service has over 41,000 titles, up from 20,000 when it was acquired. The service attributes its growth to its range of content and ability to personalize recommendations to very niche audiences. Massoudi added, “We have chosen not to go after the broadcast type of content that is meant to appeal to the average customer… We try to serve smaller communities … and our ability to personalize is so key to our business.”
Tubi will stream all out-of-season episodes of numerous Fox series, including all of the network’s unscripted fare as well as future unscripted programming that will be owned and controlled by Fox Entertainment. Those series will also be available on Disney-owned Hulu, thanks to a new deal. Fox executives said the deal is on the “small” side, but it provides greater reach for Fox’s properties. Some of the titles in the deal include “The Masked Singer,” “LEGO Masters,” and “I Can See Your Voice.”
In November, Tubi added another platform in LG Smart TVs.
Tubi
Tubi is a free video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 200,000+ movies and TV episodes - more than any other streaming service. Its ad breaks are shorter and less frequent than most free services. Fox executives have called their service “TV on steroids.”