Fubo on Friday reported its first-ever quarter of positive Adjusted EBITDA as the virtual MVPD gears up for the launch of a skinny sports-focused streaming pay TV package in the coming weeks and a business combination with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV down the line.
Fubo’s Q2 results included Adjusted EBITDA of $20.7 million – marking it’s first-ever positive quarter on the metric and a $31.7 million improvement compared to Q2 2024.
It still marked a Q2 net loss of $8 million but that improved versus a $25.8 million net loss in the same period a year ago. Fubo exceeded its own subscriber and revenue guidance but both metrics declined year-over-year in Q2. North American revenue of $371.3 million was down 3% yoy. North American paid subscribers to the sports-focused vMVPD stood at 1.35 million at the end of the period, down 6.5% yoy. Fubo also lost domestic subscribers compared to Q1, when its tally stood at 1.47 million.
In the Rest of the World, Fubo delivered $8.7 million in revenue, up 4.7% yoy and 349,000 paid subscribers, down 12.5% yoy (note, Fubo states key metrics including subscribers year-over-year instead of sequentially due to the seasonality of sports content).
“The second quarter of 2025 marked a pivotal milestone in Fubo’s business,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of Fubo, in a statement “Our continued focus on delivering choice and flexibility to consumers positions us well to capitalize on emerging opportunities as the traditional content landscape continues to evolve.”
On the company's earnings call Gandler noted Fubo filed a preliminary proxy statement seeking shareholder approval of its agreement with Disney to combine Fubo with the media company’s competing vMVPD Hulu + Live TV.
That transaction was announced in January and related to the settlement of Fubo’s antitrust litigation against Disney and its then-Venu Sports JV partners, which also provided Fubo with a $220 million cash infusion not contingent on the Disney-Fubo deal closing. As part of the agreement Disney would hold a 70% ownership stake in the combined Fubo-Hulu + Live TV entity.
Completion of the transaction is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, as well as customary conditions, but Gandler cited an expected close timeline of Q4 2025 or Q1 2026. Disney reported Q2 results this week, including the loss of a 100,000 Hulu + Live TV subscribers for a base of 4.3 million.
Regarding the proposed deal, the CEO reiterated that “we continue to be excited about the potential to increase competition and consumer choice in the pay TV space.”
Fubo Sports launching in coming weeks, expands offer with PPV, DAZN
Before it gets cozy with Hulu, Fubo itself is preparing to launch a skinny sports-focused pay TV bundle dubbed Fubo Sports.
The company hasn’t released much in terms of details like price or channel lineup, but a launch is imminent as Gandler said the new offer will debut in the coming weeks. Fubo’s letter to shareholders said the “focused service” will come at “an attractive price point.”
It follows moves of traditional pay TV providers like DirecTV to offer skinner, genre-based packages. It also goes to Fubo’s strategy of becoming both a super-aggregator of sorts and trying to offer more choice and flexibility to consumers with the introduction of new tiers, price points and package types. On the call, Gandler noted that it started to sell standalone offerings and has “seen a nice uptick on the standalone offers” it launched. “It’s become very clear that consumers are very focused on spending less rather than more,” he added.
That said, the co-founder feels that a broader entertainment package “will appeal to many people” and reiterated Fubo’s goal is to deliver “value to consumers along the demand curve, at different price points.”
Another move in that direction during Q2 was Fubo’s launch of live soccer and boxing Pay-Per-View events as well as a separate reciprocal multi-year U.S content deal with global sports streamer DAZN that involves distributing each other’s owned-and-operated linear channels.
Speaking about the PPV launch on Friday’s earnings call, Gandler indicated it’s all about flexible content experiences, as the live events are available to purchase as one-offs even for those who aren’t subscribers to Fubo’s streaming service. And it still provides an opportunity to upsell viewers into monthly subscription packages.
Per Gandler, PPV helps invite a broader audience that not only expands Fubo’s reach “but also creates a strategic pathway to convert casual viewers into monthly subscribers.”
With the DAZN deal, meanwhile, Fubo expanded distribution of its Fubo Sports Network FAST channel to the platform, while bringing Fubo subscribers access to the DAZN1 channel.
Product features boost engagement, loss of TVU and WBD content drags Q2 ad revenue
In addition to expanding sports on the platform, Fubo’s been focused on tech and product of its platform itself.
That includes recent introductions and enhancements to personalization features including DVR-focused features like Catch Up to Live, Game Highlights and Timeline Markers, that help users find the right programming at the right moment and better optimize the live sports viewing experience. Catch Up to Live, for example, allows users who are recording a game to quickly review scoring plays before they start to watch it live. Timeline Markers, meanwhile, appear on the so-called scrub bar of DVR’s games that let users to quickly jump right to key moments when they’re catching a game they missed live.
According to Gandler, these enhancements have “driven a steady lift in time spent on Fubo.”
“We believe our approach takes us one step further than competitors with a focus on the key moments in addition to full game access,” he added.
That said, the loss of certain programming – namely dropping channels from Warner Bros. Discovery and TelevisaUnivision after hitting carriage impasses – continued to impact advertising quarterly results, as was seen in Q1.
Fubo CFO John Janedis noted that Q2 North American ad revenue totaled $25.5 million, reflecting a 2% yoy decline that he attributed to the loss of content to run ads against from TVU and WBD.
On the advertising front, Fubo in the quarter launched the ability to purchase pause ads (a newer format that has gained traction) in a programmatic biddable environment – marking a first in the CTV space. It now supports activation of pause ads through direct insertion order (IO), programmatic guaranteed (PG) and biddable private marketplace (PMP) environments.
According to the shareholder letter, CTV pause ads on Fubo drive 33% more brand engagement than video ads alone, based on the vMVPD’s internal data.