How Tubi's New “Dead Hot" Provides A Brand Safe Pathway To Incremental Audiences
“Our new Tubi original series,'Dead Hot' is a great example of an ideal match of premium, culturally resonant programming within a brand-safe environment,” said Cynthia Clevenger, Tubi’s SVP of B2B Marketing about their new original series, which launched March 27th. “So we have all of the stickiness without the 'doom scroll.' That is why we're attracting the sort of younger and more multicultural audiences that advertisers are seeking."
ALAN WOLK (AW): Tell me about Tubi’s original content strategy, and how does “Dead Hot” align with that?
CYNTHIA CLEVENGER (CC): Our overall content strategy has been to offer a vast and diverse range of content in a really personalized viewing experience. So we have the largest free ad-supported library with 250,000 free movies and TV episodes on the platform. But each user experience is really tailored to whatever it is for their own escapism, entertainment, or what's culturally relevant to them as an individual. And “Dead Hot” fits perfectly in that framework. This is an intersectional cast. It's fun, it's fast-paced, and it's a really premium content viewing experience.
AW: What was behind the decision to start doing original content?
CC: We've been doing original content since the summer of 2021 in addition to our incredible catalog of premium long-form licensed content from major studios. As an ad tech first platform, our tech stack is built on data and signals. We started to see a lot of areas that our users were really interested in. So the initial impetus was, well, we know what people love, and we know what resonates with various audience cohorts. So creating our own originals tailored to those tastes was really the initial impetus. Over the past few years we have continued to build on that data set and have evolved our original programming with shows like “Dead Hot" that really upping the game in terms of the level of stories, storytellers, talent and quality production that we're bringing to the platform.
AW: Are you looking to reach a specific audience with “Dead Hot,” maybe one that has been difficult for advertisers to reach on linear TV?
CC: At Tubi we've seen a lot of growth in young female multicultural viewers. That is a demographic with massive purchasing power. And this show will resonate very well with our young female multicultural viewers. That group of individuals has a massive halo effect on what becomes mass market appeal. These are the tastemakers of today. So I'm a 41 year old mom of a seven year old boy. But I still have FOMO and want to get caught up on all of the series and the latest trends. So yes, the initial audience is tailored towards younger, cord-never viewers,but we see “Dead Hot” appeal as spanning a number of different demographics.
AW: You had mentioned earlier about using analytics and data to help guide your content offerings. Can you expand on that?
CC: Everything we do is very intentional. But it's part art and part science. We have a massive community of followers across social and we do a lot of listening. We listen to the fan base, we're not just broadcasting, and we're going deep into the comments. That gives us a lot of qualitative information to help inform a specific direction we're going in, while it helps us understand what is culturally reflective. But we are an ad tech first platform, everything we do is based on data. So we're very fortunate to have a myriad of signals as to where growth opportunities are. And we’re really looking at those growth opportunities that not only help to deliver entertainment in the right context to our 78 million monthly active users, but also connect advertisers with those consumers.
AW: Will episodes be released weekly or will it be bingeable?
CC: We’re using a binge strategy for “Dead Hot.” So we are premiering all of the episodes at once. And we actually just published our annual report The Stream, in concert with the Harris Poll. They polled a bunch of Gen Z and Millennial streamers, and over half of viewers stream one to three hours of programming in one sitting. Now, depending upon your lifestyle, you may or may not have the time to do that, but we're seeing people viewing for longer sessions, and to be honest with you, once you start watching this series, you cannot turn it off. It's really good.
AW: If I am an advertiser, why should I be excited about “Dead Hot”? Sell me.
CC: Tubi is a great place for advertisers to connect with the sort of incremental, younger multicultural audience whose tastes influence the broader market.. This audience flocks to shows like “Dead Hot” and advertisers can build relationships with them by aligning in contextually relevant environments including brand integrations on the platform. Tubi has one of the lowest ad loads in all of ad supported streaming, and it's a really frictionless experience. So consumers get free premium exclusive content, and a true value exchange as our ad experience enhances, verses inhibiting or interrupting their viewing experience.
AW: How are you selling ads on “Dead Hot”-- is it all open programmatic?
CC: Brands have various options for buying into Tubi, including programmatic guaranteed, PMPs (private marketplaces), or working with our direct sales team. In addition to incremental reach and scale, we also offer unique solutions via Tubi360, our in-house brand and content studio. Tubi360 offers advertisers distinctive opportunities beyond traditional “spots and dots” by integrating them into the fabric of Tubi IP. This includes sponsorships for premieres or seasons of upcoming shows on the platform, product placements, and branded content.. For exclusive series like “Dead Hot,” which is only available on Tubi in the US, these associations are particularly significant.
AW: Tell me more about your branded content studio, Tubi360.
CC: With Tubi360, we offer a range of solutions for advertisers looking to connect more deeply with audiences. This can be anything from product placement on Tubi originals to custom “behind the scenes” branded content that may even include ancillary social programming. We also provide a platform for pre-produced branded content. With Tubi 360, we really have a scaled solution across a lot of evolving needs, as people think about what branded content is and how streaming can afford us a lot more opportunities than just having your product in the shot.
AW: How does Tubi help advertisers reach the audiences they want to reach?
CC: First and foremost, the majority of our viewers have never watched cable. 63 percent of Tubi streamers are cord cutters and cord nevers, so inherently younger streamers, and 30 percent, based on MRI data, are unreachable on other major ad supported streamers. So this is a hard to find audience that you may be able to find on social but that comes with all sorts of brand safety concerns. Tubi is where they're watching long form, brand-safe premium content, providing unduplicated reach for advertisers.
AW: What sorts of metrics are you using to measure advertising on Tubi?
CC: We offer a really in-depth look at performance. Even our standard measurement includes delivery, top titles, frequency, total ad hours viewed, unique reach, completion rates and DMA. We also have a certified measurement program. Thanks to our unique tech stack that we built from the ground up, we're able to do a lot of integrations.That interoperability allows us to partner with a host of third party measurement providers that can detail the impact and ROI of your campaign from brand Lift perception all the way down to what action did somebody take after they saw the ad.
When it comes to solutions across the entire Fox portfolio, our sales teams work hand in hand. So many of the things that we do, especially in the upfront with advertisers, is to bring solutions that do allow you to access incremental audiences across linear, digital and streaming all in our premium content and environments.
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