Tubi ready to make a bigger investment in Australia
Back in March there was an interesting news story with News Corp Australia announcing a partnership with Tubi. It’d handle ad sales for the service locally. And the partnership makes all the sense in the world.
News Corp Australia had a 50% stake in Australian pay TV company Foxtel. In April, the sale of Foxtel to Euro sports giant DAZN was completed. It left a rather large TV-sized hole in the News Corp portfolio. Tubi, owned by Fox Corporation, was an obvious fit.
But Tubi in Australia is not the same as Tubi in North America. The Tubi currently serving America’s 50 states (is it still 50 states…? I haven’t checked out the NYT today…) has a library filled with a lot of well-known studio titles, whereas internationally the Tubi library is a massive grab-bag of cheap content. Lots of public domain films and the like.
Now, I love Tubi in all its forms. There are so many films and TV shows you cannot find anywhere else just sitting in the library. But one mans trash is another mans treasure and I appreciate the oddball stuff I go looking for isn’t exactly a mainstream desire.
This week David Salmon was in Sydney, appearing at the IAB Video Summit. The way he explained his role at Tubi was that you have the US operations and then there’s everywhere else. He looks after the everywhere else.
I interviewed him for Mediaweek, which you can read the full article over at the MW site. He confirmed that Tubi is, over the coming months, going to be investing in a more premium content experience.
And that makes sense. News Corp Australia isn’t going to have a huge amount of success selling ads against episodes of Friday’s, That Girl, and Peter Gunn (all sitting in *my* queue right now). A greater investment in Tubi seemed inevitable. We now have the confirmation it’s going ahead.
Mix Tape
Last night I left the house and went to the Oxford Art Factory to the Australian launch event for new BINGE series Mix Tape. It’s a four-episode series about an Irish woman and man (Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess) reconnecting after a teenage romance. The show was filmed in Australia and Ireland (the woman moved to Australia as an adult).
The show has a strong focus on music and the sharing of mix tapes (I was admittedly a bit confused as to exactly when the show is set… the actors are about 5-10 years too young to have been teens when mix tape sharing was common practice), so the launch event was held at a music venue. It was one of the more interesting event spaces I’ve seen used for a launch like this (usually it’s just a takeover of a fancy cinema/theaterette space).
They also gave away gig TV shirts, which was a fun touch.
The show itself is good. I have only seen the first episode so far and I haven’t fallen in love with the characters, but certainly there’s a strong like. BINGE (and parent company Foxtel) have a track record of delivering the goods with their original productions. The first episode is streaming now.
News desk
Paramount+ has renewed Canadian drama SkyMed for a fourth season. Read: TV Line
Great news! Former Smallville star and high-level cult leader Allison Mack has gotten married. She won the heart of her husband, just as she won hearts and minds during her involvement with the sex cult, NXIVM. Read: TMZ
The EP of new Australian news program News+, Daniel Sutton, spoke with Mediaweek’s Natasha Lee about what they have planned for the new show. He skirts the question about the similarity between the local show and CBS Evening News Plus in the US. Regardless, I’m keen to see the new show - any efforts to revamp news presentation is always welcome. Read: Mediaweek
Sleep easy - the Baywatch reboot series is still progressing. Read: Deadline
Steven Universe sequel series Steven Universe: Lars of the Stars is in the works at Prime Video. Read: TV Line
Harris Yulin has died at age 87 - you know his face from so many roles over the years. I know him best from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and 24. Read: THR
Chris Robinson, best known as Dr. Rick Webber in General Hospital, died in his sleep at age 86. He had a bunch of roles in TV shows over the years, but his most iconic was starring in the Vicks commercial where the phrase “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV” was first uttered. Read: Variety
FX publicity chief John Solberg is stepping down after a 28-year run with the network. Read: THR
Trailer Park
The Summer I Turned Pretty returns to Prime Video for season 3 on July 16.
Los Gringos Hunters debuts on Netflix July 9.
A top Mexican police unit hunts U.S. fugitives fleeing across the border, grappling with lies and crime in this gripping series based on true events.
The Foundation returns for season 2 July 11 on Apple TV+.
Panchayat returns for season 4 on Prime Video.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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