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Free streaming service Tubi arrives in Australia

Click-and-play streaming service has nearly 7000 movies & TV for free, thanks to an advertising model.

Another streaming service has entered the Australian market, US-based Tubi -but unlike competitors this one is free thanks to an advertising-model.

Nearly 7000 movies and TV series will be available on Tubi including Drama, Comedy, Documentary, with titles including 3:10 to Yuma, The Blair Witch Project, Kickboxer, Stranger Than Fiction. Additional titles to be made available over the next six months, include Dirty Dancing, The Grudge, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, Saw, Traffic and Young Guns.

With no sign-ups or credit cards required the click-and-play is available through most internet-connected TVs plus Telstra TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Apple iOS, Android tablets and smartphones, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Tubi has deals with studios including Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, MGM and Lionsgate, wth 20 million monthly average users in the US.

Farhad Massoudi, CEO of Tubi told TV Tonight, the HD platform is designed to complement subscription services.

“The idea of an average household subscribing to Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, HBO and all these services is ludicrous. The average household has about 2 subscription services,” he said.

“We want to be complementing your subscription services and the way we do it is by aggregating a massive library of content.”

Advertising will appearing in “commercial break-style” during content.

“Our ad loads are about 4 minutes an hour which is dramatically lower than a traditional media company. We carefully choose the ad block, so they are the least-disruptive points during the movie,” he continued.

“We obviously need to monetise to pay for the content but there is no subscription, pulling out credit cards, signing up, and it is accessible on many streaming devices, completely free.”

Tubi is also known for horror movies, disaster movies, crazy Westerns and trash-tastic B grade movies including Samurai Cop, Titanic II, Zoombies, Frankenstein vs The Mummy, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, 2012: Ice Age plus  George Romero’s The Crazies and the original Suspiria.

Obviously when you launch you never quite know how I will perform but we pride ourselves on our technology. So we look forward to seeing how it does and we will improve over time.

“One of the key things is we are very much a technology first company,” said Massoudi.

“The key to our success and why consumers love us in the US is we use learning to personalise the experience. And we use that data to quickly evolve our library. So this is just the beginning in the Australian market. We will use the data to quickly double down on content with what Australians love to watch.”

www.tubi.tv

20 Responses

  1. Apart from original content shows like Stranger Things, most sites content is stuff that was on network or cable TV. People expect super high quality from original content and so far it has been, but a large amount of original content is unlikely as it wouldn’t be profitable. If shows of network TV aren’t profitable due to drop in viewers there will end up being less quality content, not more. Ads will increase in ad model streaming, and price will increase on pay model streaming.

  2. Looks like a decent streaming service, had no issues when I watched an ep of the much-loved Smack The Pony (someone put that on ABC Comedy, please). I’m sure there’s plenty of hidden gems to be found here too. Thanks for the info, David.

  3. another free streaming service is Kanopy. It is subscribed by libraries. On their site they say “We stream thoughtful entertainment to your preferred device with no fees and no commercials by partnering with public libraries and universities. Everyone from film scholars to casual viewers will discover remarkable and enriching films on Kanopy. Log in with your library membership and enjoy our diverse catalog with new titles added every month.”

  4. I got excited & thought I finally might have a streaming service that had Chicago PD but no it doesn’t. It’s ridiculous we have so many streaming services here & not one of them has Chicago PD.

    1. Would need to stream through Fetch TV or Foxtel Now in the relevant subscription pack for either service as Chicago PD is streamed as part of Universal Channel.

  5. shouldn’t say it……
    but pi hole with the necessary DNS restrictions….. not an ad
    watched a few hours….not one ad

    I mean – I have better quality on my server – but hey its free

  6. Not sure why this streamer sneaked under the radar especially with 20 million average monthly users in the States.
    Pros: Operating system looks good, set up is easy on AppleTV, for those not familiar with streaming and don’t wish to pay for entertainment Tubi might wet the palet. Rediscovered the show ‘Low Summer Sun’. Cons: Advertising looks like it maybe video looped for multiple repeats, but that is common on Foxtel and SBS as well.

  7. Considering the average of 18 minutes of ads per hour on commercial TV, that’s actually not so bad for the calibre of content on offer, especially if they take place in a manner that is not intrusive to the viewing experience.

    It would be nice if there are fewer ads for B-movies which would obviously have considerably lower licensing fees, but I won’t hold my breath.

  8. What’s not to love about it. Like a FTA channel with only 4 mins/hour of ads. I’m hoping the ads won’t be like Prime – for the Dubbo butcher played into Wollongong – and like 10/WIN with their two-minute promos for random shows stretching a commercial break in a movie, placed in the middle of an action scene, to 5+ minutes.

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