Newest challenger to Roku, Freely, and Samsung adds 20,000 new films and TV shows to watch for FREE
Streaming service Tubi landed on British shores in July last year with a catalogue of 20,000 films and TV shows to watch free of charge. Since its release, the Netflix rival has doubled the size of its library with an additional 20,000 titles.
The ad-supported streamer, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation, is immensely popular in the United States of America, with some 80 million monthly active users.
Free Ad-supported Streaming Television, more commonly known as FAST, is becoming increasingly popular in this country. Sony recently joined the fray with the launch of eight ad-supported channels under its Sony One banner.
And now, Tubi is competing for your attention too. Its ad-supported catalogue boasts films and shows produced by Disney, Lionsgate — also now available as part of its own dedicated paid service, NBC, AMC Networks, NBCUniversal (NBCU), New Regency, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Sky Stream has never been this affordable. The broadcaster has just launched an affordable new bundle of channels and on-demand services, dubbed TV Essentials. It includes its plug-and-play Sky Stream box, over 100 live channels including Sky Atlantic — the exclusive home of shows like Game of Thrones, And Just Like That, and The White Lotus. You’ll also find a subscription to Netflix and Discovery+ included too and can upgrade to Sky Cinema and Sky Sports at an extra cost.
Tubi has promised to commission, produce, and broadcast exclusives for its streaming service.
Speaking about the dramatic increase to its streaming library, Tubi UK General Manager, Ross Appleton said: “Since launching nearly a year ago in the UK, Tubi has doubled its library size, cementing its position as offering the biggest collection of free movies and TV series in the UK.
“With rising costs and fragmentation in streaming, Tubi will continue to offer viewers extensive content choice and a highly personalized viewing experience. All for free.”
Some of the new additions you’ll find in the Tubi catalogue includes series and films from AMC Networks like Bad Axe, Revenge, and Speak No Evil (2022), with Skinamarink, the Growing Up Hip-Hop series (169 episodes), Wicked City (21 episodes) with more on the way.
Through its partnership with Lionsgate, Tubi has added films like The Mist, The Devil You Know, Remember Me, and Redemption (2013). A sample of selection of movies from NBCU includes The Last House on the Left, Mama, The Strangers, Death Becomes Her, The Purge, and more.
A sample of movies currently available from New Regency on Tubi include: The Girl Next Door, and Unfaithful.
And lastly, the team at Tubi has secured the rights to Sony Pictures Entertainment films like Ghostbusters (2016), District 9, Elysium, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), and the complete Resident Evil franchise.
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For a limited time, EE will slash 50% off access to Sky Cinema, exclusive Sky TV channels like Sky Atlantic, and everything included in a Netflix and discovery+ subscription. EE TV must be paired with an EE broadband plan, since there’s no satellite dish — everything is streamed over your Wi-Fi connection. At checkout, you’ll be able to choose between EE TV Pro box or an Apple TV 4K
“In building our content portfolio in the UK, we considered early-signals and dove deep into performance data to determine which genres and content types to lean into,” said Sam Harowitz, Senior Vice President of Content Acquisitions and Partnerships at Tubi.
“With these latest studio library deals we have further invested in robust existing partnerships and doubled down on providing fandoms with a deep catalogue of movies and tv series across top performing genres such as horror, action, thrillers, and comedies.”
As well as paid streaming subscriptions, like Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+, Tubi has to compete with other free-to-watch services such as ITVX and Channel 4, as well as BBC iPlayer, which is free for all TV licence fee payers. It’s an increasingly crowded field. Samsung has its own portfolio of ad-supported channels via Samsung TV Plus, while Roku broadcasts its free-to-watch service, dubbed The Roku Channel, to device owners worldwide.
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However, there is some good news for the team at Tubi. Since its initial launch, Amazon’s ad-supported streaming service Freevee was closed. Original shows and films commissioned for this free streamer have now been folded into its Prime Video streamer, which is also where you’ll find hits like Clarkson’s Farm, The Grand Tour, and The Boys.
Tubi was recently named the most-watched free TV and movie streaming service in the United States. It boasts an immense library of over 250,000 movies and TV episodes in that market — much larger than the selection of titles available in the UK on day one. We’d expect to see that library grow in the coming months and years.