Last week, we discussed why live sports OTT presented a unique opportunity for FuboTV and why we think it is positioned well for free-to-play fantasy games and sports betting.
Fubo TV announced Q3 results on November 10th, the company’s first earnings report since its October IPO. Management described the quarter as the “strongest in company history.”
Revenues of $61.2 million increased 47% YoY on a pro forma basis, or +71% excluding 2019 licensing revenue from the FaceBank AG business, which was sold in July 2020.
Subscription revenue increased 64% YoY to $53.4 million, while advertising revenue increased 153% YoY to $7.5 million. Paid subscribers grew 58% YoY and totaled 455K at the end of the quarter, an acceleration from the 42% subscriber growth the company posted last quarter.
Average Revenue per User (ARPU) increased 14% YoY to $67.70, while total content hours streamed by FuboTV users (paid and free trial) in the quarter increased 83% YoY to 133.3 million hours. Monthly active users (MAUs) watched 121 hours per month on average in the quarter, an increase of 20% YoY.
Furthermore, the company also raised Q4 and FY guidance significantly. Management now expects Q4 revenues to be $80-85 million, a 51% to 60% increase YoY. They also expect to end Q4 with 500,000-510,000 paid subscribers, an increase of 58% to 62% YoY.
As a result, FY 2020 revenue is expected to increase 65% YoY to $246M. Most impressively, management is guiding for an acceleration of revenue growth in 2021 to 70% YoY, with total revenue reaching $415-435 million.
All in all, we believe the company will be successful in its pivot to a new monetization method as pivoting is something that nearly every small company does as they look for product-market fit. What matters for a pivot is the audience. This is the core strength to any media company and FuboTV’s key metrics are strong. If the audience continues to grow, then FuboTV has a high likelihood of delivering its new path of monetization which is free-to-play fantasy to maintain growth and reduce churn, and later, sports betting to increase revenue and improve margins.