“Paradox of Choice”: Tubi CEO explains how the free streaming service makes entertainment easy and entertaining again

When you think of free streaming, you might associate it with YouTube or homemade social media videos – not anything like that Netflix or Apple TV Pluswhere you can find big blockbuster movies and big series. But more and more services offer the best of both worlds.

The best free streaming services are becoming viable alternatives to the leading subscription-based offerings, and while there is still a long way to go before these services can replace the big names, there is one service backed by a major Hollywood studio that is quickly becoming a standout .

Tubi has one of the largest catalogs of movies and series to stream for free and has caught the attention of many people. The ad-based service has twice as many monthly active users as The corresponding subscription level of Netflix which was launched at the end of 2022 and will increase to 80 million by 2024.

If these numbers sound surprising to you, then come with me down this rabbit hole (did you happen to see Tubi’s viral Super Bowl ad in 2023?) as I speak with Anjali Sud, who moved from Vimeo to CEO of Tubi in September 2023 to find out how the free streamer manages to compete with the best streaming services.

“Be careful what you wish for”

(Image credit: Tubi)

Tubi is available in the US, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Latin America and, since July, the UK. The Streaming subscription alternative launched with 20,000 free movies and episodes in the UK (4,500 films alone), and while this is only a fraction of the US’s reported 250,000 film library, Sud is confident the service will scale quickly in the new market.

“We’re the most-watched free movie and TV streaming service in the US,” Sud tells me. “We are AVOD number one [advertising video on demand] in Canada. We just connected with Disney Plus in the USA by viewership [based on Nielsen data]so that means we excel peacock And Max – big streamers that have been on the market for a long time.”

A big part of what makes Tubi so successful – aside from its biggest selling point, which is that it’s completely free – is that it has such a robust library. Described as a “free Netflix competitor,” you’ll not only find small-budget productions, but also a variety of films and shows, including an increasing number of critically acclaimed films like this one three films with over 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In fact, the size and variety of content in Tubi’s catalog was something that surprised even me when I started exploring the platform, and it’s what’s appealing to viewers looking for a streaming alternative that doesn’t suddenly increase subscription prices , is very well received – Paramount Plus increased prices in Augustwhile Disney is planning price increases for October.

The Tubi interface on mobile devices

(Image credit: Tubi)

We are actually seeing even greater momentum and adoption of Tubi because there is a paradox of choice. There is too much friction and fragmentation for the audience
Tubi CEO Anjali Sud

“What we hear from audiences is that we are removing barriers and making it easy, fun and free,” Sud emphasizes. “We are on all devices. We don’t have a lot of onboarding or friction to start watching content. We have a low ad load and [a catalog that gives you] the ability to go deep into areas that you might not initially think of as something you want to see or that other streamers don’t show.”

When Sud mentions content that other streamers don’t show, she’s pointing to the fact that, unlike some other ad-supported services, Tubi also produces original content under its Originals banner (though the quality isn’t up to par, from what I’ve seen). Netflix bosses will be giving sleepless nights) as well as offering more independent and classic titles that Netflix or Disney might prefer to ignore.

Royalties for these latter titles are quite low compared to more recent hits, making classic and independent cinema a secret weapon for the service, and two others, given that Alternative streaming services – Mubi, which specializes in independent and art house films, and the Criterion Collection, one of the largest distributors of classic films in the US – are huge successes On its own, it’s a solid strategy.

For Sud, the main reason for Tubi’s strong growth is subscription fatigue. “Although the market has become more competitive in the U.S., we are actually seeing even greater momentum and adoption of Tubi because there is a paradox of choice,” she says. “There’s too much friction and fragmentation for audiences, so we’ve seen that translate into growth and viewership.”

A rising star

Tubi’s success didn’t come overnight. The company launched in the US in 2014 and quietly secured funding before investing heavily in licensed content in 2019 (one of the biggest deals it struck was with NBCUniversal to license 400 films and shows).

Then, a year later, it was acquired by Fox (the stake that Disney didn’t acquire in 2019), and that’s when it really took off. Fox later purchased MarVista – an established studio that has been distributing third-party content since 2003 – in 2021 to expand Tubi’s library.

Tubi later inked a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery in 2023 for 11 new FAST channels – the equivalent of live TV and that the same amount received by Amazon Freevee in June 2023 – around the same time Sud took over the reins from its founder, Farhad Massoudi.

The main actors of the film “The Usual Suspects” in a police assembly room — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Open Tubi today and you’ll see a ton of great content, all of which you can watch without having to sign up and pay for an account – we’ve already discovered it three of our favorite thriller films, three science fiction spectacles And Five films with 90% and above on Rotten Tomatoes to name just a few, and you can find these too five with over 89% on Rotten Tomatoes in the UK So it’s not just the USA that gets good titles. But that wasn’t always the case.

Over the years, Tubi has perfected what Sud describes as their “listening model,” which, as she explains, “starts with a lot of content, learning how to personalize and show people what they’re interested in, and then that data used.” and insights to keep getting better, [allowing us to] Grow our library with the right content to offer more and more of what people want to see.”

Take the UK for example; Sud says she heard “the same feelings of fatigue and the feeling that it’s still too difficult to just look and find everything you want in one place.” Of course, there are plenty of channels with free streaming services in the UK – there’s even a service that puts them all in one place called ” Free (although this isn’t widely used yet) – but these are aimed at a mass audience, while Tubi’s model is the opposite of that.

“We want to have a large, diverse and huge range of content, but we also want to support individuals with their unique tastes and preferences,” explains Sud. “We feel there is space – and even a need – for this in the UK. That’s why we’re really excited about the launch. It’s a strong starting offering, but we will look to grow and invest and become stronger over time – just as we did in the US.”

Closing gaps in the market

Three men in overalls hold neutron rods and carry proton packets — (Image credit: Prime Video)

Tubi’s increasing popularity comes at a time when many of the established streaming services are spending less on content and adding more advertising to fund their operations. Actually, while Apple TV Plus once felt like the new HBO, but its golden age may already be over as it begins to scale back its productions (it spent more than $20 billion to reach just 0.2% of the US streaming audience, but then again we also got the likes severance pay – one of the best Apple TV Plus shows).

Follow in the footsteps of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and Disney, that brought its cheaper ad-based tier to the UK In November 2023, Apple TV Plus could be next to get an ad-based tier. And another sign that streaming is going cable is reportedly Netflix Planning a completely free ad-supported service.

All of this is further proof that Tubi’s ad-based free streaming model is working, and we can only expect it to get even bigger. The platform’s audience is currently broad, but Sud says there are three main areas of interest where Tubi is seeing strong growth: “Younger audiences, more multicultural audiences, and then what I would call passionate fandoms, which are communities that are around “Group certain things,” such as “Wynonna Earps” (a community dedicated to Canadian westerns).

A square grid with a remote control in the right corner — (Image credit: Shutterstock / Proxima Studio)

“Our overall picture is that we put the viewer at the center,” adds Sud. “Whatever they’re looking for, it’s our job to bring it to them, whether that means making it ourselves, licensing it, or finding a creative partnership to figure out ourselves, and we’ll do whatever it takes .” do to achieve this. Nothing is sacred there.”

Such an approach means Tubi can also help find the next generation of filmmakers, giving smaller filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their work to a wider audience, while offering a service that’s just as sophisticated as some of the paid offerings . In fact you can use it OpenAIThe Learning Language model gives you the ability to find new movies and series to watch on the platform’s mobile app in the US, giving you the best features from a variety of streaming companies.

“Tubi is trying to connect Netflix’s premium content with YouTube’s content discovery and long tail,” says Sud. “We’re trying to somehow bring those two things together so that you get this long thread of content: you can find anything and everything, but we’re also showing you what you want to see.”

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