Tubi UK launch set for today; free offering likely to worry Netflix

Tubi’s UK launch is set to happen later today, the free streaming video service offering Brits access to more than 20,000 movies and TV episodes from major studios like Disney and Sony …

Tubi is a Fox-owned streaming service entirely funded by ads, and free to users. After operating in the US for a decade, and expanding to Canada and Latin America, the service is today coming the UK for the first time.

Hollywood Reporter says that in the US Tubi has achieved the same viewer numbers as Disney+.

The streamer, led by CEO Anjali Sud, the former head of Vimeo, now has about 80 million monthly active users, the executive told The Hollywood Reporter […] Per the Nielsen Gauge from May, Tubi made up 1.8 percent of all TV viewing in the U.S. for that month, tied with Disney+ […]

Tubi said it would launch in the U.K. with more than 20,000 movies and TV episodes on-demand, “featuring curated content from major global distributors such as Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as a robust slate of exclusive Tubi originals. Tubi’s content library in the UK pairs some of the best Hollywood films with modern British classics, and offers series with well-known U.K. TV franchises alongside new areas of discovery – from Bollywood and Nollywood to arthouse cinema […]

Among the movies on offer are the likes of Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Moonrise Kingdom, Billy Elliot, Twilight: New Moon, and Twilight: Eclipse.

Tubi claims it will listen to what UK viewers want, and adapt its offerings to suit – including the possibility of UK-produced originals. However, it should be noted that Tubi is currently noted for very mainstream offerings.

All the same, the launch is likely to worry Netflix: Free is generally a rather popular price, even if it comes at the cost of ads …