Fubo loses 61K subscribers, but improve revenue

Fubo lost more than 60,000 subscribers but managed to trim its losses in the second quarter of 2024, according to its earnings announcement.

The service, which is primarily marketed as a sports streamer, finished the quarter with 1.45 million subscribers, which is still up 24% over the previous year.

“Fubo delivered excellent results in the second quarter of 2024, despite the Warner Bros. Discovery content drop, achieving our sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement in our global profitability metrics,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, Fubo, in a statement.

In April 2024, Fubo announced that its deal to license rights to WBD’s Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, TNT, TBS and truTV, among other offerings, fell through. Fubo said it offered “market rates” to WBD but the company declined to renew the deal without a counteroffer or to engage in further negotiations. 

The company lost $26.7 million, which was a substantial improvement over the $50 million it lost one year ago.

Revenue was up 25% to $391 million, of which $382 was from North American customers. The average revenue per subscriber was up at $85.69.

Looking forward, Fubo is targeting around 1.6 million subscribers for quarter three, which would represent further growth. Its revenue target is between $350 million and $360 million, which would be down from second quarter.

The streamer hopes to have around 1.7 million subscribers by the close of 2024 with total yearly revenue at $1.57 billion to $1.59 billion.

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Fubo also warned investors about “unknowns related to the potential launch of Venu Sports” that is expected in the fall of 2024.

Fubo has sued the ESPN-Fox-WBD joint venture, which will bundle linear feeds of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNews, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS and truTV and also include on-demand content, citing antitrust concerns. 

“Fubo is taking action against these unfair market terms to avoid passing on these extra costs to consumers,” the company’s statement says.

Venu announced its initial pricing earlier in August 2024.

There’s been no official word if the removal of WBD channels from Fubo, which also offers non-sports channels, might be connected to the joint venture, though it’s hard not to see that as a strategic move by WBD. 

Fubo’s subscription counts are very low; Netflix has around 84 million North America subscribers, with most other major streamers registering at least 10 million or more according to self-reported figures and third-party estimates.