Fubo Sports hit an all-time viewership high for its fourth consecutive year, with total hours of content consumed increase nearly 40% year over year in 2023.
December marked the free ad-supported steaming television (FAST) network most-viewed month since its launch in 2019, with total hours up 70% year over year.
In order to keep its growth going, Fubo Sports head Pamela Duckworth told TheWrap that the platform would continue to focus on expanding its sports programming lineup. In 2023, Fubo Sports streamed a record 340 live sporting events, including baseball, basketball, college football, combat sports, darts, soccer and more.
“I think that’s where we’re a winner because we have a lot of partnerships,” Duckworth added. “We’re making deals and we’re going to keep all the live sports coming. I’m not really worried about all the other ways [to watch sports] because I think if people are used to coming to us to watch this stuff, that will keep the viewership up. So we’re just going to keep that cadence going.”
Fubo will also continue to leverage its non-linear distribution channels such as YouTube, TikTok and X, where its been live-streaming MMA events such as Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) and Shawne Merriman’s Lights Out Xtreme Fighting (LXF), and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) soccer matches.
In December, Fubo Sports’ YouTube channel saw a 300% year over year increase in hours watched and a 132% year over year increase in ad revenue.
The growth for Fubo Sports comes as the FAST market has expanded to over 1,400 individual offerings, according to Nielsen’s Gracenote. It also comes as live sports continues to make the transition towards a streaming future.
The latest shakeup came from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, who announced a sports streaming joint venture that is slated to launch in the fall – a move which prompted Fubo shares to fall 23% earlier this month.
“The entire media world seems like it’s doing such a disservice to the customer …. it seems that nobody’s really caring about the consumer and you have to find a million different ways to find what you want to watch,” Duckworth said. “Becoming an aggregator for everyone so that you don’t have to leave the environment to find other things is going to be the future of Fubo and the future of the way people will take in TV.”
Duckworth declined to comment directly on the joint venture, instead deferring TheWrap to Fubo’s previous statement in which it said that every consumer in America should be concerned about the joint venture’s intent and impact on “fair market competition.”
“This joint venture spotlights a concerning trend where an alliance with significant market share, reportedly controlling 60-85% of all sports content, could dictate market terms in a manner that may not serve the broader interests of consumers,” Fubo’s statement added. “We believe our robust programming and quality product experience cannot be duplicated by what is likely to emerge from this joint venture.”
Shares of Fubo, which are down 8% in the past year, closed at $2.07 apiece on Friday. The company will report its next quarterly earnings on March 1 before the market open.
