Tubi's Rise and Why Hollywood Should Be Worried

FASTs are proving to be as disruptive as premium streaming. And cost the right amount

(Photo illustration by The Ankler)

Last month, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) company achieved a ratings milestone:

A Tubi film made the streaming ratings charts!

Tubi’s Bloodline Killer appeared on Luminate’s viewership charts with 700k hours viewed the week of June 28. Although this would be more impressive if Luminate, which only recently started making its charts public, tracked more than streaming-only films, but still, an accomplishment! (Note: Nielsen doesn’t include FAST channels in its top tens.)

Tubi and its fellow FAST services — Pluto TV, Amazon Freevee and the Roku Channel — have gone from footnotes in the Streaming Wars to major players growing every year. Why are these services growing? In particular, why is Tubi, owned by Fox, doing so well? (Its recent launch in the U.K., for the “broke, Letterboxd generation” was covered by my colleague Manori Ravindran.)

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This is usually where I tamp down hype, but not today. I love the potential of FASTs. Free video might be just as disruptive as premium streaming video was a decade ago — and just as destructive to Hollywood’s bottom line.

In today’s post, you’ll learn . . .

• What Tubi has in its library and why it is connecting with audiences

• What percentage of total viewing audience FASTs now have vs. paid streamers

• What connected TVs home screens have to do with it

• The number one reason people churn out of paid streaming services

• What Tubi’s success tells us about Disney, Paramount and WBD’s stock market woes

• Three myths why FAST services are successful

• Three reasons — and one in particular — that actually explain their success

• How Netflix’s rise in the early 2010s illuminates Tubi’s growth today

• Why the FAST business model must continue to evolve if it’s going to fully disrupt Hollywood

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