Tubi, which positions itself as a free alternative to Netflix, said it had 20 million MAUs and total view time of 94 million hours as of last May.

The AVOD also saw total view time reach 163 million hours, representing 160% growth versus last December, Tubi reports.

Tubi did not break out its latest user numbers by major markets, or offer engagement stats for the U.S. or most other markets. Nor did it provide an update on its advertising sales performance.

However, it said it saw “rapid growth internationally,” including combined total viewing time growth of 357% in Canada and Australia in 2019.

Tubi plans to launch in the U.K. and Mexico, among other regions, in 2020. It recently signed a deal with Mexico’s TV Azteca, which will provide ad sales support as well as its most popular series and other Spanish-language content.

Tubi also announced a global deal with TV manufacturer Hisense to include Tubi in its Vidaa platform.

In addition, Tubi says it will expand its global content library by increasing its content spending to “exceed nine figures.”

The company reports that it upped its full-time headcount by 78%, to 229, in 2019, and plans further employee growth in the U.S. and internationally.

Farhad Massoudi (pictured), founder and CEO of ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) service Tubi discussed how his platform is positioned to thrive in the new streaming-centric environment, and how it has already staked a major claim on viewers in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Tubi launched in 2014 and is currently the world’s largest AVOD service, available in several territories including Canada and Australia.

Massoudi pitched his platform as a technology-first enterprise, as opposed to most subscription services, which rely on original programming and exclusivity to thrive. Tubi instead provides a monetized platform, free to consumers, that allows distributors and content producers to find new avenues to reach eyeballs.

Much of his presentation stressed the inevitability of streaming as the dominant player, with the key demo of 18-34 and under abandoning traditional TV at a stunning rate (a more than 50% decrease since 2010), even with the strength of live sporting events on linear platforms.

But despite all that Massoudi doesn’t see Tubi as the inevitable king of streaming. His response when asked if he’s out to beat Netflix (or other subscription services) is no.

“We don’t compete with Netflix,” he said. “We compliment Netflix. I’m also a fan of the originals, but that’s not all of TV.”

Massoudi went on: “If you believe that the future of TV is about a small number of originals produced by a handful of subscription video on demand services, then you shouldn’t care for Tubi. You shouldn’t care for AVOD. But if you believe that the content that you guys produce and the stories you tell are relevant across the globe, and there is an audience for it, then you should seriously think about AVOD, and Tubi is the leading company in that category.”

The positioning of Tubi at MIPCOM says a lot about where the AVOD industry stands. Jim Packer, president of worldwide TV and digital distribution at Tubi partner Lionsgate, introduced Massoudi, noting not only the keynote but also Viacom’s acquisition of Pluto TVin January as signs of the strength of AVODs within the broader media landscape.

“Tubi has over 20 million monthly active users, with thousands of hours of content, and that proof of concept will translate to international markets,” said Packer.

“AVOD has become a valuable — and permanent — part of our ecosystem.”

And Tubi is growing. After expanding into Australia in May, the AVOD continues to make moves into new markets.

Tubi CCO Adam Lewinson joined Massoudi on stage to discuss the company’s content offering as well as to announce some news.

While the launch of a new Tubi Kids shingle, which Lewinson revealed in detail, is sure to turn some heads, Lewinson also said that Tubi will be making its way into the UK market in early 2020.

“We’re ramping up our international expansion with the UK launch being the first of several forthcoming territories and look forward to announcing them soon,” said Massoudi, in a statement released after the keynote.

Tubi’s partnership with Cox Contour marks its second pay-TV deal after launching on Comcast Xfinity X1 last fall. Apart from YouTube, Tubi is the only ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service distributed as a standalone app on pay-TV operators’ devices.

At the end of 2018, Cox had about 4 million pay-TV subscribers, according to Leichtman Research Group. Contour is Cox’s premium video service that also features apps for Netflix, YouTube, YouTube Kids, iHeartRadio and NPR One, as well as a sports app that overlays live stats and scores. 

Tubi claims its library — stocked mostly with older titles — includes around 40,000 hours of content, which it claims is twice that of Netflix. Tubi has said it expects to spend more than $100 million in content licensing deals in 2019 to augment its content library.

Movies on Tubi include “Up In the Air” starring George Clooney and Anna Kendrick and “Rango” starring Johnny Depp and Isla Fisher, as well as television series such as “Xena: Warrior Princess,” “The A-Team,” “Major Dad,” “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and “Alf.”

“Our partnership with Cox expands upon our mission to make entertainment accessible to everyone,” Tubi CEO Farhad Massoudi said in a statement. “With the addition of Cox Contour, Tubi will continue to have the widest distribution of any ad-supported streaming service.”

Currently, Tubi’s service is available only in the U.S. and Canada. The AVOD service also is available on a range of device platforms including Amazon’s Fire TV, Roku, iOS and Android, Chromecast, Samsung televisions, and Xbox and PlayStation consoles. The company doesn’t disclose how many people use the service, but claims total viewing time last year increased by 4.3 times over 2017.

Tubi recently reached a pact with NBCUniversal to add close to 400 movies and TV show episodes to its service. In addition, starting Monday (April 1), the service will carry the first seasons of reality-dating shows “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” as well as “The Bachelorette: Trista & Ryan’s Wedding” and to season 5 of “Bachelor in Paradise,” under a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.

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However, a Reddit thread recently suggests it isn’t as widely known about as we thought it was.

It’s packed with tens of thousands of TV shows and films, all of which are completely free to watch. You don’t even need to create an account if you don’t want to.

That’s because Tubi TV’s content is ad-supported − you’ll see commercials before and during whatever you’re watching. While some people will inevitably hate that, others prefer it to a subscription fee.

However, we’re not sure Tubi TV is worth switching to from one of the big streaming service, like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. It’s got a handful of gems, like The Terminator, True Grit and Oldboy, but the rest is… hit and miss.

It’s also available on a wide variety of devices, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, PlayStation and smart TVs. You can access it through a browser too.

However, it’s currently only available in the US, and that hasn’t always been the case. As the Tubi TV website explains:

“We are not available in Europe due to changes in EU laws. The GDPR went into effect on May 2018; Tubi is working on compliance and planning to re-launch in European countries soon.”

That’s obviously a deal-breaker for millions of potential users, but the situation could change. You can register your email address with Tubi to find out when it will be available in your country or check out our guide to the best VPNs if you’re after a workaround.

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Cord Cutters News talked with Hulu and confirmed some details. There are some limitations to this deal. The content from Hulu will only be available on iOS, Android, and through the TubiTV.com website. It does not include all of Hulu’s content but rather a selection of Hulu’s programs.

This is not the first time Hulu has struck a deal like this. A few years ago Hulu struck a similar deal with Yahoo to offer some of their content for free with ads on Yahoo. Hulu also has a similar deal with MeTV to power the free content available on the MeTV website.

Tubi already sports the largest catalog of free movies and TV shows. Now with this deal they expand their catalog to help them stand out in an ever growing market of ad-supported streaming services. Tubi’s library already included movies and TV shows from a long list of providers including Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lionsgate.

The Series B round was led by Jump Capital, and includes participation from Tubi TV’s Series A investor Foundation Capital, as well as Danhua Capital and Cota Capital. With this current round, the company’s total raise to date is $34 million.

Launched in 2014, Tubi TV today has 200 content partners, including Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Starz and others, bringing its catalog of shows and movies to over 50,000 titles. However, not all titles are available at any given time — the selection is rotated and updated to make the content feel fresh.

The company also claims millions of users, and 9x growth in monthly active users in 2016, compared with the year before.

The titles on Tubi TV aren’t necessarily the hottest, or most in-demand new releases, but include a number of big-name hits from years past. For example, the app’s featured selection right now includes the 2000 film “Gladiator,” 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs,” 2011’s “Young Adult,” 2010’s “True Grit” and 2008’s “Revolutionary Road,” among others.

But for Tubi TV’s targeted audience — millennial viewers — these movies may not be new, but they’re new to them. Younger millennials, for example, were born in the mid-1990s or early 2000s — they may not even have been around when these films were released, or were far too young to watch them. But some of these classic movies hold up over time, and can find a new audience on Tubi TV.

Beyond the more well-known films, Tubi TV also partners with smaller, niche studios around the world, like anime and animation-focused Viz Media. Because of its numerous partnerships, the service’s library stretches across a variety of genres, like anime, international films and TV (e.g. Korean, Chinese and British TV), horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action, thrillers, drama, romance, reality TV, stand-up comedy, documentaries, docu-series, classics, cartoons, kids’ shows, martial arts, indie and more.

In addition, while millennials are often said to have an aversion to ads, a Nielsen study found that the large majority of them — 75 percent of those 18 to 34 — are fine with ads as long as the content is free. (For a generation raised on YouTube, this is not really a surprising metric.)

“We care very much about the user experience and strive to replicate the TV viewing experience that viewers are familiar with, but with significantly fewer interruptions,” says Tubi TV founder and CEO Farhad Massoudi. “Typically, we’ll show about 4-5 minutes of commercials for every 30 minutes of content,” he notes.

Some of the advertisers have included Fox, Paramount, Unilever, Nationwide, Pizza Hut, Chrysler/Fiat Group, BMW, Army, Marines, Amazon and Intercontinental Hotels. Ads are priced depending on the campaign objectives, but the company wouldn’t provide details on rates.

Massoudi also says his company is close to profitability, but didn’t offer revenue specifics — saying instead that the round will help Tubi TV focus on growth instead of short-term profitability.

Tubi TV will use the new funds for scaling the business and hiring — including engineers, product managers and data scientists. It will also fund marketing initiatives and its in-house TV analytics platform, which helps to better understand what people want to watch and when.

Tubi TV has developed a custom analytics platform for TV that allows it to A/B test and run deep data mining on “every piece of content, product initiative and ad experience,” explains Massoudi. This technology allows the company to continually optimize the user experience, including content curation and ad targeting.

Tubi TV today is available on almost all platforms, including web, mobile apps, game consoles and streaming players.

Tubi TV delivers on that promise of free content, and claims its advertising is user-friendly, as well.

Films currently featured on Tubi TV include fan-favorites ‘Top Gun’, ‘Basic Instinct’, 'Total Recall', 'Star Trek: The Final Frontier', 'The Hunt for Red October', as well as recent releases from 2014 and 2013. Tubi TV's rabid horror film fans will also find the 'Friday the 13th' series, Stephen King films and 'Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh', among others.

The quality of the titles offered on an ad-supported VOD basis makes this a significant breakthrough for film fans. "We are bringing amazing films to what is already the largest catalog of free streaming TV shows and movies," said Farhad Massoudi, founder and CEO of adRise, Tubi TV's parent company. "We are pleased to be entering into this agreement, which will deliver many of the most popular and exciting movies in film history to Tubi TV's growing user base," said Dina Vangelisti, senior vice president of Domestic Television Licensing & Distribution, Paramount Pictures.

Tubi TV is also announcing Sandy Grushow, CEO of Phase 2 Media and former Chairman of Fox TV, is joining their advisory board. "I'm thrilled to have the support and guidance of Sandy in the growth phase of our company. He has deep knowledge of the media industry and a clear vision for its future," said Massoudi.

About Tubi TV

Tubi TV is revolutionizing the TV industry by freeing TV and enabling viewers to re-live, for free, the magic of hit and cult TV shows and films. It has aggregated the world's largest library of free streaming TV shows and films. Tubi TV helps premium content owners to extract more value out of their library content by leveraging Tubi TV's ad-supported VOD distribution channels across all the major streaming devices. Tubi TV is launched by adRise, the largest connected TV distribution and monetization platform. For more information, please visit tubitv.com and adrise.com.

Find Tubi TV on tubitv.com, iTunes, Google Play and Connected TV devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Xbox 360. Tubi TV will soon also arrive on Xbox One, Samsung, Sony, Chromecast and other devices.

About Paramount Home Media Distribution

Paramount Home Media Distribution (PHMD) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ : VIAB , VIA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The PHMD division oversees PPC's home entertainment, digital and television distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and CBS and applicable licensing and servicing of certain DreamWorks Animation titles. PHMD additionally manages global licensing of studio content and distribution across worldwide digital and television distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies.