During its first-quarter earnings call on Friday morning, Fubo divulged a 3% decrease in North American subscribers to 1.47 million and a 3.5% year-over-year increase in revenue within the category to $407.9 million. The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.02 per share, but a rise in North American average revenue per user by just under 1% to $85.37. Advertising revenue, however, registered a 17.3% decline from Q1 2024 to $22.5 million, something the company attributes to a “drop of certain ad-insertable content” amid a carriage dispute with TelevisaUnivision.
When combined with its business throughout the rest of the world, Fubo registered a loss of $1.4 million, improving from being $38.8 million in the red for adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter last year.
“In the first quarter, our global streaming business exceeded our subscriber forecast and achieved our revenue guidance,” David Gandler, co-founder and chief executive officer of Fubo, said on the earnings call. “We are pleased with these results, which came against a typically lighter first quarter sports calendar and a broader backdrop of economic uncertainty.”
Earlier in the year, Fubo settled its litigation against the Venu Sports joint streaming venture, reaching a deal to have The Walt Disney Company to merge its online television business with the Hulu + Live TV entity. Although the entities will continue to operate under two distinctive brands, the merger would create the second-largest digital pay television provider in the United States and is reportedly under a formal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of this deal, which is expected to close in 2026, Disney entered into a carriage agreement with Fubo allowing the streaming provider to create a sports and broadcast service with networks such as ESPN, ABC and ESPN2.
“We remain excited about our agreement with The Walt Disney Company to combine Fubo with Hulu + Live TV, and its potential to increase competition and consumer choice in the Pay TV space,” Gandler said. “We continue to work through the regulatory process, and look forward to sharing more information when we are able.”
Fubo is currently in the process of compiling content for a sports bundle that follows the introduction of similar packages from Comcast Xfinity and DirecTV in recent months. The company currently has a channel lineup consisting of several national networks, including NBC, FOX and CBS New York, and an array of sports-focused channels such as Big Ten Network, FS1 and NFL Network. Fubo has also announced a renewal of its multi-year rights agreement with the English Premier League and reflected on the Latino + Beisbol bundle that combines the Spanish-language plan with a local regional for baseball coverage.
“As we have previously communicated, our skinny bundle offering will include a sports and broadcasting service,” Gandler said. “In addition to featuring content from The Walt Disney Company, we are working hard to secure content from non-Disney programmers for the new service. It is critical for Fubo subscribers that we are able to negotiate content licensing agreements at their rates and terms. Our goal remains to launch this service for the fall sports season.”
Fubo currently holds a market capitalization of $889 million with company shares down by about 10.5% at midday trading. The virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD) grants users an alternative to cable, satellite and/or fiber television amid continued cord cutting in the United States. This past February, the company expanded the distribution of its owned and operated Fubo Sports linear network to over-the-air television stations in over 100 markets across the United States and is available to over 12 million traditional television households.
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