Fox Corporation’s Tubi surpassed Paramount Global’s Pluto TV last month to become the most-watched free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service in America, according to a new report released by Nielsen Media Research on Thursday.
The report, called The Gauge, measures streaming consumption in the United States. Officials at Nielsen said streaming consumption in February dropped about 5 percent compared to the previous month due to less-compelling content across services.
Tubi became the latest FAST service to register on The Gauge since Pluto TV was listed on the report that was released last October (for streaming consumption in September 2022). Tubi’s share of the streaming audience was listed as 1 percent for February 2022, ahead of Pluto TV, which dropped to 0.7 percent.
The Fox-owned streaming service was likely boosted from a viral commercial aired during the Super Bowl. The ad tricked viewers into thinking someone had switched away from the Big Game to the Tubi app on their smart TVs. The ruse became apparent when Fox aired another commercial during the same break.
#BREAKING: Fox Corporation's streaming service Tubi registers on Nielsen's "The Gauge" report for the first time. pic.twitter.com/kzj06PMJNz
— TheDesk.net (@TheDeskDotNet) March 16, 2023
YouTube was the top streaming service ranked by The Gauge, with nearly 8 percent of the streaming marketplace. The Google-backed video streaming service offers free, ad-supported content — a mixture of user-generated videos, clips from broadcast and cable shows, movie trailers, music videos and other stuff — along with a premium streaming marketplace that offers subscriptions to Paramount Plus, Showtime, Starz and others. The Gauge does not break out which YouTube products are being consumed by streamers.
Netflix was behind YouTube with a 7.3 percent share of the domestic streaming market, followed by the Walt Disney Company’s Hulu with 3.3 percent, Amazon Prime Video at 3 percent, Disney Plus at 1.8 percent and Warner Bros Discovery’s HBO Max with 1.3 percent.
Comcast’s streaming service Peacock tied Tubi with a flat 1 percent of the market. All other streaming services not explicitly named by Nielsen took 6.8 percent of the space, according to The Gauge.
The full report released by Nielsen on Thursday is available by clicking or tapping here.
