Fubo adds 173,000 subs, cuts loss in Q4

Fubo, the sports streaming service, said it cut its losses in the fourth quarter as it added subscribers and increased revenue.

Company executives expressed optimism despite the potential of new competition from the joint venture formed by ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. Fubo filed an antitrust lawsuit against the venture, seeking an injunction and substantial damages.

Despite reporting healthy quarterly numbers, Fubo stock was down 8% in morning trading Friday.

Fubo reduced its fourth-quarter loss to $70.1 million, or 24 cents a share from, $141.1 million, or 76 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 28% to $410 million.

The company said it added 173,000 domestic subscribers, increasing its total by 12% to 1.618 million. In the rest of the world, subscribers fell 3% to 405,000.

Ad revenue rose 15% to $38.6 million in the quarter. The company said it tentpole and season events are generating premium ad rates.

The company ended the year with 158 free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels on its platform.

“We enter 2024 with considerable optimism, strong momentum, and with meaningful improvements across just about every facet of our business,” co-founder and CEO David Gandler and executive chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. said in the company’s shareholder letter.

“We expect both top-line growth across revenue and subscribers as well as further leverage in reducing our expenses,“ the letter continued. “We also plan to continue strategically investing in our business, including expanding our content offering, furthering the use of technology (including AI), and in other areas that increase monetization, such as advertising. We have also recently taken meaningful steps in response to actions by competitors that we believe are harmful to Fubo, the industry as a whole, and most importantly, to consumers.”

The company said it conservatively expects subscriber growth of about 4% in 2024, which would put it at between 1.665 million and 1.685 million. For the first quarter, it forecasts having between 1.415 million and 1.435 million subscribers.

Fubo said it expects revenue to grow 13% in 2024 to between $1.505 million to $1.525 million. The company noted that it was projecting that revenue growth would exceed subscriber growth.

For Q1, Fubo forecasts 17% growth in revenue to between $365 million and $375 million.

“As we enter 2024, we remain focused on continuing to provide consumers a differentiated experience, while also balancing profitability targets and growth,” Gandler and Bronfman said.

“Our company has never been more aligned in its vision and strategy, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead of us to deliver long-term value to our employees, partners, customers and shareholders,” they said. Yahoo