More Free Streaming Coming To UK Viewers
Welcome to the UK Tubi 🇬🇧
Welcome back to Streaming Made Easy (SME). I’m Marion & this is your 5-min read to get a European take on the Global Streaming Video Business.
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Enjoy today’s read.
In the ever-evolving landscape of Free Streaming TV, there is one company we, Europeans, know little about: Tubi.
Rightfully so as Tubi was not active in our region until this week when Tubi launched in the UK.
If you operate in the UK and/or ambition to operate in the streaming video space beyond Europe, you shouldn’t overlook Tubi.
In this edition, I will make sure you come out with a clear view on what Tubi is, the opportunity it brings but also the challenges it faces in a highly competitive and Free to air market like the UK.
Today at a glance:
Get to know Tubi
Welcome to the UK
What’s Next?
Let’s begin.
Get to know Tubi
Tubi was founded in April 2014 by Farhad Massoudi and Thomas Ahn Hicks, who were working at AdRise, a company that specialized in online video advertising.
They saw an opportunity to create a platform that would provide free access to premium content, supported by targeted ads.
AdRise launched Tubi TV as a free service, with a focus on acquiring licensed content from major studios and distributors. At launch, Tubi TV had more than 3,000 titles licensed from partners like ITV, Endemol, Hasbro and Cinedigm.
→ Their ambition
become the largest library of free movies and TV shows.
become the first stop after Netflix.
Tubi was bought by Fox in March 2020 for 440M$. At the time, Tubi had 20K programs and 25M monthly active users.
“Tubi will immediately expand our direct-to-consumer audience and capabilities and will provide our advertising partners with more opportunities to reach audiences at scale.”
Fox Corp. executive chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch
→ Their active user trajectory
Source: Tubi; Statista. Disclaimer: We don’t know what constitutes an active user for Tubi. It could be a second spent watching content on the platform.
→ Their footprint
Following its US launch, Tubi has grown its footprint to 10 additional markets: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, and now the UK.
Like all pure players, they thrive to be device agnostic, hence why the Tubi app is available across streaming dongles, Smart TVs, game consoles, web & mobile, a couple of cable providers.
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→ Their value proposition
From a content standpoint, Tubi is AVOD first while Pluto TV is FAST first. It shows in the numbers (and in their corporate communication). Their US library now exceeds 200,000 movies & TV episodes. They expanded to FAST in 2020 in the US and in October 2023 in Canada where they respectively have 250 channels & 40 channels.
From an advertising standpoint, Tubi prides itself in its ability to offer a hyper personalised ad experience with a low ad load (for a free streamer) with 4-6 minutes per hour.
Welcome to the UK
In the UK, the launch is AVOD-only with 20,000 titles from day 1 which seems to be their minimum viable product in any new market.
The line up spans across 18 genres, offers collections like “Based on a book” or “K-Drama+”.
Content partners include: Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures Entertainment as Tubi’s slate of originals.
At first sight, the line up feels quite US-focused (except for a UK-specific Reality & Lifestyle section and titles here and there) but as is often the case at launch for US streamers. You extend rights to your existing library then build up a local proposition.
“We are launching with one of the largest and most diverse content libraries in the UK, designed to indulge viewers in everything from blockbusters to original stories to hidden gems. Most importantly, we’re committed to listening to what resonates with UK fans, and bringing them more and more of what they love.”
Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi
The service is live on mobile and web for now with CTV platforms launching in the coming weeks. Expect them to replicate their US distribution network but hopefully they are in talks with local platforms too. As always, CTV isn’t enough in Europe, there are huge pockets of Pay TV subscribers to go after.
Now it’s not easy to launch a D2C brand in a new market in 2024 especially a market like the UK with so much free competition.
In the US, Tubi enjoys a market leading position amongst free streamers (except YouTube of course). It made the Nielsen Gauge for the 1st time last year and has kept a spot since then with a 1.8% monthly viewing share in May 2024.
This is in part due to a 1st mover advantage in a costly for consumers ecosystem but also a deep library (>200K titles in the US), years of data to inform acquisitions and originals’ production, a strong focus on bringing a stellar content viewing experience, and last but not least a strong advertising expertise.
In the UK, this is what they are up against in terms of time spent:
N.B: This chart breaks down viewing to the various platforms in terms of the average number of people watching per day (for at least 3 minutes) compared with the average time spent watching per viewer (i.e. only counting those who watched on that day).
Disclaimer: Barb only measure in-home viewing so it’s estimated that YouTube would be larger in viewing time if out of home viewing was included.
And in the ad market:
What’s next?
Their launch campaign is set for July 15th. I’m eager to see how their positioning will resonate and whether they will take this opportunity to announce new distribution partners.
Launching a FAST channel hub would make sense in a market like the UK where linear consumption still appeals and to match their competitors (both free streamers and broadcasters) but first they must bring local and fresher content to the platform.
Growth takes time and effort though. Let’s check back in a few months.
That’s it for today but before you go:
Enjoy your weekend and see you next Friday for another edition of Streaming Made Easy!
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