Just a few weeks after Nielsen declared that rival FAST The Roku Channel had narrowly surpassed it in share of U.S. TV time for November, Fox and Tubi are doing a little chest-thumping.
Fox's Tubi on Monday said its free, ad-supported streaming platform has surpassed 97 million monthly active users as of the end of 2024, a significant 21% uptick over the nearly 80 million MAUs it reported for Tubi back in early May.
The Fox-owned FAST also disclosed that Tubi users streamed more than 10 billion hours of content in 2024.
So to what can we attribute Tubi’s massive viewership surge? In a statement, Tubi CEO Anjali Sud was a bit vague but pointed to content strategy and user experience: “Our strategy is simple yet powerful,” she said. “Put viewers first by offering unique stories from unique storytellers, a vast selection of content to choose from and a delightful experience across devices.”
She also cited a premium content, free viewing experience.
“Tubi’s momentum is growing as audiences increasingly value a premium entertainment experience that is also 100% free, fun and reflective of culture,” Sud added.
There were some tangible audience drivers, however. For example, Tubi said that when it debuted Sidelined: The Quarterback and Me back in November, the original young-adult-targeted romantic drama film delivered the biggest one-week viewership haul the platform had ever seen.
It now has over 300 Tubi Originals, with exclusive content gaining adoption on the platform, according to the company. Tubi said nearly 1 in 4 viewers watch a Tubi Original.
And there are more anticipated Tubi originals on the way, with dark Western thriller The Thicket starring Peter Dinklage and Juliette Lewis set to drop in the first quarter, as well as workplace comedy The Z-Suite starring Lauren Graham. There’s also the return of comedic drama series Borders and the Dion Sanders-hosted We Got Time Today.
Regardless of what’s propelling it, Tubi's quick pace of user and engagement growth is reflected in its bottom line: Fox said during its third-quarter earnings call back in early November that the FAST was on target to surpass $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time, with the platform serving up copious inventory for rabid political advertising demand over the summer and early fall. Consider that back in March 2020, Fox paid $440 million to purchase Tubi, a startup at the time that was only generating around $150 million in yearly sales.
As to where Tubi actually stands in the FAST pecking order, its 97 million MAU’s compare favorably – although not an apples-to-apples metric comparison - to the 90 million streaming households Roku reported Tuesday for its device platforms, which include The Roku Channel. Also, Samsung TV Plus touted 88 million MAUs back in October.