Tubi UK enters FAST world

Tubi UK has moved into the FAST realm, launching a suite of 30 channels with partners including Banijay, A+E Global Media and Lionsgate. 

The Fox-owned AVoD platform quietly rolled out 28 single-IP channels in October with notable titles including the original live-action Mr Bean and Richard Osman-fronted gameshow Pointless, both from Banijay, Charlie Sheen comedy Anger Management (Lionsgate) and combat sports franchise UFC.  

Other single-IP channels include true-crime trio Unsolved Mysteries, BuzzFeed Unsolved (both Filmrise) and Deadly Women (Banijay), documentary-focused Ice Road Truckers (A+E), and gameshow Tipping Point (Banijay). In addition, it has It has also launched two film channels – MovieSphere and Lifetime Movies.  

The individual channels are programmed by the content partners and Tubi provides feedback on programming strategy. 

The move follows on from FAST roll-outs for US and Canada among other regions for Tubi. The platform turned profitable recently, earlier than anticipated, and contributed to Fox’s Q1 results by growing its revenue by 27% and its viewership by just under a fifth (18%). 

Since the UK service launched around 16 months ago, Tubi has doubled its content offering with over 40,000 movies and TV episodes now available. 

Speaking to Broadcast International exclusively after the rollout, UK general manager Ross Appleton (pictured) said the FAST move is dictated by “quality over quantity”, with content and channel choices. 

“Rather than giving viewers hundreds of fast channels, we think having a selection of 30 will give us the best chance of cutting through,” Appleton said. “It also gives us access to some kind of IP and programming that we don’t have on the VoD side.” 

Appleton, who has been in place for just over a year after 12 years at ITV, noted Tubi UK is still in learning mode, with the FAST move designed to be “additive for our viewers”. Some 95% of viewing on the platform is via VoD, and Tubi UK looks to secure those rights for its content line-up, but some viewers prefer a “lean-back linear experience”. 

“From a viewer’s perspective, a FAST channel is a TV channel that happens to be delivered over [the internet],” he said. “We’re agnostic about how our viewers like to watch. 

“We’re very much still in the learning mode, and we’re really data-driven at Tubi. We’re constantly listening to the data that we see, what content is working for viewers, what isn’t, what genres. It will be the same with FAST.” 

Appleton added that over half of Tubi UK viewers are Gen Z or millennial, which is in line with the platform’s typical global audience, which naturally skews younger.  

He said the company will pursue an organic approach to demographics. “We’re not going to pre-judge and predispose which content titles the younger generations are going to like,” he said. “We’ll see that in their viewing habits and viewing data. We’ll lean into the ones that do well, and we will maybe lean away from the ones that don’t do so well on our platform.” 

Strategy and originals 

Appleton reiterated FAST is “one part of the wider content strategy in the UK” and said he is in constant discussion with the team headquartered in the US, along with the acquisitions team, about how to ensure the domestic offering is appropriately “tailored to the individual market”. 

Appleton believes there is scope for Tubi’s original US programming to perform well in the UK and though there is “nothing in the pipeline right now”, the potential for a UK-produced series – like the BBC/Tubi US original co-pro comedy Boarders, from Studio Lambert, is there. 

“Once we’ve got even more learnings and scale within the UK there’s the potential for British originations that would work well in the US and other markets,” he said. “Borders is a great example. There’s no reason why that couldn’t happen on the future with Tubi UK being on the UK [partner] side of that equation.” 

Tubi UK FAST channels