What is Tubi TV? In a dark and vast sea of streaming services who seem to be raising their monthly subscription prices, well, monthly, Tubi TV is a beacon of light. Sometimes dubbed "the people's streaming service," Tubi TV is a free ad-supported str…
In a dark and vast sea of streaming services who seem to be raising their monthly subscription prices, well, monthly, Tubi TV is a beacon of light. Sometimes dubbed "the people's streaming service," Tubi TV is a free ad-supported streaming service launched in 2014 and owned by FOX.
An account is not necessary to stream on Tubi; one only has to find the film or show they're itching to watch and press play. Tubi is available as a smartphone app and can be accessed on computers and smart TVs everywhere. Due to its accessibility, the service has cultivated a large and adoring usership. In fact, it was recently announced that Tubi had more people watching than some popular paid streaming services like Max and Peacock.
Tubi just had its most-watched month ever 📺
It surpassed Disney+, Max, Paramount+, and Peacock in viewers
Beyond its affordability, Tubi is also boasts a stellar collection of movies and shows, particularly in the horror genre. I cannot count the number of times I have Googled a movie to see where I can watch it and sighed in relief when the first option was Tubi. Phew, no need to open my digital wallet!
So with a reputation this good, how well does Tubi perform in the social media game? Through this analysis, I aim to dissect Tubi TV's use of social media to stay connected with viewers on top of bringing new ones into the fold.
Tubi on the Socials
Tubi can be found on most social media sites and apps:
As of June 2024, Tubi's Facebook has 2 million followers and 667K likes. Their posts mainly consist of clips advertising the shows and movies currently available to stream under short captions with related emojis. These come in the form of regular posts and vertical videos. There are also posts celebrating holidays like Father's Day or Pride Month along with videos from applicable content in their catalogue.
Tubi's Facebook posts do well, but not well enough to reflect the 2 million followers. For example, some of their posts manage upwards of 100K likes while others struggle to crack 100. The comments under their posts tend to center opinions on the movies or the actors in them. Sometimes, the opinions are rude. The post for Pride Month in particular was met with a lot of criticism, forcing Tubi to limit replies.
Tubi posts on Facebook once daily at a minimum, but there some days they post multiple times. It is understandable that some movies garner more attention than others, but at this rate of posting there is definitely room for growth in audience engagement.
On Instagram, Tubi has 1.2 million followers. The posts are not very different from those on their Facebook: clips of the movies and shows in their catalogue with brief captions and emojis. Their reels tab is identical to their regular posts and posting frequency is one or two times a day.
One notable difference is how many likes the posts get. Although Tubi has less followers on Instagram than on Facebook, the posts on Instagram gather more likes at a more consistent rate. Most are in the thousands and tens of thousands. It is rare to see a post with likes in the hundreds. Those may be the posts where they elect to hide the number and only display "liked by [user] and others." They also get a good amount of comments with similar opinions to the ones received on Facebook.
Tubi makes use of story highlights to showcase their originals and to encourage viewers to send in their ideas for content with the potential of having them produced if selected. They also use the broadcast channel feature to interact with their audience. Their posts and highlights have eye-catching thumbnails and titles that make people want to click them, however, I noticed that there were little to no hashtags used in the majority of their posts, so they could definitely be reaching more people with a little added effort.
Tubi's Twitter/X account has one of their lowest followings at 66.5K. On the flip side, it has some of their most interesting content. Tubi's Tweets interact with the trends and memes of the week such as the recent Justin Timberlake DUI debacle:
Some of the Tweets read as though they were written by an individual and have the voice of a frequent Twitter/X user:
i can finally like your shady tweets about me in peace (they're funny what can i say)
They also make an effort to retweet, quote, and reply to mentions of them. They even use the poll feature sometimes!
The posting schedule feels more erratic but they post twice a day on average. Most of their tweets get between 50 and 300 likes and even less Retweets. They get few comments as well. Unfortunately, they once again miss out on using hashtags and their attempt to sound hip is a little off-putting, though it is the standard for brands on Twitter/X.
Tubi has 85K followers on LinkedIn as well as 744 of their employees on the site. Their banner celebrates their status as the most watched free streaming service in the United States, which is fitting for a social media site so focused on careers and goals.
They post a couple of times a week and their past ten or so posts are about their participation at the Cannes Lions festival. In one of the videos shared, the Senior Vice President of Tubi talks about how they put viewers first and find out what social media they use in order to be more creative with their marketing strategy.
Sadly, most of their posts average about 50 likes. On the bright side, the comments (of which there are few) seem to be positive. This may be due to the professional nature of LinkedIn; no one is going to embarrass themselves and leave a hate comment.
Tubi's YouTube Channel has 830K subscribers and 673,008,523 views spread out among 992 videos. They upload multiple times a week and their content is 90% trailers for original content and 10% ad campaigns. One ad spot from their "Tubi is more popular than..." campaign was the best performing of any of their videos in the last month.
The video racked up 611,764 views, but it only has 40 likes which points to its use as an ad between videos and not a something that people actively watch. Otherwise, their thumbnails are well-edited and they make an appropriate use of the platform for what it is.
Tubi's TikTok account has 622.8K followers and 11.2 million likes. They post multiple times a day and the content is similar to their Instagram and Facebook, but the videos have added captions on top of the clips to mimic the TikTok style. Like their Instagram reels, the thumbnails on their TikToks are enticing and chosen well.
Additionally, the video on the bottom row, fourth from the left, is another "Tubi is more popular than..." advertisement recorded in the style of a regular TikTok user. I don't use TikTok often but I've noticed that the ads there are tough to tell apart from the regular videos. Tubi has succeeded in emulating this and there are comments on the ad complimenting it along with some users even voicing their love for Tubi.
Tubi also uses the playlist feature, but their playlist titles were so vague -just one emoji- that I was a little scared to see what they contained. The first one I opened had videos of an ultra-realistic rabbit mascot suit (more on that later) doing a popular TikTok challenge. Perhaps the vague emoji titles were effective in getting me to click after all, and if I had to see this video, then so do you:
One last thing to note is that Tubi uses the most hashtags on TikTok, unlike their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts.
Overall Analysis
As a whole, Tubi is making a commendable effort on all of their social media accounts with frequent posts and timely content. They are in touch with how their users view them as well as what makes them appealing: their brand as a quirky smaller company that is trying to tackle those greedy, greedy streamers like Netflix and Max. They recently had a rebrand and have polished up a bit, but they still maintain their uniqueness in the world of streaming.
Click Here for Tubi Lore
Apparently, the terrifying rabbit mascot is a nod to users falling down the rabbit hole of niche content in the Tubi catalogue. The dot/hole in their logo is also representative of this and so is their slogan, "see you in there."
The social media account that they're doing the best job on is their TikTok. They blend in with the mores of the platform and they are generating good numbers. Their worst showing is on Facebook. I am not a Facebook user at all so I'm not exactly sure what the culture there responds to, but there is almost no attempt on Tubi's part to reach a wider audience. They're not doing anything special or trying to engage with users and this is a lost opportunity because Facebook has the largest user population of all the other social media.
Tubi's Digital Footprint
When I Googled Tubi, the first page of results was their website followed by their social media. The first one to show up is Twitter/X. This is interesting and might mean that they should give that account extra attention because it is the first social that Google users will scroll past. The second page of results has articles covering their upcoming titles and commenting on their success as the most viewed free streaming service.
It is quite clear that Tubi knows what they are doing on social media, for the most part. They post frequently and consistently, they mold their content to the culture of each individual platform, and they keep their followers up to date on the goings on of their streaming service. However, there are a few things that they need to work on.
They should start with their interaction with followers. The problem was most apparent on Facebook and Instagram: Tubi does not converse with their audience enough. To fix this, they should respond to more comments, even with just a heart. When an ordinary person sees a verified account interact with them, it strengthens their brand loyalty. Also, they should try asking questions or opening polls like they do on Twitter/X. Next, Tubi should work on their use of hashtags. On the platforms where hashtags are the most crucial like Instagram and Facebook, they used almost none. If they could up their numbers to what they have on TikTok, they may see better results. Finally, they should ease off just a little on the persona they are portraying on Twitter/X. It may be funny to older millennials, but Gen Z and Alpha are likely to find it cringe-worthy while older users might be confused by it.
By making these changes, Tubi will be well on its way to having a great social media presence.
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