Tubi, the Fox-owned free ad-supported video service, saw double-digit growth across audience segments in the past year and reached 51 million monthly active users in the last quarter.
It marks notable growth in 2021, as Tubi’s active users stood at 33 million at the end of 2020. In 2021 Tubi also saw a 40% year over year increase in total viewing time, hitting a record of 3.6 billion hours watched.
With more viewers tuning in for the AVOD option, Tubi on Monday said it plans to double-down on content and release more than 100 original titles in the next 12 months. The FAST service already touts its existing library of more than 40,000 titles as the largest in free ad-supported streaming.
During Tubi’s NewFronts presentation today, the company said it plans to expand its linear offerings to complement a current lineup of more than 100 sports and local news channels. It’s adding channels for Fox Entertainment’s “The Masked Singer,” TMZ, and Studio Ramsay Global’s Gordan Ramsey to Tubi Originals and Tubi en Español.
“Tubi’s approach of personalization allows for content for every community, and our record growth shows it’s working. We’re doubling down on this approach while delivering our brand partners transparency and an opportunity to reach incremental, diverse and highly engaged consumers,” said Mark Rotblat, chief revenue officer at Tubi, in a statement.
Presenting at NewFronts, Rotblat said that 27% of its 51 million viewers aren’t reachable on other AVOD platforms – such as Hulu, where Rotblat said 62% of Tubi users are not on Hulu, 78% are not on Peacock, and 68% aren’t on the Roku Channel. He also noted a viewer base whose average age is 16 years younger than non-streamers. As he highlighted why Tubi is the place to be for advertisers, Rotblat said the most rapid growth is coming from more affluent cord cutters with higher education in households who are net new to the AVOD world. Its base is also diverse and nationally representative, he added.
As it works to attract advertisers and marketers, in April Tubi announced plans to boost its audience-measuring arsenal by integrating Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) product to expand measurement across 25 streaming devices including computers, smartphones and connected TVs.
More video services are cropping up with ad-supported or free fully ad-based models, including heavy hitters like Hulu, Disney and HBO Max, players like Peacock, and even long-time holdout Netflix is considering an ad-supported tier.
The market for AVOD services is projected to reach $91 billion in advertising revenue by 2027, with 8.6 billion AVOD monthly active users by then, according to a recent forecast from Rethink Research. When subscription revenue from AVOD services that charge a fee are included, Rethink anticipates total AVOD revenue to reach $131 billion by the end of the forecast period.