SANTA MONICA, CA — In the three years since it was acquired by Fox for $440 million, Tubi has expanded its catalog tenfold.

But that’s not the only secret to the TV streamer’s success.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, Mark Rotblat, Chief Revenue Officer, Tubi, says the platform is amassing a significant viewership by pioneering new ad formats and targeting diverse, young audiences.

Tubi: A ‘Top Five Cable Network’ in the Making

Rotblat said the service’s growth has been exceptional, with over “70 million monthly active users,” approximating “1.3% of all TV viewing.”

He attributes this success to the platform’s appeal to “young, diverse audiences” and its expansive content library, which boasts “over 225,000 titles or pieces of content for movies and TV shows.”

The service’s strategy, as Rotblat explains to Beet.TV contributor Rob Williams, is to offer “the largest library with the best personalization.” This approach allows for a unique user experience where people can “go down their own rabbit holes,” allowing diverse storytellers to reach their intended audiences.

Redefining Viewer Engagement with Pause Ads

Tubi is also innovating in the advertising space with new formats like pause ads. These are display ads that appear when users pause a video, sometimes featuring a QR code.

Rotblat enthuses about the format’s impact: “Before we launched it to the wider ad sales community, we started using it on our own originals.

“It was really amazing to see the lift in viewership that we would get on a title when we ran a pause ad that day and into the next day.”

Sports and the Cultural Zeitgeist

In addition to its expansive content library, Tubi offers a variety of live programming, with “over 300 FAST channels on the service.”

Most notably, Tubi has recently announced its partnership with the NBA G League for the next two seasons, a venture that Rotblat believes will be exciting for both viewers and advertisers.

Rotblat also says Tubi’s diverse content and audience demographics connects it to today’s cultural zeitgeist. He notes that Tubi’s personalized, machine learning-driven content programming resonates with its multicultural and youthful audience.

Highlighting the platform’s cultural relevance, he shares, “You have Deion Sanders who’s on social saying, ‘Hey, I want to deal with you guys. I want to have a show on Tubi.’ We’ve had just recently, Kid Cudi has us in a song Lil Wayne also.”

You’re watching Beet.TV’s coverage of Beet Retreat Santa Monica. This series and event is sponsored by Experian, Moloco and OpenX. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.   

By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews