Chances are, you’ve never used Tubi. You may not even know what Tubi is. That’s set to change very soon.
Tubi is a free, ad-supported, streaming television (FAST) service. It’s a vast collection of around 125,000 TV shows and movies with some great finds in the library for those who are willing to go looking.
It debuted 11 years ago in the US and now has a service running in 11 countries, including Australia and New Zealand. In 2020, it was purchased by Fox Corporation and with a stronger investment in its library, Tubi has become one of the leading streaming services in America.
The combination of the investment in content and increased cost of living pressures, has seen the free Tubi streaming service leapfrog better known competitors like Warner Bros Discovery with its Max streaming service and the NBCUniversal-owned Peacock.
Nielsen Gauge report – April 2025
The plan is to make a similar investment in the Tubi platform in Australia.
David Salmon is Tubi’s EVP & Managing Director, International. He spoke with Mediaweek yesterday following a presentation at the IAB Australia Video Summit 2025 event in Sydney yesterday.
He revealed that there are plans to supercharge the service with a greater investment in content.
“I think over the next few months, it will become extremely apparent that, from a catalogue perspective, you’ll start to see a large number of incremental libraries coming from major studios, which we’ll typically licence on a global basis. Some of the really big major TV producers, all of that will start to show up on Tubi and add a little bit more to the top of what is obviously a very, very broad library,” Salmon said.
EVP & Managing Director, International – Tubi
The investment in content follows the announcement in March that News Corp Australia had entered into an exclusive relationship with Tubi, handling ad sales for the streamer.
Could we see Tubi start hiring local staff?
“Right now, we’re very, very deeply partnered with the News Corp team. So, we’re kind of very much working in partnership in the Australian market. Right now, we don’t have a footprint in this territory. I can see that changing over time,” Salmon said.
The difficulty for Tubi in the local market is that there are already a number of options in the free, ad-supported space. Tubi trades off its expansive library that has something for every niche viewer you could think of, but then there’s competition with the free-to-air broadcast video on demand (BVOD) platforms that also have been building libraries of older content to service viewers in a similar way.
What is it that Tubi can offer viewers that 10Play, 9Now, 7Plus, SBS on Demand, and ABC iView cannot?
Salmon said that the key is volume and a global focus: “Tubi has 125,000 movies and TV episodes. It is probably an order of magnitude larger, I would guess.
“Our model is about offering a much more global perspective on media consumption. Something like Nine will typically, partly because of the fact that it is an Australian broadcaster, be a lot more focused on Australian programming and Australian output.
“Tubi generally, as an international business, will tend to have a much more global view. So you’ll be able to find, for example, on Tubi, some great K-dramas. You’ll be able to find some amazing telenovelas. You’ll be able to explore things that are a bit more American in tone or potentially very British. And I think that level of choice is distinct for us in every market that we operate in.”
Something else the local BVOD services offer is live, linear channels. In recent years, Nine, Ten, Seven, ABC and SBS On Demand have all invested in simulcasting their broadcast channels, created virtual channels of content, and launched FAST linear channels on their streamers. While Tubi offers linear FAST channels in some territories, it doesn’t offer linear down under.
Salmon suggests that we aren’t likely to see linear FAST channels anytime soon:
“You know, it’s interesting. So we do have a large number of FAST channels available in the US and also in Canada. We launched live linear in Mexico and Central America about six months ago as well. It actually is still a very minor part of our product. So, for example, in the US, less than 10% of our consumption comes from people watching linear. In Canada, less than 5% does. We tend to find that people instinctively are much more focused on the on-demand library, the deep discovery. Could we launch fast channels in Australia? Maybe, but we would want to feel like they’re solving a consumer problem or they’re really going to have meaningful value.
“We’re not necessarily a business that’s driven to kind of add a product bell and whistle just because it sort of adds to breadth, because that’s not something we struggle with at the moment. We’re obviously able to offer an incredible amount of choice. We would really want to pick and choose the things that will drive value for Australian consumers and advertisers.”