AVOD Service Tubi To Launch In The UK In 2020; Preps Kids’ Service – Mipcom

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Tubi TV, the ad-supported, on-demand video service, will launch in the UK in 2020 and is set to roll out a specific kids’ library service.

This comes after the service recenty rolled out in Australia as part of its first leg of planned global expansion.

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Ad-supported streaming, once a marginal sector, has gained significant momentum of late. This year alone, Viacom acquired Pluto TV for $340 million, Sony set joint venture with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment to reboot Crackle, and NBCUniversal unveiled plans for its own AVOD service due out next April.

The announcements were made as the company gave a keynote address at Mipcom.

Tubi Kids will launch on October 21, a new area of Tubi that will feature a library of children’s content – over 1,200 age-appropriate movies and television shows or over 5,000 hours of content at launch – free in a dedicated section built for families.

Tubi Kids will initially roll out to consumers in the U.S. starting October 21 via Roku devices, and will be available on all major streaming devices in the near future. It will contain movies How to Train Your Dragon, Norm of the North, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, alongside series with iconic characters including Sonic the Hedgehog, Strawberry Shortcake, Paddington Bear and The Wiggles.

Tubi recently announced it had streamed 94M hours of content for the entire month of May alone – a record at that time. Since then, it has grown to over 132 million hours in September – a 40% increase in four months. New titles currently available include Megamind starring Will Ferrell and Tina Fey, Scary Movie 1 and 2 starring Marlon Wayans and Anna Faris, the Academy Award-winner No Country for Old Men directed by Joel & Ethan Cohen, and the 13th season of the hit TV series The Bachelorette.

“We’re ramping up our international expansion with the UK launch being the first of several forthcoming territories and look forward to announcing them soon,” said Farhad Massoudi, CEO of Tubi. “The launch of Tubi Kids reinforces our dedication to offer an age-appropriate viewing environment – super-serving kids and families with a robust amount of content.”

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