While Netflix and Disney+ burned billions chasing subscriber growth, Fox Corporation quietly built a different kind of streaming empire — one powered by free, ad-supported, long-form video and live sports. The numbers from its FY2026 second quarter are hard to ignore: Tubi up 27% in total view time, ad revenue up 19%, profitable for two consecutive quarters, and Fox stock the lone winner in a media landscape where every major peer has lost between 30% and 70% of its value over five years. This is the story of how that happened, why the timing matters now, and what it means for the global content industry.
Tubi CEO Anjali Sud speaking at Fast Company interview, 2026. Source: Fast Company YouTube / youtube.com/watch?v=1-RLqZUfqMI
01 The Structural Case for AVOD
The paid streaming era is entering its plateau. Netflix, Disney+, Max, and Peacock have all introduced or expanded advertising tiers — a tacit acknowledgment that the all-subscription model has limits. Meanwhile, the consumers who fueled streaming's first decade of explosive growth are now fragmented across dozens of platforms, suffering from subscription fatigue, and canceling more than they keep. Into this gap steps the ad-supported model, with Tubi as its leading proof of concept.
Jung Han
Two structural forces are simultaneously working in AVOD's favor. On the demand side, advertisers are discovering that AVOD reaches audiences that have simply vanished from linear television. More than 70% of Tubi's user base are cord-cutters or cord-nevers — viewers who have left the traditional cable bundle permanently or never joined it. These are the hard-to-reach, high-value audiences that major brands are willing to pay premium CPMs to access. Fox's Q2 results make this concrete: eight of its top ten advertising categories posted significant growth, led by financial services and insurance.