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• Transcript

  James Kotecki (00:06):
  This is CES Tech Talk. I'm James Kotecki with another conversation that I recorded live at CES 2025 in the C Space Studio. You can get all those interviews on the CES YouTube channel, but we're bringing this one right to your podcast feed. Enjoy.

  
  (00:24):
  Welcome back to the C Space Studio here at CES 2025. I am James Kotecki, joined by the CEO of Tubi, Anjali Sud. Thank you so much for joining us today.

  
  Anjali Sud (00:34):
  Thank you, James.

  
  James Kotecki (00:35):
  All right, so tell us about Tubi. Folks may know Tubi, they might not, so I'm actually just curious always to hear people define their own brands. What is Tubi?

  
  Anjali Sud (00:43):
  Yeah, so Tubi is the most watched free streaming service in America. We have the world's largest collection of movies and TV series. We are a hundred percent free for viewers and we're entirely ad-supported. The business has actually been around for over a decade, was started in Silicon Valley, very deep technology roots, and really just started with this premise that storytelling should be easy. We should remove barriers, we should make it simple and fun and frictionless. And I'd say over time what we found is that audiences, particularly younger audiences, are very much interested in these more free accessible platforms because that's where they're being entertained via social media and gaming. And so we've seen real momentum, particularly in the last year where a lot of folks are really attracted to that value proposition. I think we just announced that we hit 97 million monthly active users.

  
  James Kotecki (01:46):
  Congratulations.

  
  Anjali Sud (01:47):
  And I would say everything I can see is that the just momentum continues because people want that access, they want that choice, and they just appreciate that we make it easy.

  
  James Kotecki (01:58):
  So deep tech roots, but meant to feel philosophically like "old school TV." Is that philosophically still what you're trying to achieve or are you able to just blow up the idea of what that even means? Because you can copy that format exactly, but you don't have to.

  
  Anjali Sud (02:12):
  I think our perspective is we are viewer first. So the way we think about it is we are not going to be the arbiters of what is quality storytelling. So we absolutely, you can find some the most amazing Hollywood studio produced movies on Tubi. You can find all of the TV shows and nostalgia viewing that you know. You can also find hundreds of originals of content that we've gone out and worked with independent distributors to produce that you can't find anywhere else. And you'll see us, we are experimenting with a lot of different forms and types of content, but the through line through all of that is that we are not the arbiters of quality. We let our audience tell us what they want. We are a fan of the fans.

  
  (02:54):
  So if the fans are gravitating towards something, and it can be on Tubi, it can also be on TikTok or Reddit, we will go and create and produce that content and partner with others to bring it. And I will tell you what's been so fascinating about Tubi's momentum is some of the biggest hits on Tubi, it's content you would never expect in a more traditional media or Hollywood ecosystem.

  
  James Kotecki (03:17):
  And does that include even the length of the time? So a traditional TV program is 22 minutes, for example. Are you able to just play with that?

  
  Anjali Sud (03:23):
  So we are still long form, so it is your traditional length of time today. And I will say I see tons of opportunities still in long form, but I'll give you an example. We have a film on Tubi that was made by a Detroit filmmaker on a homegrown budget. So he self-funded it and it's a story about Detroit and that's the kind of content that just in Hollywood wouldn't get greenlit. It wouldn't be seen as something that people are going to put marketing dollars against. And that title gets millions of views on Tubi. Another example, we just launched an original where we worked with a TikTok star, Noah Beck and did a movie of a young adult novel that had 30 million followers on Wattpad.

  
  (04:11):
  And we created an original of that. And we've seen incredible momentum. It's the most viewed, most viewers of any title in Tubi history. And what's fascinating is it's all fans who are going onto social media and creating their own UGC posts clipping the movie, and it's generating hundreds of millions of views. So I think what we're seeing is it's still long form, but what we're trying to do is better understand and reflect culture as it's happening in America and have a more expansive view of what quality storytelling looks like.

  
  James Kotecki (04:47):
  It's like you're willing to experiment and mine for gold and then you can kind of strike it rich at different points because you find these pockets of untapped potential in culture.

  
  Anjali Sud (04:56):
  Yeah, and I think for us, the way we think about it is like in some ways we think we're breaking the monoculture. And if you think about programming historically, it's been very monolithic. You're tuning into-

  
  James Kotecki (05:05):
  Literally broadcasting.

  
  Anjali Sud (05:06):
  Yeah, you're tuning into a show at 8:00 PM and it's one show for everyone. And if you think about what's happening now, we can all access content on demand that can be personalized to us. So it's not about one story for all audiences, it's about helping every story find its audience. And I think that is what's resonating. And the other part is that we don't judge what's quality. Just let the viewers decide. And I think that is something that younger generations in particular, they crave authenticity. They want to feel like they have a connection with stories, they want to feel like it reflects their lived experience and we're able to do that.

  
  James Kotecki (05:40):
  I turn on the TV, I see numerous apps and platforms and streaming options that I can use. As streaming evolves in 2025, how does Tubi fit in? How are you positioned as you see the evolution happening?

  
  Anjali Sud (05:53):
  Yeah, I think the state of streaming is definitely one that I think will continue to evolve. There's simply too much fragmentation and there's a lot of friction and you've got tiers and price hikes and streaming fatigue. And I think what Tubi has generally tried to stay true to is that simplicity and putting the viewer first. And we still, even in today's world where there's so much competition and so much noise around the attention economy, what we hear from our fans is that Tubi feels refreshing and it feels different and it feels weird and wonderful in the things that they can find. And so we see that as a strength. And so what you'll expect is you'll just continue to see Tubi do, we'll zig when others zag. We'll do things differently, but always through the lens of what we believe audiences want.

  
  James Kotecki (06:47):
  There's an interesting tension in those ideas of it being such a competitive landscape, but also you're just finding these pockets of things and content topics and ideas that no one necessarily thought to explore before.

  
  Anjali Sud (06:56):
  Yeah, I mean, we say it as like niche is now core, right? Like this idea of like niche interests and niche fandoms and that not being interesting like that, we are very interested in how we can support and grow that. And like I said, it's been a very competitive market and yet Tubi's momentum is accelerating. And so there's something there that is working that we are very excited to continue to invest in.

  
  James Kotecki (07:21):
  You mentioned I can also do some nostalgia viewing on Tubi. Tell me about licensed content versus original content and how you philosophize that mix.

  
  Anjali Sud (07:28):
  We have, we have everything. We have something for everyone. We have a very extensive catalog, I said one of the largest, in licensed movies and TV series. We work with all of the studios and you'll often find content that will be available on Tubi for free, while it's also available behind a paid service. Gossip Girl is a great example where it's available on Netflix behind a subscription. It's also available on Tubi for free. So you'll see us continue to work with everybody to license content. We also will distribute a lot of long tail content. We do it on a revenue share basis. We are very open to what others might not think is interesting.

  
  (08:10):
  And then lastly, our originals, we have produced hundreds of originals. On nearly one in four Tubi viewers watch a Tubi original. So it is an important part of our catalog, but we don't see it as an either or. And if you think what you're going to see from us is just we are going to continue to provide more and more choice, but also continue to be better and better at content discovery and curation. So that what you see feels like we understand you.

  
  James Kotecki (08:37):
  Well, I want to be understood. So that's important. Tell me about how advertisers are responding to this and what's your message to them?

  
  Anjali Sud (08:43):
  Yeah, so I think this last year has been pretty remarkable in terms of, I think Tubi was not known among advertisers. And as we've scaled, we've really started to become an important part of their media mix. And I think over half of Fortune 100 brands are advertising on Tubi today. That's growing. You're going to see us continue to play a bigger role there. And what advertisers are most interested in with Tubi that they can't get anywhere else is not just the engaged audience, but incremental audience.

  
  (09:19):
  The majority, 65% of our audience are cordless. So they're either cord cutters or they never had a cable subscription to begin with. We are majority Gen Z and millennials. We over index among multicultural audiences and often it's underestimated audiences where maybe their interests were considered niche and we've chosen to treat that as really important to invest in. And so I think what we're finding is a lot of Tubi's audience, they aren't paying for all these other streamers and they're not on cable. So if you want to reach that swath of America and you want to do it in a brand safe way, in long form storytelling, Tubi is increasingly the only or number one place to do that at scale. And so you're going to see us again continue to lean into that. That's our strength and our differentiator.

  
  James Kotecki (10:09):
  I understand that you're deeply involved with change.org, is that correct?

  
  Anjali Sud (10:12):
  I am. I'm the chairwoman.

  
  James Kotecki (10:13):
  This is the petition platform online. Do the ideas behind change.org connect philosophically to what you're doing at Tubi?

  
  Anjali Sud (10:21):
  I think for me, the thing that connects is access and positive impact. I came to Tubi because I do believe in free entertainment. I believe that access is important to storytelling. And I do believe in, obviously we're not curing cancer by putting movies on the internet, but I do believe that we are allowing more diverse stories to be told. And that storytelling is important to change perceptions and understanding in the world.

  
  James Kotecki (10:50):
  And I think it's often the best part of someone's day to find a show they love. It could be the best part of maybe a bad day and it's a nice thing to do.

  
  Anjali Sud (10:55):
  And it's inherently an emotional medium, and I think it can change hearts and minds. Change.org I think is similar in that it's an open platform. It's really tried to democratize social and civic action, and it's using technology at scale to do that, and obviously looking to do that in a way that creates positive change.

  
  James Kotecki (11:17):
  Well, thank you for having a positive conversation with us in the C Space studio, Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi. Thanks very much.

  
  Anjali Sud (11:22):
  Thank you.

  
  James Kotecki (11:23):
  And thank you so much for watching. This is the C Space Studio. My name is James Kotecki. I'm going to be having more great conversations just ahead. Don't go anywhere. This is CES 2025.

  
  (11:34):
  Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation from CES 2025. That is our show for now, but there's always more tech to talk about. So if you're on YouTube, please subscribe and leave a comment. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartMedia, or wherever you get your podcasts, hit that follow button and let's give the algorithms what they want. You can get even more CES at CES.Tech. That's C-E-S dot T-E-C-H. Our show produced by Nicole Vidovich and Paige Morris. Our C Space Studio episodes are produced and edited by Cramer. I'm James Kotecki, talking tech on CES Tech Talk.