How did Tubi become the streaming service of the moment?

In the age of streaming, it's difficult to access entertainment from home without having to pay for a subscription. But, the free, ad-supported streaming platform Tubi is currently posting higher viewership numbers than more prestigious subscription services like Paramount+ and Disney+.

Today on Commotion, culture writers Kaiya Shunyata and Anne T. Donahue join guest host Amil Niazi to explain what's behind the platform's surprising success.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Amil: It's on my smart TV, but I have yet to indulge in Tubi because it's always felt a little like I could get a virus by watching it. But Kaiya, you are a Tubi fan. What drew you to this platform?

Kaiya: I think the initial thing was it's free. When I was buying subscriptions for Netflix or Amazon Prime, I realized I wasn't using it enough … so it's nice to have something that's free. I have to watch a couple of ads, but that's like watching cable; I did it for a lot of my life. There's a really great selection on Tubi — older movies and older TV shows that you can't really find anymore. So it kind of works as almost a lost media archive, which is something that I'm very interested in.

Amil: It's very, very hard now to get your hands on anything pre-1990, it feels like. I've heard that Tubi is a little bit like going to Blockbuster: you've just gotta rent what's there on the shelves. Does that seem accurate?

Kaiya: Yes. Maybe if we had a VR headset while we were doing it, it could really feel like Blockbuster. But it feels like just taking your time and almost picking up a DVD and looking at the cover and being enticed just by that first image, instead of a synopsis or because you heard about it. It feels very much like you're choosing what you want to watch; it's not an algorithm choosing it for you. So I think that's what makes Tubi the hot thing right now, is it feels like a Blockbuster.

Amil: So funny, but I actually love it. I miss Blockbuster too. Ann, I've called Tubi a new contender, but it actually is about 10 years old. What do you think is driving this current buzz now?

Anne: We have been inundated with new TV, prestige TV, and at first it was so exciting. It's nothing against the shows. It's just I think we got so inundated that television almost started to feel like homework, where you have to catch it or you're out of the discourse, or you won't understand this. And then once you're a little bit behind, catching up feels like a chore.

I think we kind of pine for the days when we were tweens and teens, and you would just turn on television and zone out. Tubi feels very comfortable. I am going to zone out in front of Hell's Kitchen Season 6, nobody cares. It feels more like a sick day at home when you're missing school, or summer vacation, as opposed to you're in the thick of exam periods, if that makes sense.

Amil: It does, a little too much actually. I want to just leave now and go watch Tubi. It sounds like a lot of the comfort is coming from the fact that you recognize what's on the app. Like, there's a little bit of a nostalgia play here. Does that sound right, Anne? Nostalgia's your jam.

Anne: I love pretending it's 1996. I mean, it's the same vibes as when you watch TBS and you would just watch what was there. You'd watch The Shawshank Redemption or When Harry Met Sally... because it was on TV. It takes away the paralyzing nature of choice where you have choices, but they're not your favorite choices, so you just choose something. It feels like being spoon fed like a tiny baby. It's such a relief. I can't stress enough how little I have in my brain to care about huge, critically-acclaimed television at this point. I care, but it's like work. I don't want to work.

Amil: Kaiya, Tubi CEO Anjali Sood has said she's not competing with Netflix; she's competing with TikTok. As far as getting those young eyeballs, what do you think about that, given that there's old stuff on here that probably most of Gen Z has never encountered before?

Kaiya: Well, I find that interesting because a lot of my TikTok For You page is a lot of movie clips. It's not even the beginning of the movie; it's the middle or the end, and I don't know what it is. And then I go on to the account, and I'm scrolling and watching a movie on TikTok. And the thing is, these things have millions of views, and oftentimes they're older or underrated films. It's kind of like, "Let me take a step back. I want to watch something a bit older that I know nothing about. I don't have any expectations going in." So I think that's why younger people might flock to Tubi now.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.