The increasingly crowded streaming market is about to get another entrant as ad-supported US SVOD service Tubi prepares to officially launch in Australia this weekend.
While the official launch is still a few days away, Tubi is already up and running and content is available to stream now.
Ahead of Disney’s disruptive launch of its own streaming service later this year, established streaming services like Netflix and Stan are chasing content and the paying subscribers it brings.
Tubi is going in a different direction.
The SVOD doesn’t require users to pay for a subscription, or even register in order to view its content.
Instead viewers will sit through advertising.
Tubi will officially launch here on September 1, with almost 7,000 movies and television series in its library, a number the company said will “rapidly expand in the near future”.
Tubi CEO Farhad Massoudi said the library will eventually match the 15,000-title strong library it offers in the US.
The quality of the content may be a separate issue, with the currently available library including such classic-adjacent titles as Titanic 2, Going To America, and Paranormal Entity.
The streaming platform currently has content from partners like Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, MGM, Lionsgate, and others, but according to the Australian, Mr Massoudi said the company wants to work with local producers as well.
“We certainly plan to grow this library with local Australian content.
“In fact, our message to Australian content partners and producers is that we want to not only distribute them and monetise in the Australian market but also the global market,” Mr Massoudi told the paper.
The company will also work with local advertisers.
While the Australian streaming video market already has significant competition with the likes of paid services like Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, and Foxtel Now as well as competition from broadcasters like the ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine and Ten, Mr Massoudi isn’t worried about the competition.
“We have been operating in the US with far more streaming services.”
“We have a very unique value proposition… we complement the subscription services,” Mr Massoudi said.
Viewers can access Tubi through its website, Telstra TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast and Apple iOS, as well as Android tablets and smartphones.
The service will also be available via game consoles, including PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
