The number of users for free, ad-supported "AVOD" services will close a 5% gap with subscription streaming "SVOD" platforms sometime later this year and then leave them in the dust.
That's the conclusion of "The Stream," an annual research report put out by Fox and its AVOD platform, Tubi.
According to Tubi's report, which was researched by market cast in Q4 and involved 6,003 adult consumers spanning unspecified geography, AVOD audiences grew twice as fast as SVOD in 2021, expanding by 16% vs. 8%.
Notable: Tubi seems to make no distinction between "AVOD" and free ad-supported streaming (FAST) in its research report -- it appears it's using the term "AVOD" to monolithically bucket all types of ad-supported streaming, even that which is packaged into "live linear" channels.
Tubi, of course, used the report to tout its own growth metrics, noting that streaming hours on its platform were up over 40% year over year to 3.6 billion in 2021.
Tubi said that most of its growth came from "affluent" households with $100,000 a more of annual income.
The company also looked to define its service as essential to advertisers, noting that 27% of Tubi users can’t be reached on any other major AVOD service. The company said that 78% of its users aren’t on Peacock and 62% aren’t on Hulu. (However, 71% of Tubi users subscribe to Netflix.)
