Why FuboTV changed its name to Fubo: It just sounds cooler

March 21, 2023

You know what’s cool? One billion dollars, which was Fubo’s global revenue in 2022.

The sports-focused live TV streaming platform will now be known simply as “Fubo,” the company announced Tuesday. The rebranding “reflects the company’s focus on efficient growth,” reads a press release.

It’s a quote that doesn’t really mean anything, beyond the argument that saying and writing “Fubo” takes less time than saying and writing “FuboTV.”

Also, as Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler said Tuesday, it’s the shorthand their customers have already been using. We buy that part, but as a Fubo insider told IndieWire, this one sounds way cooler, too. You know, like “A billion, thousand million Dollars” in “The Social Network”. (Incidentally, Fubo’s 2022 global revenue as well.)

(embed)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5fJmkv02is(/embed)

The new campaign, which stars NBA legend Kevin Garnett and former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez and features the tagline “If Sports Fans Built a Streaming Service,” is co-produced by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Prods. Reynolds, who recently created a mint and sold a mint to T-Mobile, has a stake in FuboTV — er, Fubo — through Maximum Effort, which produces the movies “Deadpool,” “Free Guy,” “The Adam Project’ and ‘Welcome’. to Wrexham.” (You can see the spots at the bottom of the post.)

In August, Maximum Effort received 2 million FuboTV common shares worth $10 million. In return, FuboTV received a first-look deal for unscripted content, a blind scripted deal (allowing Fubo to decide later what the scripted project would be), and a Maximum Effort Fubo channel.

Like Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV, Fubo is a virtual MVPD. The service allows users to cut the cable TV cord while maintaining access to linear television. Fubo’s 160-channel tier costs $74.99 per month; Its 223-channel tier with 4K events is $84.99.

YouTube TV has increased its monthly price from $64.99 to $72.99. There’s also a $10.99 sports add-on that may be needed to compete with Fubo, the only live TV streaming platform with all Nielsen-rated sports channels. (Yes, cable replacements are starting to look an awful lot like a cable bill.)

Mark Sanchez as part of Fubo’s new campaign

Courtesy of Maximum Effort

In 2022, FuboTV outgrew vMVPD rivals Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV, and in 2022 the subscriber network will be added. Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (Alphabet fka Google does not unbundle YouTube TV subscriptions.)

A Fubo spokesperson told IndieWire that viewers spend more than 100 hours a month on the platform, with 89 percent watching live TV (vs. on demand) and 94 percent on the big screen (vs. mobile).

In addition to surpassing $1 billion in global revenue last year, FuboTV generated $100 million in advertising revenue; both were first. The company ended 2022 with 1.445 million subscribers in North America and 420,000 subscribers from the rest of the world. (Fubo is in the US, Canada and Spain; it acquired Molotov in France.)

Like many young streaming services, publicly traded Fubo remains unprofitable and will lose about $562 million in 2022. FUBO shares rose nearly 14 percent on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(embed)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVg7fqapikU(/embed)

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