Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch continues to heap accolades on Tubi, the streaming platform Fox bought for $440 million in 2020.
“The growth of Tubi continues to exceed even our best expectations for the business,” Murdoch said during Fox’s fiscal first-quarter earnings call. On previous calls, Murdoch has predicted Fox will grow to be a billion-dollar revenue business in the near future.
"In the first quarter of the fiscal year, Tubi more than doubled its revenues year over year and total view time on the platform continues to have close to 30% growth compared to last year," Murdoch said on Wednesday’s call.
In fact, this fiscal year, Tubi revenue will exceed the price Fox paid to buy the platform, he said.
Murdoch also said that Tubi’s original content strategy "is already seeing early signs of success."
Tubi has streamed four original movies this year. Two of those movies have performed so well in the quarter that they have already generated advertising revenue “well above the low production costs, meaning they are already generating a positive return,” he said.
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Tubi’s programming is driven by data it has on its users.
"Tubi’s deep understanding of its audience is a key asset," Murdoch said. "Tubi original movies outperformed blockbuster movies available on the platform."
Also performing well on Tubi is news programming.
“News on Tubi is drawing viewers for increasingly long periods of time. Since launching last fall, news on Tubi viewership has grown over 130%,” Murdoch said. Much of Tubi’s news content comes from its network of stations and affiliates.
Tubi will continue to take advantage of Fox’s content with premium sports channels including Fox Sports, the NFL Network, and the MLB Network.
Fox is also developing content for Tubi based on the TMZ brand, which Fox recently acquired from AT&T’s WarnerMedia.
“Fox Entertainment is focusing on bringing the TMZ brand to all parts of the Fox portfolio, including further monetizing the TMZ brand across the Fox TV stations, developing TMZ branded content for Tubi and amplifying TMZ’s digital presence,” Murdoch said.
