Podcast Summary: The Town with Matthew Belloni – "Tubi Takes on YouTube, and a Michael Jackson Movie Update"

Date: November 12, 2025
Host: Matthew Belloni (The Ringer)
Guests: Anjali Sood (CEO, Tubi); Craig Horlebeck (Producer & Segment Guest)

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the surprising profitability of Tubi—the ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox—and its aggressive push into creator-driven content that positions the platform as a unique challenger to both legacy studios and YouTube. Matthew Belloni welcomes Tubi CEO Anjali Sood for a wide-ranging discussion on Tubi’s meteoric growth, their evolving content model, strategies to attract creators, and Tubi’s place in the broader streaming landscape. The latter part of the episode pivots to Belloni and Craig Horlebeck reacting to big news about the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic after a fraught production and the massive buzz surrounding its trailer debut.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tubi’s Path to Profitability

[03:01–05:16]

• Sood reveals Tubi is now profitable, far ahead of most predictions, with revenue growth outpacing increased investment in content and technology.

• Growth is not the result of cost-cutting but from "growing faster and more efficiently" with expanded engagement.

• Free ad-supported streaming (“FAST”) is benefiting from economic pressures and changing consumer habits, especially among younger audiences seeking value and content variety.

  "Our profitability... it’s sustainable and it’s not coming from us cutting our costs, it’s coming from us growing faster."
  — Anjali Sood [03:45]

2. Event-Driven Growth & Retention

[05:01–06:20]

• Livestreaming the Super Bowl yielded 24 million viewers on game day, and Tubi successfully retained many new sign-ups.
• The Super Bowl attracted a diverse audience, expanding reach beyond sports fans, and serving as a "great marketing" moment.
• Tubi plans more targeted live event streams, like the NFL Thanksgiving Day game, but live sports will not be the company’s main strategy due to complexity and cost.

3. Tubi’s Creator Content Push

[07:03–11:48]

• Recent deals with creators show Tubi’s commitment to fandom-driven programming over chasing major YouTube stars.

• Tubi seeks out creators with "super engaged, obsessive fandoms" rather than just massive followings, emphasizing a long-tail, niche-obsessed strategy.

• Most deals use a revenue share model rather than upfront payments, echoing YouTube’s approach but promising more creative freedom and marginally better monetization for some creators.

• Bringing creators onboard serves as an on-ramp for new (often younger) users, who are then retained and exposed to other types of content.

  "We want to be free streaming for every fandom... whether it’s produced by a Hollywood studio, a creator, or an indie filmmaker."
  — Anjali Sood [07:42]

4. Podcasts, Genre Focus, and Originals

[11:48–15:13]

• Tubi is distributing its first major video podcast (Ashley Flowers’ true crime series) but only to "serve true crime fans," not out of any broad podcasting push.

• The focus is always on serving established fandoms, using originals and acquisitions to deepen engagement with these communities.

• Originals, such as R.L. Stine’s "Pumpkin Head," have exceeded expectations, regularly appearing in streaming top 10 charts, despite minimal marketing spends.

• Tubi’s content philosophy is to super-serve narrow but impassioned audiences, rather than chase mainstream monoculture hits.

  "It’s a hit if the people who are passionate about that watch it... even if the number of viewers isn’t massive."
  — Anjali Sood [15:31]

5. Tubi’s Role Within Fox and Broader Strategy

[16:30–18:22]

• Tubi is deliberately not integrated into Fox One, aiming to expand Fox’s audience with younger, multicultural, cordless viewers distinct from traditional TV audiences.
• There’s openness to potential crossovers with other Fox properties like Fox Nation, but only when genuinely beneficial and not forced for the sake of synergy.

6. Challenges and Landscape

[19:55–24:36]

• Sood expresses confidence rather than fear about competition, suggesting that Tubi’s dedicated focus on free streaming is a unique strength while others consolidate and diversify.

• When asked about competitors like Pluto (Paramount) and Roku, Sood is unfazed, focusing on continual execution and exploiting tailwinds, including those from AI and changing creator dynamics.

• For creators, Tubi is an incremental distribution platform, not a YouTube replacement—emphasizing creative freedom, ownership, and higher ad revenues.

  "How can Tubi be a place where [creators] can creatively experiment and do more in long form?"
  — Anjali Sood [24:22]

7. Younger Audiences, Platform Features, and Originals

[25:39–27:56]

• Tubi’s "Scenes" feature (a TikTok-style vertical scroll for TV/movie snippets) is a deliberate product to serve younger, mobile-first audiences.
• Younger viewers love both nostalgia (classic cartoons) and new originals; their definition of quality is "much more expansive," prioritizing cultural relevance and authenticity.
• Tubi’s original strategy includes more targeted content for niches (e.g., young adult movies, content for Black audiences), possibly including themed holiday films.

8. Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Tubi’s relationship with creators:

  "We’re not trying to own the IP. We want creators to own their IP... We want to work with them to make sure they expand their audience and make more money."
  — Anjali Sood [23:04]

• On Tubi’s value prop:

  "If our viewers win, we win."
  — Anjali Sood [21:34]

• On competition:

  "We don’t need our competitors to fail in order to succeed."
  — Anjali Sood [21:34]

Michael Jackson Movie Update (The Call Sheet)

Main Segment [29:13–34:49]

• The long-gestating Michael Jackson biopic (produced by Graham King, written by John Logan, directed by Antoine Fuqua) has been through major last-minute rewrites and reshoots after legal discoveries regarding non-dramatization settlements with accusers.

• The movie’s trailer broke Lionsgate’s all-time viewership records (116 million views in 24 hours).

• Belloni predicts that the film will earn at least 75% of its box office from international audiences, noting Michael Jackson’s "radioactive" status in the US but enduring global popularity—mirroring trends seen with "Bohemian Rhapsody."

• There is potential for a second film if the first succeeds, though controversy over the film’s portrayal of Jackson’s legal troubles continues.

  "The whole point of doing the movie... was to sanitize the Jackson image and to show the world that Michael was innocent."
  — Matt Belloni [33:48]

• Box office forecasts: Conservative $400–500 million, with upside to $1 billion if reception and marketing go well.

• The estate holds significant control, seeking to "exonerate" Jackson through its narrative.

• Discussion closes with the observation that the Jackson property remains sensitive and polarizing in the US but tremendously robust internationally.

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 00:00–03:00: Tubi intro, context, performance stats from Fox earning call.
• 03:01–06:20: Sood on profitability, economics, and Super Bowl impact.
• 07:03–11:48: Creator partnerships and Tubi’s fandom-centric strategy.
• 11:48–15:13: Podcasts, originals, and impact of niche programming.
• 16:30–18:22: Integration (or not) with Fox One and Fox strategy.
• 19:55–24:36: Market challenges, competitive position, and creator economics.
• 25:39–27:56: Product innovation for young audiences; the “Scenes” feature.
• 27:11–28:22: Content strategy for holiday and niche movies.
• 29:13–34:49: Michael Jackson movie update—production drama, international focus, box office predictions.

Conclusion

This episode offers a deep dive into the business and evolving culture of one of the fastest-growing platforms in the streaming wars. Tubi’s success is rooted in a savvy, fan-first programming mentality, a willingness to experiment with new creator-driven content models, and a refusal to play the same game as Netflix and YouTube. The Michael Jackson movie update underscores how legacy media and global audiences still wield enormous influence over what gets made, and how even highly controversial biopics can define industry conversation.

If you want to understand where streaming is headed—as a platform, a business model, and as a cultural force—this episode delivers a clear, engaging snapshot from inside Hollywood’s shifting ground.