Sports-centric streaming service Fubo TV ended the previous quarter with 590,000 paying subscribers, an increase of 43,000 customers, the company announced on Tuesday.
The service, which focuses mainly on sports but also includes a mixture of general entertainment and lifestyle channels, says a shift away from traditional cable and satellite service helped fuel its growth among streaming households.
“The first quarter of 2021 was an inflection point for Fubo TV,” David Gandler, the chief executive of Fubo TV, said in a statement. “For the first time in any first quarter, we reported sequential revenue and subscriber growth, despite past seasonality trends. This tells us that consumers are increasingly cutting the cord.”
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Fubo TV has content distribution deals with the programmers behind major sports networks, including Comcast (NBC Sports Network, regional NBC Sports channels, Olympic Channel), the Walt Disney Company (ESPN, ESPN 2, some local ABC stations), Fox Corporation (FS1, FS2, some local Fox network stations) and ViacomCBS (CBS Sports Network, local CBS stations). The service also carries foreign sports broadcasts from Al Jazeera Media Networks (BeIN Sports), Univision and other programmers.
The company is currently missing channels programmed by AT&T WarnerMedia, including TNT and TBS, which carries some NCAA basketball games and other national sports programming under the Turner Sports brand.
With its focus mainly on sports programming, Fubo TV commands a price that can be higher than its closest competitors, charging around $65 a month for a basic package of channels. The subscription price can quickly increase as viewers add more programming, including regional sports channels, to satiate their growing sports needs.
Still, Fubo TV is hoping to be the destination for sports lovers: The company is readying a native sports betting feature that will allow subscribers to place bids while watching live events as they air across channels supported by the streamer.
“As the shift of viewing from traditional pay TV accelerates, our differentiation in the marketplace — sports-focused programming, a tech-first and data-driven user experience and the planned integration of wagering and interactivity — firmly positions the company strongly for long-term growth,” Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the executive chairman of the company, said in a statement. “We remain steadfast in our mission to provide the world’s most thrilling sports-first live TV experience with the greatest breadth of premium content, interactivity, and integrated wagering.”
The company said the betting service should go live later this year, assuming it gains the necessary regulatory approvals to launch.