Tubi Launches Marketing Campaign in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit

By Janko Roettgers

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Free streaming service Tubi is launching a marketing campaign with billboards in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit, the company announced Monday. The campaign also includes a digital advertising as well as ad spots on TV and in cabs.

Many of the slogans used in the campaign poke fun at Netflix and Hulu as the most popular subscription video services. Others play up the fact that is ad-supported.

Tubi may not be as well-known as those 2 subscription-based competitors, but the company has been able to attract a sizable audience of its own with free movies and TV shows. In June, Tubi declared that it had surpassed 20 million monthly active users . And earlier this year, Tubi announced intentions to spend more than $100 million on content this year.

The publicity push also comes a little over 7 months after Viacom spent $340 million on the acquisition of Tubi competitor Pluto TV.

With that acquisition, Tubi has effectively become the largest independently-owned video service in the U.S. Billboards in some of the county’s largest media markets could help drive home that message — and possibly also send a signal to potential acquirers that the company could give them a chance to compete with the likes of Netflix and Hulu.