“Would it put a virus on your computer?” Ms. Parlapiano said. “People wouldn’t even touch it.”
That’s not an issue now.
The streaming service, which is owned by the Fox Corporation, runs a different business model from those competitors. In addition to being free — with revenue coming from advertising — it doesn’t require an account to use, making it more similar to services like Roku and Pluto. And it comfortably commands more engagement than those peers, according to Nielsen.
“We’re like the little engine, and it’s just getting better and better,” Anjali Sud, Tubi’s chief executive, said.
Its sudden rise has come as something of a shock to many competitors, as well as investors.
Unlike its biggest rivals, which allocate huge budgets for original programs or premium sports rights like the N.F.L. or the N.B.A., Tubi’s library contains tens of thousands of older shows and movies, many that seem to have been collected from the bargain bin. Some popular programs on the service include the 1970s procedural “Columbo,” and an early 2000s UPN sitcom, “Everybody Hates Chris.”
Horror, thriller and true crime programs also do particularly well, executives said. Tubi also has reruns of older network programming like “Empire” and “Scandal.” (...)
For the vast majority of the last decade, Tubi was not a serious player in the streaming wars. Ms. Sud said that before she joined the company last year, she was only dimly aware of it. “None of my family, none of my friends were Tubi viewers,” she said.
Fox bought Tubi for $440 million in 2020, the media company’s effort to move into streaming. It has since become something of a favorite for Lachlan Murdoch, Fox’s chief executive, who often touts its growth to investors in earnings calls.
Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed Partners, said that consumers have become increasingly tolerant of commercials on streaming, and Tubi’s popularity boils down to one thing: “People love free.”
Another analyst, Tim Nollen of Macquarie, said that he was caught off guard by the sudden success of Tubi, along with other free streaming services.
“They seem to be largely venues for people to find random old things that they wouldn’t have normally thought to watch,” he said. “In many households, they have replaced the TV set that people would just leave on all the time. Now they put on Tubi and leave it on.” (...)
Revenue is growing. Mr. Nollen, the analyst, estimated that Tubi drew about $900 million in revenue over the last year compared to $775 million from the year before. (A Tubi spokeswoman declined to comment.)
At this point, there are advantages to forgoing a subscription business. Profits have been difficult to wrangle in streaming for major media companies, and cancellation rates are surging. Between April and June, there were roughly 45 million sign-ups in the United States for video subscription services, but also 43 million cancellations, according to Antenna, a subscription research firm. That’s the narrowest quarterly margin since Antenna began keeping records.
But Tubi executives also said that the volatility of the streaming business is benefiting them. As other companies raise prices — the Disney+ no-commercial tier will increase to $16 a month this fall, up from $7 a month just five years ago — and produce fewer shows and movies, a free service like Tubi is helping fill the vacuum for consumers, they said.
by John Koblin, NY Times | Read more:
Image: Richard B. Levine/Alamy Stock Photo
