Tubi or not Tubi?
Just asking questions. | Plus: an interview with GRAND THEFT HAMLET directors PINNY GRYLLS and SAM CRANE
Streaming. We love it, right?
How could we not? At any given moment, over 800,000 movies are streaming globally, ready to view - pants optional.
But let’s not get too comfy. After all, the global streaming platforms did kinda-sorta gut independent film, torch vital revenue streams, and slash their own back catalogs to avoid residual payouts and tax liabilities. So yeah, it’s complicated.
That said, a “dunking on streaming” post would be, at this hour, too easy and too late. Instead, let’s talk about one of its weirdest, most unexpected winners: FAST - Free Ad-supported Streaming TV.
A few short years ago, Tubi was a rounding error in the streaming wars. Now, it’s being hailed as the future. Last month, Tubi clocked 97 million monthly active users. It regularly outperforms Peacock, Max, Apple TV+, and most other global streaming platforms (GSPs) in total viewing time. Earlier this month, Tubi (which was acquired by Fox in 2020 for $440 million) livestreamed the Super Bowl, and an audience of 13.6 million tuned in.
So what’s behind Tubi’s improbable ascent? And is it good or bad for movie lovers?
Launched on April 1, 2014, by Farhad Massoudi and Thomas Ahn Hicks, Tubi began as a boneyard - a digital dumping ground for distressed media assets, the online equivalent of a Walmart bargain bin. But Tubi had something the other GSPs didn’t: it was free. No logins, no subscriptions, just a few in-stream ad breaks. Why drop $13.99 a month on Netflix - or $5 on a discount DVD of Timecop, for that matter - when you could binge 12 seasons of Dog the Bounty Hunter for nothing?
Tubi tapped into underserved audiences: frugal streamers with subscription fatigue and nostalgic cable holdouts who still enjoy linear channel surfing. While the GSPs were trimming catalogs and hiking prices, Tubi leaned into volume - snapping up truckloads of forgotten noirs, normie classics, Black cinema, and arthouse oddities. Over the past decade, Tubi has quietly amassed a library of more than 200,000 films and TV show episodes.
Are Tubi and its fellow FASTs (Pluto, Roku Channel, etc.) just the low-margin trough of streaming’s race to the bottom? Or are they spearheading an unexpected revival of obscure movie-watching for the masses - one that’s potentially kind of exciting?
The fact that 97 million people now enjoy free monthly access to movies like 12 Angry Men and Cooley High is a definite positive in my book. As cost-of-living stress sends paid streaming subscription numbers tumbling ever lower, viewers are making fast friends with FASTs, and perhaps we should too.
This week, I ventured deep into Tubi’s digital stacks to search for buried treasures. Beyond the paywall, I reveal some of what I discovered. But for now, let’s turn to this week’s interview.
Interview: Grand Theft Hamlet directors Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane
Back in January, I wrote about Grand Theft Hamlet, a hilarious and unexpectedly poignant documentary chronicling an attempt to stage Hamlet inside the ultra-violent online world of Grand Theft Auto during the pandemic. As I said then, Grand Theft Hamlet is quite possibly the most “21st-century” movie I’ve seen - a mash-up of wildly different IPs that somehow offers fresh insights into the precarity, absurdity, and boundlessness of our digital lives.
Last week, I caught up with co-directors Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane to discuss the making of this wildly inventive film, and what their virtual experiment reveals about storytelling in the internet age.
You can watch Grand Theft Hamlet now on Mubi.
News Reel
Gene Hackman, the indomitable force of Mustache Cinema, has left us. He didn’t land his first credited screen role until 1964 - at 34 - but once he did, there was no looking away. He was cowboy and cop, outlaw and welcomer to Mooseport. An actor’s actor, a master of the twinkle and the scowl. He stood at the center of the frame, and we believed in him. RIP.
If you have not yet seen “indie lifer” Sean Baker’s acceptance speech at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, you should. Money quote: “The system has to change because this is simply unsustainable. We are creating product that creates jobs and revenue for the entire industry. We shouldn’t be barely getting by. Creatives that are involved with projects that span years have to begin getting higher — much higher — upfront fees, and again, because back end simply can’t be relied upon any longer, we have to demand that.”
- on How to Shake the World Alive with Independent Art During Dystopia: “It’s one thing to stumble into a new world. It’s quite another to go there intentionally. And it’s time to be doing things on purpose. […] We aim to discredit the delusions and embrace new realities. New realities like:
Great careers are symptoms of great curiosity
Profound art comes at the highest level of questioning
Invested audiences are the only way to change the culture
People in communities are looking out for each other
We don’t need evidence before we try building something new, we simply need the curiosity.”
- calls for the rapid death of the corporate cinema style. “‘Professional’, ‘safe’, and ‘good enough’ are all plagues on creative expression, and it is time we put them all too bed, deep down in the cold, cold ground.”
Stop Trying To Save Hollywood, Philippe Gosselin argues: “We are living in a unique moment in history—one where we have the opportunity to build a new culture. The conditions are ripe: millions of people are eager to abandon Hollywood, artists of every discipline are ready to create, and distribution has been democratized like never before. The only thing left is for consumers, investors, and artists to connect and make it happen.”
That’s it for this week’s free edition. Beyond the paywall, we’ve got Underexposed Movie Picks: Tubi Edition, as well as Underexposed Guest Picks from Sam and Pinny.
Underexposed Movie Picks: Tubi Edition
This week, I bravely spelunked into the uncharted digital catacombs of Tubi. I have returned with many treasures. Here are five of them.
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