Tubi Exec Says Audiences Dont Really Care If Content Is Made by Professionals, Creators, or Users

Sports took center stage, or should that be: center field, at MIP London on Tuesday in a panel discussion entitled “Sport & Creators: Strategic Priorities Shaping Streaming Platforms.”

David Salmon, managing director, international at Fox Corp.’s Tubi, Olivier Jollet executive vp and international general manager at Paramount‘s Pluto TV, Paramount Skydance, and Walker Jacobs, global chief revenue officer and president of DAZN U.S. discussed content and monetization trends with moderator Jennifer Batty, media advisor, global streaming at JJB.

Jollet shared about Pluto TV that “we use sports more as a [user] acquisition driver.” He added that the streamer is particularly focused on “locally relevant sports rights,” pointing out the likes of darts and snooker in the U.K. The executive also cited women’s sports as an opportunity, highlighting that audiences are “underserved” in this regard on traditional TV.

Jollet on Tuesday also mentioned that Pluto TV recently partnered with Tinder on a dating show in Brazil, calling it “a huge partnership” and “a new way of doing advertising.”

Meanwhile, Salmon highlighted “shoulder content” that Tubi builds around popular sports events, such as it did in partnership with Naomi Osaka for the U.S. Open tennis tournament last year. That allows audiences to “go deeper and deeper” in support of live programming.

He also said that for him, it is currently about “how to redefine the boundaries around this strictness around professionally produced content, creators-produced content and [user-generated content]. There is essentially a blending that is happening across the industry, and consumers candidly don’t really care. The thing that is finite is their level of engagement, the time, the attention.”

Jacobs on Tuesday highlighted how his team has “reverse-engineered” an original content strategy in partnership with DAZN’s acquired Team Whistle business. He compared the process to surfing, where you have to wait for a wave you can catch.

As examples of DAZN’s original content, the executive cited The Kittle Things, the weekly original series featuring San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and his wife Claire. The show is designed to offer a “human” look beyond the gridiron. Jacobs also highlighted that the series led to a spin-off, in Wife’d Up, Mic’d Up, a social-first YouTube series featuring Claire Kittle and Kristin Juszczyk, the fashion designer wife of 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk.