Tubi, the free, Fox-owned streaming platform that’s quietly grown into a major player, is tapping into the star power of YouTube’s biggest personalities to refresh its library and reel in a younger, loyal audience. If you’ve ever watched Last Meals while cooking dinner, binged Beverly Valley High on a sick day, or gone down a Ghost Files rabbit hole at 2 AM, Tubi’s new move is aimed squarely at you.
In a move that feels equal parts clever and inevitable, Tubi has launched its new “Creators” program, unlocking over 500 episodes of content from top-tier digital storytellers. This isn’t your typical influencer bait. We’re talking about genre-defining creators with millions of followers and cult-like communities—Rhett and Link’s Mythical Entertainment, Watcher (yes, the same trio behind Buzzfeed Unsolved), Jubilee, Dan and Riya, FunnyMike, and the endlessly bingeable Kinigra Deon.
Here’s the strategy: instead of shelling out on blockbuster originals to compete with Netflix or HBO, Tubi is skipping the gatekeepers and betting on creators who’ve already won the algorithm and the hearts of Gen Z and Millennials. It’s a smart pivot. According to Nielsen, YouTube now dominates 12.5% of all TV screen time, while Tubi lags at 2.2%. But if people are already watching this content, why not serve it up where they already go for shows and movies?
What’s showing up first on the Tubi menu? Mythical Kitchen’s food-interview hit Last Meals (if you know, you know), Dan and Riya’s high school fever dream Beverly Valley High, FunnyMike’s chaotic Mr. Creepy Eyes, and Jubilee’s Odd One Out and Ranking series, where social psychology meets side-eye. Kinigra Deon brings her signature Black-girl-dramedy storytelling with shows like Vampire Siblings and The World Didn’t End When I Was 16, while Watcher delivers their blend of ghost hunts and history lessons with Ghost Files and Puppet History.
Tubi isn’t stopping at this six-pack of stars. The platform says more creators and thousands of videos are on the way—and if recent partnerships are any clue, they’re taking the indie route seriously. Last year, Tubi linked up with Kickstarter to fund and showcase crowdfunded films. They’ve also launched “Stubios,” a quirky incubator program for up-and-coming filmmakers to submit and promote original content.
While platforms like Peacock experiment with grooming TikTok creators into long-form storytellers, Tubi is banking on what’s already working: creators who know their audience, can deliver at scale, and, frankly, know how to entertain without studio interference. It’s not just another corporate content dumpit’s a cultural shift that recognizes creators as more than just influencers.
So if your nightly streaming ritual involves hopping from YouTube to Hulu to TikTok and back again, Tubi is aiming to become your one-stop binge shop—with content that already lives in your algorithm. Except now, it’s in HD on your living room screen.
