Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) and Lionsgate are the latest content providers to jump on board with ad-supported VOD service Tubi TV.
Both MGM and Lionsgate will make an equity investment in and license content to the service, including Midnight Cowboy, Crash, Rain Man, and The Hurt Locker. Those titles and more will add to the 40,000 movies and TV shows Tubi TV already stocks in its content library.
“We’re excited to partner with Lionsgate and MGM and feature some of their most unforgettable movies. With this investment and partnership, Tubi TV is now the largest and best free streaming TV platform,” Tubi TV CEO Farhad Massoudi said in a statement. “Consumers want more streaming premium content without subscribing to yet another app or paying for another channel. Tubi TV’s mission is to make premium content accessible to everyone, everywhere, without having to pay more. Tubi TV will always be free.”
“We’re delighted to partner with Farhad and his team at Tubi TV as we continue to ensure that our content is being monetized across every platform, digital and linear, ad-supported and subscriber-based, domestically and internationally,” Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution Jim Packer said in a statement. “This agreement reflects our ongoing commitment to license our content across an expanding array of ad-supported digital platforms and serve next generation audiences around the world.”
The ad-supported monetization strategy seems to be working for Tubi TV.
The service says that overall online video ad sales have increased nearly 20 percent annually over the past three years and the market is projected to grow to $10 billion by 2018.
Tubi TV also says its viewership numbers have increased 400 percent over the past year.
Competition for Tubi TV includes other ad-supported services like Sony’s Crackle and Verizon’s recently launched Go90, which focuses heavily on mobile video viewership.