Tubi is expanding its streaming buffet to include a helping of content licensed from YouTube creators.
The Fox-owned free ad-supported streaming service launched Tubi for Creators, a new program that encompasses its various initiatives to bring creator content to its platform. As part of that, Tubi announced that it has inked deals with six YouTube creators to distribute more than 500 episodes from their shows. The service said it will add more creators — and bring thousands more videos to the platform — in the coming weeks.
The content includes shows from Rhett & Link’s Mythical, Kinigra Deon, Dan and Riya, FunnyMike, Jubilee and Watcher Entertainment, the digital studio founded by Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej.
“We’re listening to our viewers and recognize their desire for more stories that reflect culture and talent from the digital world,” Tubi CEO Anjali Sud said in a statement. “As the home for free, premium entertainment, Tubi is uniquely poised to bring the creator economy to Hollywood and expand the pathways for creators to succeed in long-form storytelling.”
Shows coming to (or already available on) Tubi are Dan and Riya’s comedy series “Beverly Valley High,” in which they portray a range of oddball characters; FunnyMike’s “Mr. Creepy Eyes”; shows from Jason Y. Lee’s Jubilee including “Odd One Out,” “Ranking,” “Versus 1” and several “Nectar” series; Kinigra Deon’s series “Vampire Siblings,” “College Life” and “The World Didn’t End When I Was 16”; Mythical’s food-focused interview show “Last Meals,” hosted by Josh Scherer; and Watcher’s “Are You Scared?”
Leading the Tubi for Creators team is Rich Bloom, GM of creator programs and executive VP of business development. Bloom formerly was a senior exec at Vimeo, the video-streaming platform provider where Sud had been CEO before joining Tubi, and earlier worked at companies including Alibaba, Hearst and AOL. “Many creators today function like full-fledged production studios creating longer-form, episodic content that is a perfect fit for broader distribution, and Tubi is the right partner to level-up their content and grow their audience,” said Bloom.
Sud said, “Rich has spent his career in video partnering and supporting creators, and I’m excited for him to accelerate our efforts to help more storytellers find their audience and bring more unique stories to our fans.”
Tubi for Creators encompasses Tubi’s previously launched fan-fueled studio Stubios, the recently announced partnership with Kickstarter bringing more than 20 independent films exclusively to the platform, and its partnership with The Blacklist inviting writers to submit their screenplays to be developed and distributed on Tubi.
Tubi this week announced that it now has more than 100 million monthly active users. The service touts a collection of nearly 300,000 movies and TV episodes in the U.S. — all available for free, with ads. Fox Corp. acquired Tubi in 2020.
Pictured top: Dan and Riya, FunnyMike
