Streaming used to be fun. You’d pick a silly movie to watch while you are doing laundry, and there wasn’t that pressure to keep up with everything in real time. Now, you log onto Netflix, and suddenly you are reminded that you have 5 episodes of Bridgerton to watch in addition to Under Paris, plus the entire season of The Bear you will need to check out on Hulu at the end of the month. It’s…a lot.
But many people have been trading the consuming (and expensive) worlds of Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ for the carefree, calmer life at Tubi. In fact, people might prefer it.
According to Nielsen data (reported by The L.A. Times), May 2024 was Tubi’s most-watched month ever with an average of 1 million viewers, up 46% from last year. This narrowly beats Disney+’s 969,000 viewers from last month and easily beats Max, Paramount+ and Peacock. Currently, YouTube is the only free ad-supported streaming platform that surpasses Tubi.
Why Tubi? It’s quite simple: it’s free! Not only that, but there are hundreds of thousands of titles consisting of both long-lost shows and fan-favorites.
Thanks to the rising cost of streaming services (and… everything else) it should be no surprise that a cheaper streaming option is thriving.
Bad news for streaming platforms and an indication on the cost of living as Tubi is one of the few movie and tv platforms where you can watch content for free. https://t.co/OzBBJvZNjk
— @ImaniBarbarin@disabled.social (@Imani_Barbarin) June 14, 2024
Tubi is the one streaming service that makes sense to me – a place to collect movies that have had their run in theaters, on disc, on ppv, having a last home where they can stay. Using this same model for first run things is where the disaster is. https://t.co/3C5ApAm4zK
— Jordan Harper 🏴 (@jordan_harper) June 14, 2024
People joke and poke fun at Tubi for being the “poor man’s streaming service”, but they do have some genuinely cool stuff and there. https://t.co/zwgICaMk80
— Chris DeRose (is very tired) (@ScratchyDerose) June 14, 2024
I say it all the time: Tubi is for the folks who were raised watching and loving Whatever Movie Is On TV every weekend. People of taste! pic.twitter.com/yHjSAcKehu
— Julia Gulia 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@JRobb773) June 14, 2024
Tubi has SO MANY HORROR MOVIES whether they’re absolute trash or masterpieces, they have it all. Highly recommend https://t.co/4Qv5Z4QHIC
— 𝐋𝐢𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐣𝐚 (@lilbajablast_) June 14, 2024
Tubi has the widest selection of movies and tv shows I’ve witnessed so far. There’s tv shows from the 70s, 80s and movies for free that other platforms tryna make you pay to see. Why am I paying ADDITIONAL money to see a movie tht came out in 2008? Tubi dnt do that to me. https://t.co/rZFEBkhYH6
— I appreciate you. (@DeeLaSheeArt) June 14, 2024
I'm so scared they are going to mess up Tubi, it's got the best catalog of movies by far. So many cool 70s gems. https://t.co/4UT1iLjjMk
— Matt Helgeson (@MattHelgeson) June 14, 2024
Amazing what happens when you offer a variety of stuff and don't charge $15 a month for it. I don't even mind the ads on Tubi so much since it's free. Whereas enduring the ads on Disney+ has become the most galling and insufferable streaming experience imaginable. 😣 https://t.co/GpY6hUegyo
— Ben Deutsch (@BenLikesMovies) June 14, 2024
Tubi is for the people of TASTE! And those of us who didn’t get a chance to watch shows like NBC’s 2013 drama Believe, which is now a major hit on the streamer. Shows never really end anymore, do they?
Nicole Parlapiano, Tubi’s chief marketing officer, says that the streamer gives shows a second chance because they listen to what fans want. “There is a gentleman on Reddit who actually has a spreadsheet with synopses of all of our horror movies,” Parlapiano said. “We are really good at tapping into fandom communities, whether it be on Reddit or TikTok.”
Whatever happens, the prophecy is one step closer to coming true:
Gonna die laughing if Tubi is the last one standing in the streaming wars for understanding that nobody really gives a shit about Prestige Drama #14,846, they just want to watch a 45 year old episode of Columbo whenever they want.
— Jessica Ritchey (jmritchey.bsky.social) (@Ruby_Stevens) August 4, 2022
