Sports-centric streaming service Fubo grew its overall revenue and North American subscriber count during the fourth financial quarter (Q4) of 2024, but a caution that the company is likely to lose customers this quarter triggered a massive sell-off of its publicly-traded stock in the early hours of Friday morning.
Executives disclosed Fubo’s subscriber count in North America was 1.676 million during Q4, slightly higher than the 1.613 million logged during Q3 and boosting the company’s quarterly revenue to $1.59 billion. Overall revenue was up 19 percent on a year-over basis, while its subscriber count was on the lower end of the company’s prior forecast. The company’s net loss narrowed to $40.9 million, and its Fubo Sports Network encountered its first full year of profitability as a business within the business.
But the good times are likely behind Fubo, at least for now, with the company projecting to lose around 200,000 subscribers between the end of 2024 and the end of Q1 2025. Fubo says its Q1 subscriber count should come in between 1.43 million and 1.46 million, which would also reflect a year-over decline of around 4 percent.
Like other streaming pay TV services, Fubo is affected by seasonal churn — when the National Football League’s (NFL) fall season is about to start, the company experiences a higher amount of uptake as sports fans look for ways to access games aired by Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN and ABC — all channels that Fubo carries on a national basis.
But a company that hangs its hat mostly on access to NFL games is going to suffer when the football season concludes, as it did with Super Bowl LIX played earlier this month. Fubo typically experiences a subscriber decline in Q1 each year, but the steep decline the company projected on Friday was enough to raise red flags among institutional and some retail investors.
At one point, Fubo’s stock price on Friday was down 20 percent before a slight rebound. As of mid-Friday, Fubo’s stock price was trading around $3 per share, or 14 percent lower than the prior day.
Fubo is looking to the future with its planned merger of its North American pay TV business with that of the Walt Disney Company. The combined Fubo and Hulu with Live TV business will “establish a leading streaming company that prioritizes consumer choice, flexible packages, and a cutting-edge experience,” executives wrote in a letter to shareholders.
Fubo also said it will launch a new “Sports & Broadcasting” plan that is expected to come to market by the fall sports season.
