Will Tubi change the streaming landscape – or just add to our ‘infinite scroll’ malaise? | Lauren O’Neill

Murdoch’s Tubi is a sign we’ve reached peak streaming. Despite all the choice, I still can’t find something to watch

Every month, some combination of the following probably shows up on your bank statement: Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Now, Hayu. Each of these streaming platforms offers viewers access to a particular library of films and TV shows, and keeping up with them feels impossible. If you want to watch the latest season of The Bear, for example, you’ll need to introduce Disney+ (£4.99 with ads, £7.99 standard, £10.99 premium) to your roster. That is, the roster that already includes Netflix (£4.99/£10.99/£17.99), which you just reinstated in order to watch the new episodes of Bridgerton. In fact, if you invested in all of the streaming apps at once, in a few months’ time you would probably find that you could have afforded a luxury minibreak for the same amount of money you had spent to sit inside and watch the telly.

Managing these streaming services feels increasingly like a complicated juggling act, and it seems as if new streamers are constantly coming to the table. This month, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation launched Tubi, a free and ad-supported streaming app. The marketing materials say it will feature, among other shows, the Twilight films (that is, the same Twilight films that used to be on Netflix until the licensing agreement ran out) and Happy Gilmore. The selling point is that Tubi is free, funded by ads for all, in a streaming landscape where you’re paying at least a fiver a month for each service. But even though Tubi doesn’t charge, I can’t say I welcome its arrival.

Lauren O’Neill is a culture writer

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