Tubi Takes Over As May Becomes Most-Watched Month Ever

Tubi is beating many paid streaming services in terms of viewership.

Tubi is on the rise with its popularity. The free video streamer just had its most-watched month ever, beating out Max, Disney+, and other major streamers for viewership in May.

The Fox-owned video-on-demand service uses ads to provide free content for its users. Last month, it nearly doubled its watchers from a year ago, with Nielsen Data reporting an average audience of 1 million. Tubi is seeing considerable success in the competitive streaming market with this 46% jump, according to The Los Angeles Times.

On the other hand, Disney+ fell shy of eclipsing Tubi with only 969,000 viewers for last month. Other streamers that lagged behind were NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Paramount+. Tubi also reigns supreme even in the free market, dominating over the Roku Channel and Pluto TV. However, it could not best YouTube TV.

Tubi attributes this recent success to the rising cost of paid subscriptions, many of which still have ads incorporated in some of their cheaper plans. The company’s chief content officer, Adam Levinson, believes these upcharges have only pushed more viewers toward Tubi’s free alternative.

“Of course, those are things that are going to positively impact us,” shared Lewinson, in an interview re-shared by the news outlet.

The company itself was founded in 2017 before being acquired by Fox for $440 million three years later. Its catalog features 250,000 television episodes and movies. Moreover, it has become a hub for Black filmmakers as well. The platform hosts Village Roadshow’s Black Noir Cinema initiative, which produces Blackploitation-style films.

Tubi has also shown revenue growth in its third quarter. Fox reported that the free ad-supported streamer rose to 22% in revenue, despite a slow advertising market.

“Tubi continues to pull ahead from its (ad-supported video on demand) competition and post faster than expected growth,” detailed a report shared by analysts at research firm MoffettNathanson.

The streamer hopes to capitalize on its success as it expands into original scripted content. Its first original series is set to launch this fall.