The big game just got a little bigger, at least in terms of where viewers can see it.
Fox will stream the Super Bowl on its free, ad-supported streamer Tubi, the broadcaster announced this week, marking the first time Fox has made the game accessible via the streaming service. There’s a small catch, however: While watching on Tubi does not generally require an account, viewers will need to register in order to watch.
Coverage on Tubi will kick off ahead of the game at 3:30 pm ET as part of a “takeover” on the platform with a red-carpet event hosted by influencer (and wife of 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey) Olivia Culpo. The game will air across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, and on NFL digital platforms. Fox last had broadcast rights to the Super Bowl in 2023, when it also made the game free to watch on the Fox Sports app.
First down: Tubi has seen major growth since being acquired by Fox in 2020. As of this month, the streamer counted 97 million monthly active users, and the company said that viewers streamed more than 10 billion hours of programming on the service last year. Tubi has also pushed into original programming, and it has introduced recent initiatives like Stubios, a creator-forward content production program.
At CES earlier this month, Tubi CEO Anjali Sud talked about the company’s approach to keeping viewers engaged without charging a subscription fee.
“We only think about engagement,” Sud said during a panel. “We’re not a platform where if you were…to subscribe, then we want to avoid you from churning or anything like that. We are free. We don’t even require a login. You can move in and out of Tubi.”
This report was originally published by Marketing Brew.