Tubi vs Netflix: There’s a New Game in Town

Some­times, sud­den­ly, there’s a new game in town. A com­peti­tor comes into an exist­ing space, with a dif­fer­ent busi­ness mod­el, and wins over a lot of new cus­tomers – and many of them are yours.

Like when Net­flix arrived with a new val­ue propo­si­tion of com­mer­cial-free pro­gram­ming. And cable TV cus­tomers – tired of flick­ing through ads – flocked towards them, will­ing to pay a month­ly fee for the privilege.

And now here comes Tubi, an ad-sup­port­ed stream­ing ser­vice. For free.

Giv­ing Peo­ple What They Want

While it doesn’t offer Net­flix’ amaz­ing orig­i­nal con­tent, Tubi does offer 250,000 movies and TV episodes from dif­fer­ent Hol­ly­wood stu­dios, live news and sports, as well as orig­i­nal con­tent. It’s like going back to when I was a kid, when we had free TV chan­nels with com­mer­cials – only there’s more to watch.

And they’re not just attract­ing an old­er demo­graph­ic who remem­ber the good old days. Turns out, young, diverse Gen Z and Mil­len­ni­als like the style and qual­i­ty of ​‘nos­tal­gia-watch­ing’ pro­grams – and the price tag.

Clear­ly, peo­ple are tun­ing in to this val­ue: Tubi is now avail­able in 11 dif­fer­ent coun­tries, on more than 25 stream­ing devices, and has out­stripped the competition.

A Com­pelling Val­ue Proposition

Because I start­ed my career in the adver­tis­ing indus­try and appre­ci­ate watch­ing great mar­ket­ing and com­mer­cials from a strategic/​learning lens, at this point in my life, when I’m try­ing to relax and watch a show, I’m hap­py to pay a pre­mi­um not to be interrupted.

But, as Tubi’s suc­cess shows, watch­ing a few com­mer­cials isn’t a prob­lem for a lot of peo­ple. No sur­prise, as peo­ple are look­ing for val­ue for their hard-earned mon­ey, and con­stant­ly eval­u­ate, ques­tion and cal­cu­late costs to get the right fit for their family.

That makes free enter­tain­ment an appeal­ing val­ue proposition.

No Such Thing as Perfection

It’s fas­ci­nat­ing to watch this evolution.

It reminds us that there’s no per­fect busi­ness mod­el nor per­fect cus­tomer experience,

And it rein­forces that peo­ple can become fatigued with any offer­ing, over time, and be open to some­thing new.

Then, some­one, some­where, will come along with anoth­er busi­ness model.

Just like Tubi, whose time has come.

The Chal­lenge

• If you think of your­self as Net­flix, who has built a grow­ing and thriv­ing busi­ness, who could be the poten­tial ver­sion of Tubi?
• If you were to cre­ate your own Tubi, how can you find an alter­nate way to give your cus­tomers what they want?

Oth­er Blogs

• Are You Obsessed with Your Customers?
• How to Keep Cus­tomers Hap­py by Antic­i­pat­ing Their Needs
• Big­ger vs Bet­ter: What is Real Growth?

Old­er Podcasts

• If We Bought Twit­ter: Things to Con­sid­er when Acquir­ing a Business
• Fire Bul­lets Before Can­non­balls: Jim Collins’ Method for Val­i­dat­ing Ideas