FuboTV Drops to 1.45M North American Subscribers in Second Quarter

The sports streaming platform FuboTV ended the second quarter with 1.45 million subscribers, down from 1.51 million in the first quarter, but up 24 percent from a year-earlier 1.16 million subscribers.

The sports-first streamer, which is battling to stop a rival Disney, Warners and Fox sports streaming joint venture in the works, ended the quarter with overall revenue up 26 percent to $382.7 million. That beat an analyst estimate of $368.3 million in Q2 revenue.

The second quarter net loss came to $25.8 million, down from a year-earlier loss of $54.2 million. The trimmed loss came from subscription revenue rising to $362.9 million during the latest quarter, against a year-earlier $289 million, while advertising revenue was also up to $26.2 million, compared to $23 million in the same period of 2023.

Fubo has brought a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Co., Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery to possibly block a sports streaming joint venture the media giants have unveiled from getting off the ground.

During a morning analyst call, Fubo CEO David Gandler slammed the proposed sports streaming joint venture as anti-competitive. “We continue to fight for competition and better prices in a market in disruption, contrasting with the Walt Disney Company, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery,” he argued.

“The JV claims to solve the issue of bulky cable bundles, but we believe its primary goal is to limit competition, boosting partners’ profits synthetically and leading to steep price hikes for consumers,” Gandler said.

He claimed the rival sports streamer aimed to avoid regulatory approval. Gandler added reports the Department of Justice was “looking into the JV” were encouraging. “A fair market would force the JV partners to compete against each other in the licensing of sports channels to pay TV platforms, virtual and traditional, as well as with other market participants further downstream in the distribution space,” he told analysts.

Fubo has sought a preliminary injunction against the proposed rival sports streaming platform from Disney, Fox Corp. and WBD, legal action that got underway on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Gandler said.