David Farnor | On 15, Feb 2020

Tubi racked up record growth in 2019 as it prepares to launch in the UK.

Headquartered in San Francisco, the platform is one of the world’s largest ad-supported video on-demand services. Much like YouTube or a traditional broadcast channel such as Film4, the site offers titles available to stream for free, then recoups the costs for doing so through adverts.

In the USA, it offers more than 15,000 movies and TV shows from nearly every major Hollywood studio, including Warner Bros., Paramount, and Lionsgate. In December alone, the company saw its monthly active users grow to 25 million and total view time rocket to over 163 million hours watched – a year-over-year increase of 160 per cent. In addition, the company will accelerate its content spending in 2020 to exceed nine figures to further expand its current library of content

The company also saw rapid growth internationally. Year-over-year in Canada and Australia, there was a 357 per cent increase in total viewing time – a positive sign as the company prepares to launch in the UK and Mexico this year.

“Our growth over the last year is a clear testament to the success of our focused strategy in a now-cluttered marketplace,” says Farhad Massoudi, CEO of Tubi. “We’re excited people globally have embraced Tubi as a complement to subscription video and aim to deliver an even larger library of premium content in 2020.”

 

Tubi to launch in UK

29th October 2019

Streaming service Tubi is planning to launch in the UK next year.

Headquartered in San Francisco, the platform is one of the world’s largest ad-supported video on-demand services. Much like YouTube or a traditional broadcast channel such as Film4, the site offers titles available to stream for free, then recoups the costs for doing so through adverts.

In the USA, it offers more than 15,000 movies and TV shows from nearly every major Hollywood studio. To give you an idea of the kind of content on offer, and the delay at which at they arrive on the site, new titles currently available include Megamind starring Will Ferrell and Tina Fey, Scary Movie 1 and 2 starring Marlon Wayans and Anna Faris, the Academy Award-winner No Country for Old Men directed by Joel & Ethan Cohen, and the 13th season of the hit TV series The Bachelorette.

Nonetheless, the service is popular: in June, Tubi announced it had streamed 94 million hours of content for the entire month of May alone – a record at that time. Since then, it has grown to over 132 million hours in September – a 40 per cent increase in four months.

Now, it’s looking to expand, and will launch its service in the UK in early 2020, with additional territories to follow.

Tubi announced the plans during a keynote address at MIPCOM, when it also announced the launch of Tubi Kids this month in the USA, offering more than 1,200 age-appropriate movies and television shows or over 5,000 hours of content in a Netflix and YouTube-style dedicated section built just for families.

“We’re ramping up our international expansion with the UK launch being the first of several forthcoming territories and look forward to announcing them soon,” said Farhad Massoudi, CEO of Tubi. “The launch of Tubi Kids reinforces our dedication to offer an age-appropriate viewing environment – super-serving kids and families with a robust amount of content.”

Add to Watchlist