Tubi, the free streaming service owned by Fox Corp., just delivered a massive shock to the streaming industry by achieving profitability and surpassing major competitors like HBO Max and Peacock in total viewing minutes, as per CNBC. This is huge news, proving that the model everyone dismissed as “second tier” might actually be the future of entertainment consumption, especially for younger audiences.
In November, Tubi commanded 2.1% of all total streaming minutes tracked by Nielsen’s The Gauge. That metric put the platform ahead of both NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO Max. While Google’s YouTube still dominates the top spot in overall viewership and recently snagged streaming rights for the Oscars, Tubi’s performance is a major validation for the ad-supported approach.
Honestly, this success makes perfect sense if you’ve looked at the prices of other services lately. The cost of streaming has exploded, with almost every subscription platform raising its rates multiple times over the last few years. Add in the frustrating crackdowns on password sharing, and consumers are totally fed up.
Tubi is a fantastic example of building a service around what consumers actually want
Tubi Chief Content Officer Adam Lewinson noted that people used to cut the cable cord, but now they’re canceling subscriptions. That trend is absolutely driving more consumption into free streaming, and Tubi’s strategy leans heavily into a cost-conscious audience. The platform reports having more than 100 million monthly active users and streams 1 billion hours of content every month. Nearly 60% of Tubi’s audience is made up of millennials or members of Generation Z, and almost half are multicultural, according to an MRI-Simmons Cord Evolution Study.
To keep these young viewers engaged, Tubi has created a truly massive library. It boasts over 300,000 titles, licensing both popular films and TV series, along with plenty of niche content. If you’re a horror fan, you’re in luck, as Tubi has the largest collection in the genre with 9,000 titles. They also tap into Fox’s sports arsenal, even airing two NFL games this year, including the Super Bowl in February.
Tubi is also making aggressive moves to attract the Gen Z crowd by focusing on content creators. In June, the company launched Tubi for Creators, which aims to give popular creators a pathway to Hollywood while letting them maintain their authenticity and creative control. Rich Bloom, head of the program, said they’ve grown from six creators to well over 100 creators, adding over 10,000 episodes of content.
This strategy is working wonders. Lewinson highlighted the success of young adult movies like the Sidelined franchise, which stars TikTok star Noah Beck. The sequel alone brought in nearly 20 million viewers, and the median age of the new viewers watching it was just 21 years old. This completely debunks the perception that young people are only interested in short-form video.
The most important part of Tubi’s success is its business model, which is 100% ad-supported. Tubi Chief Marketing Officer Nicole Parlapiano emphasized that their fans come in and behave exactly like subscription viewers. The only difference is they don’t have to pay for it.
Fox bought Tubi back in 2020 for $440 million, taking a completely different approach than its peers who were spending billions on original content to chase Netflix’s dominance. The decision has clearly paid off, validating Fox’s strategy in the streaming wars.
Published: Dec 26, 2025 02:30 pm