Tubi’s niche programming ‘just keeps going’ in Mischief’s absurd new ads

Romcoms with heartthrob lifeguards showing off their abs? There’s plenty of that on Tubi, according to the spot below, which illustrates that depth of content by extending this particular lifeguard’s six-pack into what looks like a 600-pack. (He has excellent towel-throwing skills and sight lines to spot struggling swimmers, too.)

The tagline, “Find your rabbit hole,” is a streamlined version of the Super Bowl spot’s line “Find rabbit holes you didn’t know you were looking for.”

Nicole Parlapiano, chief marketing officer at Tubi, told Ad Age that she wanted to stick with the rabbit hole theme—which got a lot of attention on the Super Bowl—but evolve it as well. This involved drilling down into what having the largest library among streamers (more than 200,000 movies and TV episodes and nearly 250 FAST channels) really means to the Tubi user.

“It means if there’s something you like, no matter how specific or obscure, we’ve got it—and we have a lot of it,” she said. “If you’re into crime dramas with narcos, we don't have a day’s worth of content—we probably have weeks. Same thing with romcoms and hot lifeguards. This is honestly a celebration of our fans who find these places on Tubi and never have that empty feeling of ‘I just watched this one show on Netflix, but I don’t know what to watch next and there isn’t anything like that on here.’”

The spots are also notable for not showing any footage from the actual movies and shows available on Tubi—a marked depature from other streamers, which tend to lean heavily into promoting specific titles, even in their more narrative-driven promos.

“It’s a continued challenge, not showing any content as an entertainment brand,” said Parlapiano. “I don't know when we’re going to hit that inflection point [of showing content from the library], but I think it’s a really fun challenge.” 

The final two spots involve crime dramas (another sight gag) and sitcoms (an audio joke this time, to mix it up).

The misdirect in the football spots is reminiscent of Tubi’s “Interface Interruption,” its second Super Bowl spot this year. That spot fooled viewers into thinking the Fox football broadcast was back, when suddenly the screen then shifted to show someone clicking around the Tubi interface—leading viewers nationwide to wonder who was messing with the remote.

“This opportunity we have with Fox Sports—yeah, we could run generic ads during NFL games. But this is an opportunity to create some fun, punny, short, quick gets for football fans,” Parlapiano said. “It’s about being really smart with media placement and making it not feel like an ad in the moment, or like it’s disrupting the experience.” 

Tubi announced last week that it had surpassed 74 million monthly active users and logged nearly 4 billion streaming hours for the first half of 2023, cementing its place as the most-watched free ad-supported TV streaming service in the U.S. That’s up from the 64 million monthly users reported in February.

“Tubi is now watched as much as a top 5 cable network, as audiences continue to embrace our digital-first, 100% free streaming experience,” said Anjali Sud, the newly appointed CEO of Tubi. “The platform continues to scale with 47% growth in ad revenue and 65% growth in total viewing time Q4 over Q4, and we are executing an ambitious strategy to define the next generation of entertainment through our diverse content, passionate audience and innovative tech platform.”

Below, see a few more of the new football-themed spots—along with other OOH executions.