Tubi

• 1. Introduction

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  Tubi is an American streaming television service that runs on ads instead of charging a subscription fee. Stylized as tubı, the service reached 100 million monthly active users by June 2025. That figure had climbed from 97 million that January and 80 million the previous May. Fast Company placed Tubi 33rd on its 2025 list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies. A free app had become a monthly habit for a hundred million people. What carried a modest startup to that scale, and what disputes, on screen and in court, did it survive along the way?

• 2. Founding And Funding

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  Farhad Massoudi and Thomas Ahn Hicks founded Tubi inside their San Francisco company, AdRise. They launched the service under the name Tubi TV in 2014. Jump Capital, Danhua Capital, Cota Capital, and Foundation Capital backed the idea in May 2017 with a $20 million funding round. By June 2019, Tubi announced more than 20 million active monthly users. Later that September, the company said viewers had streamed 132 million hours of content. A year later, in September 2020, Tubi reported 33 million monthly users.

  In 2019, Tubi said it would nearly double its 2018 spending on licensed content, pushing the total close to $100 million. That February, the service signed a distribution deal with NBCUniversal covering 400 TV episodes and films. Vizio SmartCast picked up Tubi on the 25th of September 2019. On the 21st of October, Tubi launched Tubi Kids, a hub for children's programming, on Roku and other supported devices.

  As of 2014, AdRise had raised $4 million in capital. Principal investors included Foundation Capital, Bobby Yazdani, Zod Nazem, SGH Capital, and Streamlined Ventures. Sandy Grushow, a former chair of Fox's television group, joined as an advisory board member. Mark Amin, once vice chair of Lionsgate, invested in the company before Fox's later acquisition of it.

• 3. The Fox Acquisition

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  On the 17th of March 2020, Fox Corporation announced it would acquire Tubi for $440 million in cash upfront. Fox had only recently spun off from 21st Century Fox, a year after Disney's takeover of that company. The sale closed on the 20th of April 2020, and Massoudi stayed on as Tubi continued operating as a separate subsidiary.

  In December 2021, Fox acquired MarVista Entertainment, aiming to strengthen Tubi's library and put MarVista's production experience to work on made-for-TV films. In July 2023, Anjali Sud became Tubi's chief executive after Massoudi's departure from the company. That same year, Fox grouped Tubi, Credible Labs, and several other Fox digital assets into a new division called the Tubi Media Group.

  In February 2025, Fox Corporation acquired the podcast and media company Red Seat Ventures. Red Seat Ventures kept operating independently, absorbed into the same Tubi Media Group that would soon oversee a wave of new content deals.

• 4. Content And Deals

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  As of January 2023, Tubi's programming included more than 40,000 films and television series from more than 250 providers, spread across roughly 200 channels. Those partners ranged from Disney Entertainment Distribution, Sony Pictures Television, Crunchyroll, and A24 Films.

  In December 2022, Tubi signed a content deal with the South Korean company CJ ENM, licensing Korean-language films, television series, and K-pop programs. South Korean content is one of Tubi's fastest-growing categories. In January 2023, Tubi struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery for 11 new FAST channels plus on-demand content from various WBD properties. A second Warner Bros. Discovery deal followed in December 2023, adding nine more FAST channels. It also brought some DC Comics shows and films for on-demand viewing.

  Since Fox Corporation's takeover, Tubi has carried programming from Fox Entertainment, Fox Soul, local news from Fox-owned and affiliate stations, and Fox Weather. The service began producing its own original films and series in 2021. Two hubs, Español and Tubi Kids, still carry titles inherited from before the Fox deal. One is the former MundoFox game show Minuto para Ganar. Others trace back to Fox's old 4Kids TV block, including Dinosaur King, Sonic X, and Yu-Gi-Oh!. Chaotic survives too, but only in the Spanish-language section, alongside G.I. Joe: Sigma 6.

  Tubi runs a real-time bidding platform that lets advertisers deliver video ads across the service. Two features help viewers choose what to watch. Tubi Roulette serves up a random film. Tubi Scenes offers curated clips so users can decide whether to commit to a full movie. Beginning on the 1st of March 2026, Tubi started adding content from the Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. libraries.

• 5. The Super Bowl Stunt

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  During Super Bowl LVII, Tubi aired a commercial called Interface Interruption, built around a simple trick. Announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen appeared to resume the game, talking vaguely as if play had restarted. Then the broadcast seemed to cut out, as though someone at home had exited the game entirely. It looked like they had switched to Tubi, settling in to watch the 2005 mystery film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The advertisement ran short on purpose, a choice meant to ease viewer anxiety before revealing the joke. Reactions split down the middle. Some viewers and critics praised the stunt, while others, including The Mary Sue and Wanda Sykes, called it dangerous.

  Two years after Interface Interruption, Tubi returned to the same stage. On the 9th of February 2025, it streamed Fox's own broadcast of Super Bowl LIX for free, backed by its own pregame show.

• 6. Legal Fights

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  In May 2024, Tubi sued the law firm Keller Postman, accusing it of manufacturing tens of thousands of meritless discrimination claims against the service. The lawsuit alleged the firm hoped the volume of claims would pressure Tubi into a settlement.

  On the 4th of March 2025, Fox Sports Mexico said it had taken legal action against Fox Corporation and Grupo Pachuca. The dispute centered on broadcasting rights for home matches of Club León and Pachuca in Liga MX, played across Mexican territory. Fox Sports Mexico argued its right of preference to keep broadcasting those games had been ignored. It asked a judge to keep the matches off Tubi until the dispute was resolved. Fox Corporation and Grupo Pachuca responded that Grupo Lauman, the owner of Fox Sports Mexico, had not paid for the television rights to either club. They said the arrangement with Tubi was legal and that the matches would keep streaming there. Fox Corporation also said Grupo Lauman's permission to use the Fox brand had expired and would have to be phased out. Fox Sports later denied that last point. That fight over broadcast rights played out even as Tubi kept expanding into new countries beyond Mexico.

• 7. Going Global

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  In November 2015, AdRise partnered with Blue Ant Media to launch Tubi in Canada, the service's first move beyond the United States. Tubi went dark across the European Union when the GDPR took effect on the 25th of May 2018, making the service inaccessible there. It relaunched in the United Kingdom by early 2019, though full access across the rest of the EU stayed pending. Tubi's own website said it hoped to relaunch there eventually and described itself as working on compliance and planning a European return soon.

  On the 1st of September 2019, Tubi officially launched in Australia and New Zealand. Four months later, in January 2020, the platform expanded into Mexico through a partnership with TV Azteca, becoming its first launch in Latin America. In July 2022, Tubi partnered with Shaw Communications to reach all of that company's customers, widening its footprint in Canada. The following month, Tubi launched in Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama. In July 2024, the service relaunched in the United Kingdom.

  In October 2025, Tubi announced a partnership with the Canadian company Bell Media. Tubi would handle Canadian advertising sales and co-develop new programming for the platform. The deal expanded an existing development agreement between Bell Media and Fox Entertainment.

• 8. Live Sports

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  Through Fox Sports, Tubi holds the rights to show live matches from the NBA G League, the UEFA Nations League, CONCACAF, and Liga MX and Liga MX Femenil. Every one of those games except the G League airs on a dedicated channel called Fox Sports on Tubi. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Tubi offered every match on demand 30 minutes after the final whistle. During the 2023 World Baseball Classic, it carried select games live. Tubi also simulcast the 2025 Thanksgiving football game. Looking ahead to 2026, Tubi will exclusively air select games from that year's World Baseball Classic. It will also simulcast the United States' and Mexico's opening matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

  Tubi's Live TV service also carries a slate of free, ad-supported sports channels. As of February 2025, those channels included the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR. The lineup also carried the Ultimate Fighting Championship, DAZN, the PGA Tour, the National Hockey League, and Top Rank Boxing. FuboTV, PokerGO, the Big 12 Conference, and the Atlantic Coast Conference filled out the college and streaming side. HBO Boxing, the Women's Sports Network, beIN Sports, Motor Trend, Stadium, the National Hot Rod Association, FanDuel TV, and Real Madrid CF completed the list.

  Tubi's sports rights reach beyond the United States too. On the 18th of December 2024, Tubi announced new coverage tied to the Liga MX and Liga MX Femenil Torneo Clausura 2025. It would show the home games of León and Pachuca, and their women's counterparts, for free. Those games streamed in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador. On the 3rd of February 2025, CONCACAF confirmed Tubi had acquired rights to broadcast the CONCACAF Champions Cup in Mexico. On the 19th of February 2025, Tubi secured rights to stream half of the Premier League's matches in Mexico and Central America. That coverage began with Matchday 26 of the 2024-25 season. The deal also included the FA Cup's television rights in those same regions. During the Clausura 2025, the home games of FC Juárez's men's and women's teams also began streaming on Tubi. So did those of Tigres, whose broadcasting rights belong to Azteca Deportes.

  That Tigres deal, streaming games whose rights sit with a rival network, hints at how many more such deals Tubi's free model can still strike.