Tubi unveils Super Bowl teasers from Mischief—inside its game day strategy

Tubi, the ad-supported streaming service, will be getting 90 seconds of airtime on the Super Bowl from parent company Fox, which is broadcasting the game. Today, it is unveiling teasers for the Super Bowl campaign, which hint at a rabbit-themed story about to unfold.

The 15-second teasers, which you can watch exclusively below, show seemingly ordinary suburban moments that are interrupted by enigmatic, supernatural, bunny-themed goings-on. The teasers are a preamble to a 60-second spot that will debut in-game on Feb. 12.

The work comes from Mischief, Tubi’s new agency of record.

Nicole Parlapiano, who joined Tubi as chief marketing officer in August, said the full 60-second spot may likewise be a little perplexing—in a good way. “I want people to be surprised, delighted, shocked. They could even be a little confused,” she said. “We want to rattle the cage a little bit.”

The 60-second spot will have no dialogue and is designed to be a little odd and intriguing. Parlapiano confirmed it will use rabbit holes as a metaphor. 

“It's a little bit of a scratch on the head,” she said. “You're kind of wondering what's going on and surprised at the end. Whether they love the ad or they think it’s weird, people will remember it. The intent is to be a bit polarizing.”

A rabbit hole is an apt metaphor for Tubi’s offering. Compared to many streamers, Tubi doesn’t rely as much on high-profile content with mass appeal. Rather, it has a deeper catalog that caters to more niche passions—for example, Korean dramas, deep-cut horror, Black cinema and documentary. Viewers with these interests tend to “go down the rabbit hole,” as the saying goes, when engaging with content.

“We haven't had a title yet that's a big water-cooler conversation. But I like to tell people: ‘We don't have something for everyone. We have everything for someone,’” said Parlapiano. “If you go into Reddit and Discord, there are whole threads and communities around a certain type of anime, or a specific genre of Detroit Black cinema. We want to serve those subcultures and superfans.”

Given that content strategy, it made sense that a marketing strategy be driven by the brand itself and not a title, or a collection of titles.

“All of those titles are not our brand; they're all unique pieces of content,” Parlapiano said. “We need to get people to discover something new, to have a different kind of content journey than just watching the latest shiny title for the latest original, like on the subscription platforms. So the idea is to start brand-first, so people are in that mindset.”

A consumer and B2B play in one

Tubi offers some 48,000 titles (eight times more than Netflix) from more than 450 content partners and more than 70 originals. Total viewing time grew by 45 percent from November 2021 to November 2022. The service now counts 61 million active monthly users.

With a short timeline and no budget for celebrities, Parlapiano said she needed breakthrough creative that would get noticed but also set Tubi up for success over the rest of the year. Mischief checked both boxes.

“It’s not only their provocative work. Their strategic work is really strong,” she said. “We’re working with them on the long-term brand platform, as well as Super Bowl, so those things stay connected. But they do take more risks than most. They know how to shake things up.”

While more streamers have begun to offer ad-supported tiers, Tubi has always been free and advertiser-driven. Mark Rotblat, Tubi’s chief revenue officer, said the Super Bowl buy should be an effective business-to-business play—reaching advertisers who might want to buy time on the service—as well as a consumer play.

“We’re built differently,” he said. “We go for the largest library with the best personalization. Everybody’s experience can be unique, and that’s the focus of the creative. It’s important to tell that story not just to consumers but to advertisers-as-consumers. We want them to know the emotional connection we have with our viewers.”