Inside Tubi's U.K. Launch for the (Broke) Letterboxd Generation
As cost-of-living stress sends new paid streaming subscribers to a 12-month low, the head of international for Fox's free streamer tells me its strategy
Manori Ravindran covers the international TV market from London for Series Business. She recently covered how the BBC and HBO scored Richard Gadd’s latest project and the creative dealmaking that got Geek Girl to Netflix (after it said no three times).
Hello from London, Series Business readers! It’s still holiday central in these parts, and those OOO messages are coming in thick and fast. Today I’m sharing my interview with David Salmon, Tubi’s executive vice-president and managing director of international, about the strategy behind the launch of Fox’s FAST streamer on these shores.
Earlier this month, Fox Corp launched Tubi in the U.K. The free ad-supported streaming service recently tied Disney+ in total viewing time in the U.S. according to the Nielsen Gauge, but has just started to go global and this is its first European market.
The timing is fortuitous amid the U.K.’s cost of living crisis, but there’s healthy skepticism here about the launch of yet another streaming service — especially one that has to go up against the popular ad-supported services of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. But analysts tell me it was the next logical step for Rupert Murdoch’s streaming outfit, less of a power play and more of a litmus test for Tubi’s value as a global brand. (Fox doesn’t break out Tubi’s financials but touts that it has 80 million monthly active users.)
What might interest producers and distributors, in particular, is the content strategy. Tubi is leaving the door wide open for U.K. originals down the line, and is in the market for niche, youth-skewing programming that will help differentiate it from competitors like Freevee and Pluto TV. (“Isn’t everyone?” you ask. Yes, but Tubi takes “niche” a little more seriously than most.)
In this issue, you’ll learn:
How the audience is more open than ever to ad-based streaming services
Exclusive data on the ad-based streaming market
Broadcasters’ significant advantage that challenges Tubi and other free streamers
Tubi’s head of international’s bold vision for expansion
Why Tubi believes its niche-digging can beat programming for the “median viewer”
Why Tubi is programming to underserved audiences
Tubi’s approach to buying — and what it means for rights holders
How cordcutters and cord nevers are a different market
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