Revenue doubles to record $242m at FuboTV in first quarter

Revenue for the three months to 31 March 2022 was $242.0m (£196.1m/€228.7m), more than double the $119.7m posted in the same period last year and also record quarterly performance for the business.

Streaming was by far FuboTV’s primary source of revenue, with this area of the business generating $219.2m, up 104.7% from $219.2m in Q1 of 2021, while advertising revenue increased 84.1% to $23.2m.

However, FuboTV also said that its wagering operations posted a loss of $301,000. FuboTV launched the new Fubo Sportsbook through its Fubo Gaming subsidiary and the product is now live in Arizona and Iowa, with more launches planned for this year.

Breaking down performance geographically, revenue from FuboTV’s operating within the North American market amounted to $236.7m, while the remaining $5.5m came from its rest of world activities.

Looking at costs and operating expenses were 104.2% higher at $377.3m with increased spending across all areas. Subscriber-related expenses was the main outgoing at $245.7m, up 116.9% year-on-year.

As the increase in spending outweighed revenue growth, this left an operating loss for the quarter of $135.2m, more than double the $65.1m loss posted at the same point in 2021.

FuboTV also noted $6.0m in other costs, namely $3.8m in interest expenses and $1.7m of change in fair value of warrant liabilities. As such, pre-tax loss amounted to $141.2m, compared to $70.7m last year.

After accounting for $403,000 in tax benefits and $93,000 in profit from non-controlling interests, this resulted in a net loss of $140.7m, which was significantly wider than the $70.1m loss posted in Q1 of 2021.

“In our first quarter, against a challenging macro environment, FuboTV achieved strong growth in subscribers and revenue, with North American subscriber growth of 81% year-over-year,” FuboTV co-founder and chief executive David Gandler said.

“In a less robust advertising market, however, we experienced some pressure on adjusted contribution margin due to slower ad sales growth than we had initially expected, with ad revenue up 81% year-over-year. Importantly, we strengthened FuboTV’s balance sheet, ending the quarter with over $456.0m in cash.”

Speaking on an investor call, Gandler referenced the sports wagering part of the business in particular, saying this remains a key pillar of its strategy to integrate interactivity into its live TV streaming experience. 

“We believe our differentiated approach of bringing to market our proprietary Fubo Sportsbook, which integrates live sports streaming and wagering into a single ecosystem will disrupt both video and gaming,” Gandler said.

“Mindful of the increasing cost of capital, we’ve taken a measured approach to our rollout of our Fubo Sportsbook, however, we do not see this is a long-term challenge. 

“Our sportsbook is both a differentiated product feature within our streaming business as well as a standalone service. Unlike other books in the market, we have the advantage of leaning in on our growing customer database to scale therefore significantly decreasing our marketing cost to acquire players, which we expect will shorten our path to profitability.”