On the latest episode of JaneWallStreet Presents: At The Table, a bi-weekly podcast exploring the intersection of sports, media, and finance through the lens of (mostly) female decision makers, JaneWallStreet Executive Chair, Deirdre Lester, sits down with the Head of Fubo Studios and Fubo Sports Network, Pamela Duckworth.

Duckworth describes Fubo as a platform subscribers “come [to] for the sports and stay for the entertainment.”

In this 50-minute conversation, the two touch on a multitude of topics including:

The FAST Advantage

FAST (or Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channels operate without the scheduling constraints or carriage obligations associated with linear television. That enables Fubo to launch and iterate with new properties without displacing existing programming.

“We get pitches every single day of these kind of niche sports. And if we're not ready to take something off of the network that's doing extremely well, we'll pop up a channel and we can test it. We can start a Fubo Sports 2 and [try] a bunch of stuff there,” Duckworth said. “So, [that] is what's really unique about the FAST environment.”

Experimentation to Investment

Duckworth’s freedom to operate opened the door to Fubo assuming an LP position in an emerging fight sports promotion. Now, the streamer is on the lookout for the next property it can invest in and help grow.

“I believe it was 2022, we get pitched something called Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. We're talking in our executive meeting and I'm like, ‘I want to test this. I think there's going to be a good base [for it]’,” Duckworth recalled. “A bunch of people on the executive committee [said], ‘Pam, it's too violent’… [So, I told the group], I'll make a deal with you guys. I will test it after 9:00 PM or in the middle of the night where a child [or] younger person can’t stumble upon it.  We test it, and it does extremely well. Then I started putting it on [in] primetime. Then I start testing it in the morning… We just noticed that we were getting really good traction with BKFC [no matter where we placed it]. Our working relationship with them is wonderful. It just grew and grew and grew, and [the property] was doing so well that we, as a company, are now minority owners. Our team, they do a great job of [growing] these little brands. We have a couple of good ones coming up too that I'm currently doing deals on.”

Pay-Per-View Still Works

While PPV has lost relevance at the top end of the market, the model remains a viable distribution tool for tier two and three properties with passionate fan bases.

“From everything you read in all the trades, Pay-Per-View is dead. ‘No, it's not,” Duckworth said. “We have that UEFA deal, right? [So,] we'll pick key games, [put them on PPV] and we'll just promote them… We'll do [the same with] a huge BKFC event in August. It's going to be massive. And we're working with other partners [on PPV events too]. A cool thing that we [recently] did with Pay-Per-View [involved] a really small MMA company called Peak Fighting…We took this little fighting league, [put it behind a second paywall] and it's doing really well. They make more money [with the model]. We make more money. It's a win-win…It's relatively new for us but it's working.”

📺Watch the full episode on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube page.
🎧Listen on Spotify.

We’ll be back with the next episode of JaneWallStreet Presents: At The Table in two weeks. Mule Media Co-Founder and former & first CEO of Barstool Sports, Erika Ayers Badan, will be our guest.

Catch previous episodes of At The Table, including our sit-down with LOVB Chief Growth Officer Stephanie Alger and Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Global Head of Sports, Julie Souza, on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube Channel.

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