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.
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.
On the supply side, the economics of free content distribution are increasingly favorable for rights holders. Rather than negotiating one-time SVOD licensing fees, content owners on AVOD platforms participate in ongoing ad revenue sharing — a model that can generate compounding returns as viewership grows. The AVOD flywheel, once it turns fast enough, is difficult to stop.
“It’s a flywheel business that the wheel, just through scale, gets better and better and better.” — Anjali Sud, CEO, Tubi |
Tubi reached critical mass in mid-2025, surpassing 100 million monthly active users and posting its first-ever EBITDA profit that fall. By Q2 FY2026, it had recorded its most-streamed quarter in company history, with over 95% of all consumption happening in on-demand — not linear — mode. Annual revenue now exceeds $1.1 billion.
02 Fox’s Contrarian Bet, Now Vindicated
When Fox Corporation divested its entertainment studio to Walt Disney in 2019, the Wall Street consensus was skeptical. The company that remained — built around Fox News, Fox Sports, and a collection of local broadcast stations — lacked an obvious streaming strategy at a moment when streaming was everything.
Fox's answer was methodical and, in retrospect, prescient. In 2020 it acquired Tubi for $440 million — a fraction of what Netflix spends on content in a single quarter — and committed to building a free, ad-supported streaming business rather than launching a competing SVOD service. It kept its live sports and news brands as the anchors of a portfolio built for real-time, appointment viewing. And it watched.
What it watched was competitors spend themselves into structural difficulty. Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast, Disney, and Paramount all invested heavily in subscription streaming, accumulated massive content costs, and struggled to reach profitability. Their stock prices reflect the journey: every one of them is significantly below its 2021 level.
“We are experiencing the most robust advertising market we have seen for some time. That remained true during the second quarter, and it continues to be true today.” — Lachlan Murdoch, Executive Chair & CEO, Fox Corporation |
Fox's FY2026 Q2 results tell a different story. Total company revenue reached $5.18 billion, up 2% year-over-year. Cable — Fox News and Fox Business — delivered $687 million in EBITDA on 7% ad revenue growth and 5% distribution revenu
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고삼석 상임의장 · Chairman Samseog Ko
고삼석(Ko Samseog)은 K-EnterTech Forum 상임의장입니다. 동국대학교 첨단융합대학 석좌교수이자 국가인공지능전략위원회 분과위원으로, 30년 이상의 방송통신 정책 및 산업 경험을 바탕으로 K-콘텐츠와 글로벌 엔터테인먼트 기술의 융합을 선도하고 있습니다. 前 방송통신위원회 상임위원을 역임했으며, ZDNet Korea에 정기 칼럼을 연재 중입니다.
Samseog Ko is the founding Chairman (상임의장) of K-EnterTech Forum. He is a Distinguished Professor at Dongguk University and a member of Korea's National AI Strategy Committee. Former Commissioner of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).
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