FuboTV Q1 Churn Down; Stock Gains; CEO Touts Bundles

FuboTV reported 43,000 Q1 sequential net subscriber additions to 590,430 vs. a loss of 28,000 in the largely pre-COVID-19 pandemic year-ago quarter, as the company is positive on bundles for virtual MVPDs like itself. Revenue rose 135% year on year to $119.7 million. Churn fell and it raised forecasts. CEO David Gandler cited to investors Tuesday personalization features, better onboarding and improved targeting. NFL recent carriage deals with major broadcasters and by extension vMVPDs is good for the packages' future, Gandler said: Increasing subscription VOD choices mean the streaming experience becomes more “costly and fractured.” Consumers who care about sports and live TV want aggregation in a “seamless, curated” experience, he said: The bundle “will undergo a revival, and we’ll see a major shift back to aggregation and bundling as individual services begin to raise prices” and it becomes more burdensome to manage numerous services. The stock closed up 9.7% Wednesday at $19.38.