Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

What is Tubi? Everything to know about the free streamer

These days, there’s a streaming service for practically everything. Many are not cheap, though, and it seems like the major streamers announce price hikes every few months. However, the growth of the big players is starting to plateau, with customers feeling maxed out and looking for other ways to watch while keeping more money in their pockets. For those reasons, it may be time for advertising video on demand (AVOD) and free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services to shine. Services like Tubi, Pluto, the Roku Channel, and more recently, Google TV, among others, are starting to position themselves to be at the forefront of the surging streaming segments.

But we digress — we’re here to talk about one of those big players, Tubi, an AVOD/FAST (we’ll refer to it as just free streaming going forward) service that boasts a catalog of more than 50,000 movies and TV shows, and 200 live TV channels — for free. But just because it’s free doesn’t mean you should jump ship from all of your other streaming services. After all, can this Fox-owned free streaming platform really compete with the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and others? Here’s everything you need to know about Tubi.

See more

The Tubi TV homepage on a desktop browser.

What is Tubi?

Tubi is a streaming service with a twist: it’s free. The fast-growing company offers up a combination of on-demand movies and TV shows, originals (this would be the AVOD part), and live TV streaming channels (the FAST part) without you having to shell out for a monthly subscription. Think of it as a sort of commercialized version of Netflix without the subscription fees.

Since Tubi is free, you’re going to have to make some compromises, though. First and foremost, there are ads. They aren’t overwhelming, but they’re there. Second, the on-demand content is mostly older movies and shows rerun on cable and other broadcast services. However, while Tubi has yet to produce any of its own original content, the streamer has a ton of it made for the service that can be found in its Tubi Originals section. More on that below.

Tubi was bought by Fox in 2020 for $440 million, and recently reported more than 64 million monthly active users at the end of 2022.

What can you watch on Tubi?

Don’t be fooled: There’s plenty to watch on Tubi — it boasts the largest catalog of film and TV titles of any AVOD service at 50,000, and offers more than 200 live TV channels for local news and sports. The free streamer also added more than 100 new original titles throughout 2022, with more on the way this year, spanning several genres including thriller, sci-fi, horror, romance, adult animation, and Black cinema titles. It’s also bringing in some original content from its siblings TMZ, MarVista Entertainment, and animated specialist Bento Box Entertainment.

In the meantime, sift through Tubi and you’ll find several diamonds in the rough. A quick five-minute search unearthed several decent selections, including Lovecraft Country, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Goodfellas, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, RBG, Vice, and the docuseries How It’s Made. Tubi also offers live TV channels across entertainment, news, sports, and more, including ABC News, NBC News Now, Fox, TMZ, People TV, the NFL Channel, Fox Sports, and MLB. There’s also a fairly impressive offering of shows and movies on Tubi Kids, including The Lego Movie, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Goonies, Kubo and the Two Strings, Transformers: Prime, Strawberry Shortcake, and more.

Tubi screen showing the animated film Kubo and the Two Strings.

The catalog isn’t available in 4K Ultra HD resolution and tops out at Full HD, depending on the age of the material. There’s no option to upgrade for a better viewing experience, either. Tubi is free, so if you aren’t happy with the experience as is, you will need to seek out an alternative. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of them.

Supported devices

Chances are that if you own a (modern) device that can connect to the internet, it supports Tubi. The streaming service is accessible via your web browser and as a mobile app for both Android and iOS. It’s also available on streaming devices and systems such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Android TV, TiVo, and as we mentioned above, it was recently added to Google TV. There are even dedicated apps for the PlayStation 4 and Playstation 5, as well as Xbox One, Series X, and Series S.

If you don’t own a set-top box or streaming stick, you may be able to install it on your television itself. If you’re a Comcast Xfinity X1 or Cox Contour cable customer, you can add it to your plan. Plus, owners of Samsung, Sony, Vizio, or LG smart TVs can find the Tubi application available in their respective app store. If you’re outside the U.S., however, the list of supported devices varies from country to country.

Features

Given the nonexistent price, there isn’t a whole lot to Tubi when it comes to features. If you want to watch something aimed at mature audiences, you’ll need to register for an account — and that’s where the tools come in. Doing so will allow you to continue watching where you left off (on any device), create a queue, and receive recommendations based on your viewing habits.

Our take

You can’t get something for nothing in this world; if you want to watch a show for free, you’re going to need to put up with an ad or two, both before and during the show — you know, just like in the olden days. The ads aren’t as intrusive as you might think. You’ll typically watch a 20-second ad before your show starts and then sit through a 40-second commercial about halfway through.

The only real downside is the content. Since Tubi only makes money from advertising, it has little money to spend on content, so it licenses more affordable older material. Things look to be getting better now that Fox is holding the purse strings, and if Tubi’s growth continues on its current trajectory, it can only mean more and better content.

Let’s not look this gift horse in the mouth, though: Tubi is free, and for that reason alone, it’s worth sifting through the catalog in the hopes of striking gold — which is happening more frequently lately. After all, if you find at least one thing you like, it was time well spent.

In summary, we don’t think it’s worth having Tubi as your only streaming service, but it is a no-risk platform with some really interesting and quality niche content for fans. And with the growth of AVOD and FAST services such as Tubi, Pluto, Plex, The Roku Channel, Amazon FreeVee and more, customers are thinking more about dumping their subscription services like Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+, and putting up with ads, which may not be as intrusive as you might think. Either way, adding a free-streaming service like Tubi to your roster is risk-free, so why wouldn’t you?

Editors' Recommendations

Derek Malcolm
Contributing Editor – AV + Home Theater
Derek Malcolm is a Toronto-based technology journalist, editor, and content specialist whose work has appeared in…
Google TV adds even more free TV to its live guide
Google TV live guide.

For all the attention the Streaming Wars get — and most of that is misguided — free TV is still huge in a world of Netflix and Disney+. And so it's of little surprise to see Google TV today announcing the addition of Tubi, Plex, and Haystack News to its Live tab, giving what it says are more than 800 channels of free TV, all in one place.

They join Pluto TV, which already was integrated, as well as news channels from NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox.

Read more
Best Samsung TV Deals: Save on 4K TVs and 8K TVs
A person watching a Samsung TV.

Samsung is one of the best TV brands you can buy from so it's worth keeping an eye on the many Samsung TV deals that emerge on a regular basis. We've picked out some of our favorites available today. Samsung makes a wide range of TVs so we've reflected that by including budget TVs right up to the latest in OLED and QLED technology, along with everything in-between. Whatever you're looking for, Samsung is likely to have it.
50-inch Samsung 7 Series 4K TV -- $370, was $380

Straight to the point, the50-inch Samsung 7 Series 4K TV is perfect if you want a reliable 4K TV without having to spend a fortune. It has Samsung's Crystal Processor 4K so it can handle upscaling content well. It also uses a fine-tuned Crystal Display to help provide a more crisp and vivid picture. A game enhancer mode will please gamers while there's Motion Rate 120 to ensure that fast-moving action doesn't go blurry. A thin bezel means it won't take up any more room in your living space than it has to. There's also a Universal guide so it's easy to find streaming and live TV content while the remote can work across multiple connected devices for added ease.

Read more
Best OLED TV Deals: Save on LG, Samsung and Sony
55 inch lg um7300 uhd 4k tv b9 oled c9 amazon discounts 2 4 768x768

OLED is the future of television. It's an amazing new technology that allows for unparalleled depth, color and crispness. When you put OLED and LED TVs next to each other, there is simply no comparison. Of course, new technology is expensive. OLED TVs are almost always in the four-digit price range. If you want the absolute best in home theater technology, you'll have to spring for one. Thankfully OLED TV deals can cut the price by quite a bit. We've rounded up the best deals we can find on our favorite OLED TVs. Best Buy TV deals are killing it right now, in particular. These are all high-quality displays with significant price cuts. Check them out below.
48-inch LG C2 evo -- $950, was $1,100

The LG C2 OLED TV is a great budget option. It has fantastic brightness levels, so it will look great during any time of day and in any room. That brightness is balanced by the deep blacks that only OLED technology can provide. It has great color accuracy and a wide color gamut, although not as high as some more expensive options. Gamers will love the Nvidia G-Sync, which ensures that the framerate on your console or PC is synced up with the TV's 120HZ refresh rate.

Read more