Tubi or not Tubi? Fox receives offers of $2billion for AVOD platform

Fox Entertainment CEO Lachlan Murdoch has been turning down offers of more than $2bn for the company’s AVOD platform Tubi, according to a report from business news provider Bloomberg. Would-be buyers haven’t been named, but the report claims there have been multiple offers for the platform, which Fox acquired for $440m in 2020.

While a five-fold increase looks like good business for Fox, Murdoch’s reluctance to part company with the platform is not surprising given the speed of growth at Tubi in particular and AVOD/FAST more generally. Just last week, Fox reported that total viewing time on Tubi grew 41% year on year for the three months ending 31 December, 2022 – with ad revenue up by 25% for the same period.

Speaking during Fox Corp’s earnings call, Murdoch said: “Revenue and engagement KPI for Tubi have far exceeded our expectations and are consistently growing. The results at Tubi are proof that our strategy is working and we will continue growing this platform.”

Tubi, which is currently available across the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, has 50,000 hours of AVOD content and around 200 FAST channels. It recently did a deal to Warner Bros. Discovery to carry 14 Warner-branded FAST channels.