Sports-centric broadcaster Fubo posted its sixth-straight quarter of annual growth as stronger baseball demand, along with early summer cricket and soccer tournaments, allowed it to post $391 million in 2024 second quarter revenue.
Perhaps more importantly to its long-term viability as a streaming bundler, the company is also making its arguments for a preliminary injunction against Venu Sports, the sports-streaming bundle from Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery and Fox, before a judge Tuesday. Fubo sued the parent companies of Venu for alleged antitrust violations, and if a preliminary injunction is granted, Venu’s launch could be significantly delayed.
“Their JV attempts to circumvent the need for regulatory approval, while still giving these partners control of 80% of the premium sports market,” CEO David Gandler said in prepared remarks during a conference call with Wall Street analysts. “We continue to be encouraged by earlier reports that the Department of Justice is looking into the JV, and an increasing number of high-profile Capitol Hill lawmakers, public interest groups and other content distributors are alarmed and have weighed in on the negative impact the JV would have for consumers.”
Fubo declined to take any questions on the Venu lawsuit during the call.
For the second quarter, Fubo said it had about 1.85 million subscribers, the vast majority of which are in North America. North American subscribers were up 24% over last year. Because Fubo doesn’t require subscribers to sign contracts, its business tends to fluctuate seasonally on sports offerings. While the business still sheds money—it lost $25.8 million from continuing operations in the period, leading to a per share net loss of $0.08—it was an improvement over both 2023’s second quarter and analysts’ consensus expectations.
While Fubo dropped WBD content in the quarter, it was bolstered by the addition of the Yankees regional sports network YES as well as general strength from the second year of having Diamond Sports’ RSNs back as part of its paid bundle, according to the company. The company also says the second quarter of its free tier, with about 200 streaming channels, continues to help the business; Fubo offers a free tier without subscription to a segment of former subscribers and free trial subscribers.
For the year, Fubo says it expects North American revenue to come in around $1.58 billion, which would be a rise of 18% for the region over 2023. The business says international sales should grow 4%, to about $34 million. The total of $1.614 billion projected revenue would be an 18% jump over 2023.
