From a $440M acquisition to 100M MAU and first-ever profitability — Tubi CEO reveals the success formula
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Executive Summary
On November 3, 2025, appearing on The Information TV, Tubi CEO Anjali Sud addressed the company’s profitability milestone announced in Fox Corp.'s earnings the day before:
“The way we achieved profitability wasn’t through cost-cutting. It was through efficient growth.”
This single statement encapsulates the current state of the streaming industry. While major streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Warner Bros. Discovery struggle with cost-cutting and subscriber churn, Tubi—an unknown free streaming service acquired by Fox for $440 million in 2020—achieved profitability while actually increasing content investment.
This article integrates CEO interviews from The Information, strategic analysis from CNBC, and market forecasts from Omdia to provide an in-depth analysis of Tubi’s success factors and their implications for the K-content industry.
Key Metrics Summary
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly Active Users | 100M+ |
| Monthly Streaming Hours | 1B+ |
| Profitability | Q4 2024 |
Part 1. The $440M Contrarian Bet on the ‘Future’
2020: Industry’s Cold Reception
In 2020, Fox Corporation acquired Tubi, a free ad-supported streaming TV service, for $440 million. The industry’s reaction was lukewarm. This was when Netflix was surpassing 200 million subscribers and Disney+ was experiencing explosive growth. As every media company rushed into the “subscriber acquisition war,” Fox moved in the opposite direction.