Fubo Soars 250%: Is Sports Streaming the Next Industry Catalyst?

TradingKey - Fubo shares surged 251% on Monday, closing at $5.06, marking their largest single-day gain since January 2018. The rally followed the announcement of a merger between Fubo and Walt Disney’s Hulu + Live TV. Disney shares also rose 1.5% on the same day. This move could significantly reshape the sports streaming landscape.

Under the agreement, Disney will merge its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo to form a new company, with Disney holding a 70% stake and Fubo owning the remaining 30%. The deal will create a new sports streaming platform with over 6.2 million subscribers, offering access to live events aired on Fubo as well as Disney channels such as ABC and ESPN.

Fubo has also reached a settlement with Disney and ESPN regarding Venu Sports, a sports streaming platform co-developed by Disney, Fox Corporation, and Warner Bros. Discovery. This resolution removes a key obstacle to launching the service. Originally set to debut in the fall at $42.99 per month, Venu Sports had been delayed due to Fubo’s antitrust lawsuit.

Growing Competition in Sports Streaming

The live sports streaming market is becoming increasingly competitive. Recently, Netflix announced plans to expand further into live broadcasting. Two NFL games streamed on Christmas Day drew an average global audience of over 30 million, according to Nielsen, setting a record for the highest viewership of an NFL game on a streaming platform in U.S. history.

Netflix has also secured the broadcast rights to WWE’s flagship show, ‘Raw’, as part of a decade-long agreement. Starting January 6, WWE’s popular weekly wrestling program will stream exclusively on Netflix in the U.S. The platform has also acquired exclusive rights to ‘Raw’ in Canada, the U.K., and Latin America, with global streaming rights included. 

This high-value deal is reportedly worth $5 billion, according to entertainment news outlet ‘Deadline’. 

Live events are emerging as a significant growth opportunity for Netflix, with the company well-positioned to expand its partnerships across the sports and entertainment sectors over the long term.

Will Viewers Pay More for Sports Streaming?

Sports programming consistently ranks among the highest-rated television content, prompting fierce competition among traditional and digital platforms for broadcast rights to NFL games and other leagues. However, this has led to fragmented offerings across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms, leaving sports fans overwhelmed.

“Are consumers lacking options? No. But what consumers really want does not exist in the market and never will. They want one service to go and get every piece of sports content they could possibly ever get. That is not going to happen,” said Dan Rayburn, a streaming media industry analyst. 

Rayburn further noted, "Every streaming service has raised pricing multiple times since their services launched, whether it’s on demand or live, and that is going to continue."

Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester, echoed this sentiment, warning consumers to prepare for higher costs "as they piecemeal together their television lineups."