FAST Forward: Tubi streams its way to Big Game history

Tubi streaming the Super Bowl? Just a few years ago, CMO Nicole Parlapiano would have laughed the prospect off. “No way,” she says, thinking back on the channel’s earlier days.

But fast forward two years from Tubi’s viral Super Bowl ad, and the unthinkable is happening. For the first time ever, the biggest game in sports is hitting a free ad-supported TV (FAST) platform.

For Parlapiano, this isn’t just a landmark moment for Tubi, but also for the future of TV. Bringing one of the most popular sporting events in the world to a FAST environment shows the tremendous power and potential of the growing channel, for both consumers and advertisers.

“The credibility we will get in the space [from streaming] the game…that is going to go miles further than anything else,” Parlapiano tells The Current. “Showing these advertisers that we have the chops to stream the biggest media event of the year, then you think of us in the same mind space as Netflix and not Pluto TV or Roku.”

Fox — Tubi’s parent company — will still broadcast the Super Bowl on its linear channel, but it’s counting on its streaming platform to boost overall viewership. It’s a strategy that Paramount found success with last year when Paramount+ streamed Super Bowl LVIII in addition to airing it on CBS. Over 123 million people tuned in to the game — the most-watched and most-streamed telecast ever.

“The fact that Fox has chosen to share broadcast rights with Tubi for its Super Bowl this year is indicative of their realization and those of others, that eventually even tentpole events that prop up linear are going to find their home and their audience on streaming in the future,” Lou Paskalis, chief strategy officer at Ad Fontes Media, tells The Current. “And that is a very telling example of where our business is headed.”

Tubi will air the same commercials during the game that are shown on Fox and the broadcast will look exactly the same. The key difference here is that the Tubi experience will be free. Parlapiano says 77% of Tubi users don’t have cable or a multichannel video programming distributor like YouTube TV, enabling it to reach new viewers who wouldn’t have access to the broadcast otherwise.

It’s also airing an original pregame red-carpet show, which will appeal to the platform’s general audience that skews younger and female. Sports Illustrated model Olivia Culpo (who is married to San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey) will host the festivities, covering all the cultural moments from New Orleans, including the best fashion, gossip and food from the Big Easy.

“The advertisers that we’ve been talking to for red-carpet integrations and ads, they’re different than your core Super Bowl advertisers,” Parlapiano says. “It offers another bite at the apple. [And] instead of running an ad, you have an integration experience. The red carpet will have multiple segments, [so] your products can be natively integrated into the programming versus having to run an ad.”

With 30-second spots at the Super Bowl reportedly going for a record $8 million, Tubi inventory around the game may offer a cost-effective way of reaching a highly valued audience at scale. And with 97 million people watching Tubi every month, Parlapiano maintains they have the built-in audience to do just that. To watch the game, all viewers have to do is create a Tubi account, which will authenticate them to advertisers and help improve their identity signal.

Parlapiano says that about six months ago, she heard whispers that Tubi may get streaming rights to the game. From there, her team started building its awareness strategy, including a teaser ad, a news media blitz, and home-screen placements on Tubi and other digital devices.

Tubi first gained widespread attention during Super Bowl LVII with its “Interface Interruption” ad, which tricked viewers into thinking they were switching from the game to the Tubi app, causing a frantic search for remotes. Looking back, Parlapiano suggests this moment symbolized Tubi’s ability to disrupt the way people experience the game.

This is the most high-profile live event a FAST platform has ever streamed, after Roku broke new ground last season by streaming an MLB game. Parlapiano is calling it Tubi reaching “our credibility era.”

“[This is] challenging traditional views of FAST as merely a ‘drop-in’ viewing experience and elevating it to a ‘tune-in’ experience,” Lucas Bertrand, CEO and co-founder of Looper Insights, tells The Current. “This isn’t just a new free way to watch this year’s Super Bowl — it’s a shift showing that ad-supported platforms can compete with traditional broadcasters and paid subscription services by delivering high-stakes, premium content.”