NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES—Fox Corporation has finalized a deal to acquire the free ad-supported streaming platform Tubi for a price tag of $440 million. Fox says that the purchase is part of its strategy to broaden and enhance its direct-to-consumer digital reach and engagement.
Tubi is available on more than 25 digital platforms in the U.S. and features more than 56,000 hours of episodic TV and film programming from content partners. According to Fox’s official announcement, Tubi has a younger-skewing user base that watches more than 160 million hours of content per month on the service.
Working together, Tubi will integrate and boost Fox’s capabilities in areas like digital advertising, direct-to-consumer interfaces and personalization technology. Tubi will also be able to use Fox’s advertising and distribution relationships and national and local promotional platforms.
Fox says that it plans to continue to run Tubi as an independent service. It will, however, look into expanding Tubi’s offerings with national and local news and sports programming.
“Coupled with the combined power of Fox’s existing networks, Tubi provides a substantial base from which we will drive long-term growth in the direct-to-consumer arena,” said Lachlan Murdoch, Fox executive chairman and CEO.
The Tubi acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close before June 30.
