Fubo TV ended the fourth quarter with 1.67 million subscribers, up from 1.613 million North American subscribers in the third quarter and 1.45 million in the second quarter, the sports-focused streamer’s latest financial earnings report on Friday revealed.
Fubo ended the quarter with overall revenue at $433.8 million, up 8 percent from a year-earlier $410 million. During the three months to Sept. 30, Fubo TV saw subscription revenue rise to $406.8 million, against $370 million in the same period of 2023. That offset advertising revenue dropping to $34.3 million, compared to a year earlier $39 million.
Fubo TV did shrink its net loss from continuing operations to $38.5 million, against a year-earlier $70 million, while the latest adjusted EPS loss of 2 cents in the fourth quarter fell back from an 18 cents loss in the same year-ago period.
Last month, Venu, the sports-focused streaming service proposed by The Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp. was abandoned in the face of opposition from Fubo.
Fubo TV execs on a morning analyst call discussed a separate deal unveiled in January that will see Disney merge its Hulu + Live TV service with Fubo. “This combination will make Fubo the sixth largest player in the pay TV space by subscribers, behind larger players like Comcast, Charter, DirecTV, Youtube TV and Dish,” David Gandler, CEO of Fubo, argued.
The combined Fubo-Hulu+ offering would be run by Fubo’s executive team, even with Disney maintaining majority ownership. In connection with the deal, Fubo agreed to end its antitrust case against Venu.
In an evolving post-Venu TV sports landscape, Gandler also teased an upcoming “sports and broadcasting service,” to feature pro and college sports and to launch in fall 2025, separate from the Hulu+ live TV deal. “Our forthcoming skinny sports and broadcasting service will offer even more consumer friendly bundles in a competitive industry,” he told investors.
Fubo’s proposed news and sports bundle will compete with Comcast Xfinity recently launching its own new skinny streaming bundle of channels focused on sports and news programming. DirecTV has also unveiled MySports, which like the Comcast offering costs $70 per month. And Fox is looking to launch a direct-to-consumer service, likely by the end of 2025, to include channels from Fox News, Fox Sports and the Fox broadcast network.
Fubo declined to put a price tag on its upcoming news and sports skinny bundle, which aims to draw sport fans away from the traditional cable bundle after Venu shuttered. Gandler also addressed Disney’s ESPN and Major League Baseball set to part ways after the upcoming MLB season, ending a 35-year relationship between the sports TV giant and league, and bringing some prime sports rights to the market.
“We don’t really see any issues at all with Disney. We’re continuing to run our business in the ordinary course, we have a relationship. We have a licensing distribution deal with them, and that deal is over multiple years, and we’ll continue to distribute Disney channels for the contract,” he told analysts.