FuboTV’s Sports Betting Ops Not Yet Providing a Return on Investment

Posted on: May 6, 2022, 08:03h. 

Last updated on: May 6, 2022, 09:45h.

Erik Gibbs Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Gaming Business, Global Gaming.

FuboTV has been making some moves to become an all-purpose sports and sports betting company. It is finding some traction, but its latest revenue report shows that it still has work to do.

FuboTV announced its financial health for the first time since expanding into Europe. The OTT has invoiced $5.5 million in Spain and France, the only two countries where it operates outside its home territory. In both markets, it claims to already exceed 305,000 subscribers.

Overall, revenue for FuboTV was $242 million for the quarter. While this was twice what it was a year ago and a record for the company, the bottom line wasn’t as impressive. Extensive acquisition costs drove its net income down to $135.2 million. This came following a loss of $65.1 million in Q1 of 2021.

Sports Betting Not Yet Helping

FuboTV’s North American operations shored up the company’s revenue, accounting for $236.7 million of the total. $219.2 million of this was from its streaming activity, a year-on-year increase of 104%.

Advertising revenue gained 84.1% in the period. It reached $23.2 million in the quarter as marketing deals returned following COVID-19-induced shutdowns.  

An attempt to add sports betting hasn’t yet been as lucrative as FuboTV executives hoped. The company’s wagering business lost money, reporting negative revenue of $301,000.

Despite the great global challenges, we have managed to increase our number of subscribers and revenues in North America have grown by 81%. With the advertising market less robust than before, we have experienced more pressure on our profit margin, but we expect to achieve positive EBITDA in 2025,” said FuboTV in a statement.

Spain and France contribute 2.3% of total revenues, which in the first quarter of the year stood at $236.7 million. This is double that of the same period last year. However, its losses have also doubled, reaching $140.8 million.

Unifying the two companies is expected to cost $75 million between 2022 and 2025. On a global scale, according to the company, the group already exceeds a billion subscribers.

FuboTV Adds More Spanish Content

FuboTV is making a move to become more attractive to the Spanish-speaking consumer market. For that, it recently partnered with Hemisphere Media Group, a US-based media company that focuses on the Latin American markets.

As a result of this partnership, Hemisphere’s Pantaya is offered as an added premium service for customers in the US and Puerto Rico. The agreement will give FuboTV subscribers access to the Spanish-language original content, such as El juego de las llaves (“The Game of Keys”) and De viaje con los Derbez (“Traveling with the Derbez”). It will also provide films, documentaries, concerts, and children’s programming in Spanish.

We are very grateful to our FuboTV partners who understand the importance of continuing to serve the Hispanic/Latino community with premium content and are excited to offer Pantaya to new and existing fans of the platform,” stated Hemisphere Media Group President and CEO Alan J. Sokol.

Pantaya presents an extensive film library that includes original titles from its own production arm, Pantalion. It also includes titles from major producers and distributors, including Hemisphere, Lionsgate, and Televisa.

Hemisphere’s cable networks, including WAPA America, Cinelatino, Pasiones, CentroAméricaTV, and Televisión Dominicana, serve the Hispanic market in the US. They focus on particular segments within the community by offering culturally relevant content.

Hemisphere introduced the platforms earlier this year. They give users access to the channels’ variety of news and programming from Puerto Rico, and films from Latin America, Spain, and the Caribbean. The content includes soap operas, international drama series, and sports programming.