Tubi, the free advertising-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corp., is looking to bring its success formula to the U.K., launching in the market on Tuesday, July 2. The streamer, led by CEO Anjali Sud, the former head of Vimeo, now has about 80 million monthly active users, the executive told The Hollywood Reporter. In the U.S., its strategy has differed from other FAST platforms. For example, 90 percent of viewing on Tubi is focused on on-demand movies and TV series, compared to peers’ focus on live, linear channels. And per the Nielsen Gauge from April, Tubi made up 1.7 percent of all TV viewing in the U.S. for that month, just below Disney+.
“Tubi has spent the last decade honing our approach to vast, free and fun streaming in North America, and we feel that now is the perfect time to bring that recipe to U.K. audiences,” said Sud in unveiling the U.K. debut. “We are launching with one of the largest and most diverse content libraries in the U.K., designed to indulge viewers in everything from blockbusters to original stories to hidden gems.”
Tubi said it would launch in the U.K. with more than 20,000 movies and TV episodes on-demand, “featuring curated content from major global distributors such as Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as a robust slate of exclusive Tubi originals. Tubi’s content library in the UK pairs some of the best Hollywood films with modern British classics, and offers series with well-known U.K. TV franchises alongside new areas of discovery – from Bollywood and Nollywood to arthouse cinema. Among the titles available on Tubi U.K. at launch are such Tubi originals as Slay, House of Heat, and Festival of the Living Dead, along with such other series as Marvel’s The Runaways, Cash Cab (U.K.) and Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown. Among the movies available are the likes of Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Moonrise Kingdom, Billy Elliot, Twilight: New Moon, and Twilight: Eclipse.
“At a time when traditional programming feels homogenous and when finding what to watch feels like a chore, Tubi has been effective at delivering delight beyond the monoculture with content that appeals to diverse and vibrant fandoms,” said David Salmon, EVP and Managing Director of International at Tubi. “We believe that we can build a brilliantly broad, culturally ambitious offering that puts UK audiences back at the centre, and makes it fun and easy to enjoy great entertainment from around the world.”
“We have seen our recipe resonate in North America,” Sud told THR. “Our bet is that we can make that a really healthy, sustainable, efficient business in the U.K. as well over time.”
David Salmon, executive vp and managing director, who has been playing a key role in Tubi’s international expansion, which has so far already taken it to Canada and Latin America, described the positioning for Tubi in the U.K. as “brilliantly broad and very culturally ambitious.” He explained to THR: “Yes, we are going to have Hollywood blockbusters and amazing premium TV episodes. But across the 20,000 movies and TV episodes we’ll have on the service at launch, you’re also going to find the weird, the wonderful, the brilliant, the unique, and there are going to be some segments that you just can’t find in what typically does tend to be this very, very busy middle, which is typically super-served by SVOD services.”
The same is true for many U.K. broadcasters and streamers, the Tubi team believes. “As we looked at the U.K., we’re not expanding into a bunch of markets this year, so this isn’t part of a big, broad global domination strategy,” Sud shared. We really asked ourselves if there is something unique in this market where we can bring value to British audiences? When we look at the traditional broadcasters, there’s just naturally a tendency to focus on programming for the middle, for the median viewer, which can lead to a bit of a monoculture kind of approach. The U.K. is a melting pot, and culture is is moving fast. You have younger audiences coming online, and they want to see themselves and their life experiences and the things they care about reflected in movies and TV series, and we have an opportunity to do that.”
Much of Tubi’s early work will be “listening” to consumers’ usage, reaction and input. “This is about putting the U.K. viewer at the center,” argued Sud. “Right now, our perspective is it’s day one, let’s earn the right to deeply understand this audience.”
Just like in existing markets, Tubi will concentrate
