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You don’t need to pay to stream content on Tubi TV. Tubi is similar to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube TV, HBO MAX, and others, but it has one big advantage: it’s free. In 2020, Fox bought Tubi for around $440 million. There’s a possibility that Tubi’s “free” aspect could change in the future. However, for now, it remains completely free. As of March 2024, Tubi TV has around 78 million monthly active users, which is more than double the number they had in 2021. This shows that more and more people are choosing free ad-supported TV services like Tubi TV.
What is Tubi?
Tubi is an interesting streaming service; similar to Pluto TV and Xumo, Tubi TV is completely free. Pluto TV was bought up by ViacomCBS and Xumo by Comcast, while Fox bought Tubi.
There’s no paid option for Tubi, none whatsoever. So, how does Tubi make money? You’ll have to watch some ads while you watch its content. And yeah, ads make up enough for Tubi to stay in business. Part of this is because Tubi is not showing Live TV. So you aren’t seeing ads on shows on CBS, CNN, or any other channel. Instead, these are Tubi’s own ads.
Additionally, Tubi doesn’t have any exclusives, and for the most part, it’s older content. So, as the saying goes, “You get what you pay for,” and that’s true with Tubi.
How much is Tubi?
$0.
While you’re paying $21 for Netflix, $17 for MAX, and more for a live TV service, Tubi charges their customers absolutely nothing.
Tubi is basically using Google’s old business model. They get you to use their service and then show you ads to pay for the business. But keep in mind that “you get what you pay for” when it comes to Tubi. So don’t expect to see Game of Thrones, 90 Day Fiance, The Bachelor, or many other top TV shows and movies on Tubi. At least not right away.
Ads will run before and during a movie or TV show. They are typically 15 to 30 seconds, so they aren’t tough to get through. And we’re not looking at 3 minutes straight of ads like Hulu does on its ad-supported plan. They are unskippable, as you might expect, so it’s a lot like watching YouTube.
This is actually becoming a pretty popular business model for streaming TV these days. It’s called FAST – Fast Ad-Supported Streaming TV. So how does this work? Basically, studios have two forms of licensing for each title. Studios will license content for ad-free services and license again for ad-supported services. The reason why they are licensed separately is because the ad-supported licenses also include a percentage of the ad revenue for that title. So, say Tubi TV licenses The Expend4bles, and enough people watch it that it makes about $100,000 in ad revenue. Well, if Lionsgate wanted 30% of the ad revenue, that would be the $30,000 that Lionsgate gets for that title alone. This is also why Netflix wasn’t able to put all of its titles on its new ad-supported plan at launch.
What movies & TV shows are available on Tubi?
Tubi has a relatively small catalog of titles compared to the competition. There are around 60,000 movies and TV shows available on Tubi. As well as over 275 live TV channels. These are what are called FAST channels, which stands for Free Ad-Supported TV. So, instead of paying to watch Tubi, it’s completely free. You don’t even have to create an account.
It has partnered with around 250 different providers, providing you with a great selection of content to watch. That includes content from Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM. As well as TV content from A&E, Complex Networks, and others.
When it comes to movies, you won’t find any of the more recent hits. Most of the movies available on Tubi are quite a bit older. You’d be lucky to find something released in the last five years on Tubi. There are a lot of good classics available, though.
Though, with TV shows, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. You see, we do have some very popular shows available here, like Hell’s Kitchen and Duck Dynasty, among many others.
What’s really cool about Tubi, though, is the “Not on Netflix” category. Which is exactly what it sounds like. This is a collection of movies and TV shows that are not on Netflix. But don’t expect blockbuster hits in this category. As with the rest of the Tubi platform, these are mostly older programs, though you may find a hit or two in there.
What channels does Tubi TV have?
Tubi TV is made up of FAST channels or Free Ad-Support TV channels. So you won’t see a lot of the normal cable channels here, but a lot of popular cable channels have spinoffs, as well as shows having their own channels. Tubi currently has over 275 channels available, and you can find the full list here.
Update: In May 2024, Tubi added 14 new Lifestyle TV channels to its lineup, bringing the total channels above 275. These new channels include:
- 21 Jump Street
- ABC News Live
- ACCDN
- All Real
- Always Funny Videos
- America’s Dumbest Criminals
- America’s Test Kitchen
- Anger Management en Español
- Anger Managerment
- Are We There Yet
- Baywatch
- beIN Sports XTRA
- beIN Sports XTRA En Español
- Biggest Loser
- Bloomberg Quicktake
- Bloomberg TV
- BNC GO (fka Black News Channel)
- Bounce XL
- Brat TV
- Buzzr
- Caught in Providence
- CBC
- CBS 6 Richmond WTVR
- Cheddar News
- CINEVAULT: 80’s
- CINEVAULT: Classics
- CINEVAULT: Westerns
- Circle
- Comedy Dynamics
- Cosmos
- COURT TV
- Cowboy Way
- Deal or No Deal USA
- Dick Van Dyke Show
- Dove Channel
- DUST
- El Rey
- Estrella News
- Euronews
- Fear Factor USA
- FIFA World Cup
- FilmRise Black TV
- Filmrise Classic TV
- FilmRise Comedy
- FilmRise Horror
- FilmRise Sci-Fi
- FilmRise True Crime
- Filmrise Westerns
- FL24 Forida (Scripps New)
- Forensic Files
- FOX 10 Phoenix
- FOX 11 Los Angeles
- FOX 13 Salt Lake (KSTU)
- FOX 13 Tampa Bay
- FOX 17 West Michigan (WXMI)
- FOX 2 Detroit
- FOX 26 Houston
- FOX 29 Philadelphia
- FOX 32 Chicago
- FOX 35 Orlando
- FOX 4 (Dallas-Fort Worth)
- FOX 4 News Ft Myers
- FOX 5 Atlanta
- FOX 5 New York
- FOX 5 Washington DC
- FOX 6 Milwaukee
- FOX 7 Austin
- FOX 9 (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
- FOX SOUL
- FOX Sports
- FOX Sports en Español
- Fox Weather (National)
- FOX13 Memphis (WHBQ)
- FOX23 Tulsa (KOKI)
- Fubo Sports Network
- Game Show Central
- Gordon Ramsay
- Grit Xtra
- Heartland
- Hi-Yah!
- Idaho News 6 Boise (KIVI)
- ION
- ion Mystery
- ION Plus
- Iowa Des Moines KCCI
- Jamie Oliver
- KARE KARE 11
- KBZK News Bozeman
- KERO 23 Bakersfield
- KGTV
- KGUN 9 Tucson News
- KGW KGW
- KHOU 11 Houston
- KING KING 5
- KIRO 7 Seattle
- KJRH 2 News Oklahoma
- KMGH Denver 7+ News
- KMTV 3 News Omaha
- KNXV 15 – Arizona
- KPAX Missoula 8 (Scripps New)
- KPNX 12 News
- KRIS 6 Corpus Christi
- KSBY San Luis Obispo 6 (Scripps New)
- KSDK News St. Louis
- KSHB 41 Kansas City
- KTNV 13 Action News Las Vegas
- KTVU FOX 2 (San Francisco)
- KUSA 9NEWS
- KXTV ABC10
- KXXV 25 News Waco
- LEX18 News Lexington
- LiveNOW from FOX (fka NewsNOW from FOX)
- Localish
- Lone Star
- Maverick Black Cinema
- MLB Channel
- Movie Sphere
- Mystery Science Theater 3000
- MyTime
- NBC News NOW
- New Hampshire (WMUR)
- News 12 New York
- Newsy
- NFL Channel
- NHRA (Sports)
- Nosey
- PAC-12 Insider
- Pattrn
- PeopleTV
- Places and Spaces
- Q13 FOX (Seattle)
- Real Madrid
- Reelz
- So…Real
- Stadium
- Supermarket Sweep
- Tastemade
- Tastemade en Español
- Tastemade Home
- Tastemade Travel
- The Bob Ross Channel
- The Carol Burnett Show
- The Johnny Carson Show
- The Masked Singer
- The Only Way Is Essex
- TMZ
- Today All Day
- Tubi Originals
- Unsolved Mysteries
- USA Today
- USA TODAY SportsWire
- Very Alabama by WVTM
- Very Arkansas by KHBS
- Very Baltimore by WBAL
- Very Boston WCVB
- Very Carolina WXII
- Very Champlain WPTZ
- Very Cincinnati by WLWT
- Very Jackson WAPT
- Very Kansas City (KMBC)
- Very Lancaster WGAL
- Very Louisville by WLKY
- Very Maine WMTW
- Very Milwaukee by WISN
- Very Monterey by KSBW
- Very New Mexico KOAT
- Very Nola by WDSU
- Very Oklahoma by KOCO
- Very Omaha by KETV7
- Very Orlando by WESH
- Very Pittsburgh by WTAE
- Very S. Carolina WYFF
- Very Sacramento KCRA
- Very Savannah WJCL
- Very South Florida WPBF
- Very Tampa Bay WMOR
- Vice
- Wanted Dead or Alive
- WBNS 10TV Columbus
- WCPO Cincinnati 9 (Scripps New)
- WeatherNation
- WEWS News 5 Cleveland
- WFAA Dallas–Fort Worth
- WFMY News 2 | Greensboro
- WFTS 28 – Tampa
- WFTV 9 Orlando
- WFXT
- WGBA Green Bay 26 (Scripps New)
- WHIO (Dayton)
- Wipeout Xtra
- WJAX Action News Jax
- WKBW 7 News Buffalo
- WKYC WKYC
- WMAR 2 Baltimore
- WPTV West Palm Beach
- WPXI (Pittsburgh)
- WRTV Indianapolis
- WSB Now Atlanta
- WSOC Channel 9
- WSYM FOX 47 News Lansing
- WTHR Indianapolis
- WTIC FOX61 Hartford, CT
- WTVF Nashville 5
- WUSA 9 – DC/MD/VA
- WXIA 11Alive
- WXYZ Detroit – 7 Action News
What features are available?
Not many. It’s basically the basics, and since this is a free service, we aren’t totally surprised.
You can add content to your list to watch, but if you switch to another platform, your list won’t switch unless you create an account.
There are some parental controls available, but those are also very limited. Basically, you can limit content based on the rating. But you can’t limit specific genres or specific shows.
It’s free, so you can’t expect to have every feature and the kitchen sink included.
What does Tubi lack?
As with any “free” service, Tubi has some things missing or lacking. First up is video quality. It’s just 720p. Which is fine, but on a 4K TV, it doesn’t really look great. And there is nothing available in 1080p. Not to mention a lot of the content on Tubi was shot before the industry moved to HD, so you may not even get a 720p stream here. Depending on the platform, there is an option to adjust the quality, but not available on every platform.
Closed captioning is also limited to English. For most of us in the US, that is probably not a problem. But not everyone speaks English. So, being able to get closed captioning and/or the audio in other languages would be a nice feature to have.
You don’t need to create an account to use Tubi, which is nice. It means you can just download it and get started watching content. But if you want to use parental controls, you will need to create an account. The parental controls are there, but not that robust. Basically, you can only limit what kids can watch based on the program’s rating.
What’s a bit strange is that Tubi’s interface differs quite a bit from app to app. So if you use it on Fire TV and then move to Android TV or even to your Android smartphone, you may find a vastly different interface.
One of the biggest shortcomings of Tubi is that it has no sports or live programming. Of course, Netflix doesn’t have that either – Hulu does have some live stuff, but it’s somewhat rare. Again, considering the price tag here and the fact that this is not a live TV service, that is not a big surprise.
Don’t get us wrong, this is a pretty decent streaming service, especially for the price. But it would be nice for Tubi to offer a paid subscription to get some of these features and newer video content.
What platforms support Tubi?
Currently, Tubi supports most of the popular platforms. It’s available on Android smartphones and tablets, Chromecast, Android TV, iOS, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablets, Roku, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series S. Which covers most of the bases.
So, no matter where you are, you can stream Tubi on your TV or your smartphone or tablet. And enjoy some free content.
Where is Tubi available?
Surprisingly, Tubi is not limited to just the US. Tubi TV is available in a few other countries as well.
Tubi TV is available in North America – the United States, Canada, and Mexico. As well as Australia. It expects to launch in more regions in the coming years.
Can I watch Tubi without an account?
Yes, you sure can. Because Tubi is completely free, you don’t even need to login to an account to use it. However, we would recommend signing in or creating an account. This is going to allow you to have your favorite channels up top in the channel guide, as well as recommend shows and movies to you from its pretty extensive on-demand library.
Does Tubi have parental controls?
Parents might be worried about Tubi’s content for their children. Well, there are parental controls available that will allow you to limit access to certain content based on its ratings.
Should I download and use Tubi TV?
Tubi is not the streaming service that is going to serve all of your needs. But it is a nice compliment to the many others that you might have. Including some titles that you may not have on other services like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling TV, HBO MAX, and others. And since it’s free, you might as well add it to your collection of streaming services.
For a free streaming service, it’s pretty decent. Just don’t expect it to be amazing for this price. However, it’s going to be interesting to see what Fox does with it in the coming years after paying nearly half a billion for the service.