Fubo on Thursday announced it’s now offering standalone premium subscriptions services without the need for users to subscribe to one of the virtual MVPD’s base live streaming pay TV plans. It marks a notable step towards Fubo’s stated aim of becoming a “super aggregator” that offers flexible content bundles at various price points, available within the vMVPD’s ecosystem.
The first service partners at launch offering standalone subscriptions through Fubo include FanDuel Sports Network – the former Bally Sports Network that’s currently live in select Fubo markets, NBA League Pass and Paramount+ with Showtime.
All three of these services are already available via Fubo through one form or another and will continue to be offered within packages. The FanDuel Network, for example, is included in Fubo’s Pro base plan TV package, while NBA League Pass and Paramount+ with Showtime are available to Fubo subscribers as add-on channel packages for an additional price. The difference now is that consumers don’t need to also shell out for an actual Fubo pay TV lineup – where base plans start at $80 per month after an introductory price - to subscribe to them through the vMVPD.
The company plans to announce launches of additional standalone premium subscriptions for both live linear and SVOD services.
When users do subscribe to any of the three services as a standalone through the vMVPD they’ll also get access to Fubo Free – a collection of nearly 200 free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels. The Fubo Free offering is another tier and element for its “super aggregation” strategy to offer a range of live and on-demand content options spanning skinny to fat bundles.
Other vMVPDs, like Philo for example, have also built out FAST channels, in part to to bolster content lineups, keep users engaged while continuing to generate advertising revenue, and provide a direct route to upsell into paid subscriptions. The Fubo Free tier differs somewhat in that it’s not available to anyone for free, but restricted to former Fubo paid users that have churned and free trial subscribers that haven’t yet converted to paid – and now also to subscribers of the standalone premium services.
Fubo said it’s also exploring the launch of other content offerings including pay-per-view and transactional video on-demand (aka content for rental or purchase) or TVOD.
Customers that subscribe to live linear services via Fubo will also get Unlimited Cloud DVR and ability for multiple concurrent streams on different devices.
“Consumers want flexible streaming options that lets them subscribe to only the content they want to watch,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of Fubo, in a statement. “Our vision to be a Super Aggregator aims to give consumers a seamless way to access all of the content they love within the Fubo ecosystem and at appropriate price points. With the addition of standalone live and SVOD premium subscriptions, we believe offering multiple bundles, from skinny to fat, will put choice in the hands of our customers. This is what streaming should be.”
Fubo positions itself as a sports-focused vMVPD, offering a cable-like pay TV channel lineup bolstered by a personalized user experience and tech capabilities like multi-view. While emphasizing a sports focus, executives at the streaming provider have previously pointed to consumers’ frustration with fragmentation, where Fubo wants to serve as a central point offering access to both traditional TV networks, free streaming channels, live and on-demand content – and now standalone premium subscriptions.
However, it’s not the only streaming player looking to be a one-stop entertainment hub.
While not offering a pay TV lineup like Fubo and instead serving as a (now partially ad-supported) SVOD, tech giant Amazon is increasingly positioning Prime Video an aggregated, one-stop video destination. It offers on-demand content with licensed and original TV series and films, free streaming content via Freevee, a TVOD business with TV series and movies for rent and has a successful premium partner subscription business via Amazon Channels – which this month added Apple TV+ as its latest partner. It’s also leaning in further to the live TV and sports realm, with mega sports rights deals like the NFL’s Thursday Night Football and recently securing NBA rights. Next month Prime Video is making its first jump into live news, with Election Night a one-night special featuring election results and analysis on November 5.
And while third parties, particularly Amazon Channels, have been shown to drive a significant proportion of signups for smaller or niche streamers, some major streaming services are pushing back against other platforms handling their subscriptions.
As detailed by Kirby Grines in The Streaming Wars blog, Disney this month is removing the ability for new Disney+ and Hulu users to subscribe to the service through Apple’s in-app purchasing mechanisms – instead trying to drive them to direct-to-consumer sign-ups via its own websites and app.
Per Grines, this move is part of a broader industry-wide trend where streamers want to keep control over the subscription revenue and valuable consumer data while also avoiding Apple’s platform tax related to handling signups and billing.
“The decision to sever ties with Apple’s in-app payment system follows in the footsteps of other major players like Netflix and Spotify. These companies have also resisted the App Store’s commission structure, which requires a 15-30% cut of each subscription in perpetuity,” wrote Grines. “While Apple has slightly softened its stance by allowing ‘reader’ apps to direct users to external websites, content providers increasingly prioritize direct-to-consumer (DTC) models to reduce costs and control customer relationships.”
Fubo didn’t disclose its model or fee structure for offering third-party standalone subscriptions. Others in the space also offer channel or premium subscription signups, like Google’s YouTube Primetime Channels and The Roku Channel’s Premium Subscriptions.
And despite usually losing a cut of revenue, there are still benefits for services to offer their subscriptions through third-party partners.
In a September column on StreamTV Insider, TVREV’s Alan Wolk noted that, for one, niche streamer partners of Amazon Channels get their content integrated within the Prime Video interface for subscribers of those apps, helping those services get their content in front of viewers.
This “solves for ‘Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind’ (OOS-OOM) syndrome. This is a big problem overall in the industry—there is just way too much to watch, consumers are overwhelmed and so they gravitate to a handful of apps that have everything they feel they need,” wrote Wolk.
With the launch of standalone premium subscriptions, Fubo’s making another move to be a comprehensive entertainment destination, serving up a variety of content bundle and price point options.