In this article, the last time Fox Corp. aired the Super Bowl, it featured buzzy commercials about its streaming service, Tubi. This year, the broadcaster is taking a bigger leap with the free, ad-supported streamer by offering football’s biggest game on the service as well. Nicole Parlapiano, Tubi’s chief marketing officer, mentioned that this time it’s less about shocking viewers and more about being in their credibility era as a streamer capable of streaming the Super Bowl.
Tubi will provide the same feed of the Super Bowl as its broadcast parent, including commercials. While Fox will still have the majority of viewership, the Super Bowl on Tubi indicates that the media parent is making a significant bet on its streamer. Tubi will host two feeds as the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday: the main Fox broadcast and the Spanish-language broadcast on Fox Deportes. Additionally, there will be a Tubi-exclusive red carpet show before the game for sports lite fans interested in celebrity sightings, halftime show, and commercials.
The Tubi app, available on various streaming devices, televisions, and mobile phones, has been in the midst of a “Super Bowl takeover” since last week. Past Super Bowl games, halftime shows, and other NFL-related content are now accessible for streaming on the service. Legacy media companies have been striving to make their subscription-based streaming services profitable as consumers move away from traditional TV bundles. Many have utilized live sports, particularly the NFL, to support their emerging streaming services.
Fox took a different approach with Tubi compared to its competitors. The media giant acquired Tubi in 2020 for around $440 million and has focused on Tubi as its primary streaming offering, avoiding launching its own subscription-based streamer. Unlike major streaming platforms like Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, or Disney’s Hulu and Disney+, services such as Tubi and Pluto are free offerings supported solely by advertising. Tubi’s viewership and revenue have been gradually increasing.
In 2022, Tubi’s revenue exceeded the advertising revenue generated by Fox Entertainment for the first time. Tubi has been a source of revenue growth for Fox during challenging times for traditional media companies. Tubi’s audience, which includes 77% without cable TV, skews towards millennials, Gen Z, and females. Tubi’s viewership has reached 97 million monthly active viewers, with more than 10 billion hours of streaming in 2024.
Fox announced during an earnings call that it would launch a direct-to-consumer streaming platform by the end of the year. The streaming service is not intended to disrupt the company’s deals with the traditional TV bundle. Fox executives have emphasized that much of Tubi’s viewership comes from on-demand programming rather than curated channels. The Super Bowl’s availability on Tubi is expected to provide momentum for the service and benefit the NFL as it focuses on streaming for future viewership and fandom.
