FuboTV has acquired two companies, including Molotov, a French streaming service. The US-based streaming company will pay 164.3 million euros to acquire Molotov.
FuboTV has the bulk of its users in North America, with services in the US, Canada and Spain. However, the company has global aspirations and the acquisition of Molotov will aid that expansion. The Molotov platform is designed to be expanded into other territories. It already operates in France, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Cameroon, and expects to launch soon in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Molotov’s live TV streaming offering operates as a “freemium” product. The company also runs an AVOD service, Mango. Mango has around four million users.
FuboTV, had an initial focus on sports, but recent moves, such as a deal with Discovery has allowed it to expand its offering. The company says the deal will help bolster Molotov’s sports offering.
In 2019, Altice announced that it would be acquiring a majority stake in Molotov. However, later that year the deal fell through. French financial daily Les Echos reported that, at the time, Molotov’s investors were unhappy with what the telecoms company was offering.
Under the proposed plans for the acquisition, Molotov will remain based in Paris and led by its founder JeanDavid Blanc.
“Molotov has set the benchmark for ad-supported and subscription streaming platforms in Europe,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, fuboTV. “We believe this strategic asset will help accelerate our goal of achieving global scale and operating leverage as we continue to improve and innovate on our live, interactive streaming TV experience for sports fans and their families.”
At the same time, fuboTV announced another acquisition. It will acquire edison.ai, an AI computer-vision technology, that recognises sports players on the screen during streaming.
One million subscribers
FuboTV announced its Q3 financial results yesterday, during which it said that it had passed the one million subscriber landmark.
This figure represented 108 percent year-over-year growth on paid subscriber numbers. Revenue and advertising also saw triple-figure growth. Revenue rose to 156 percent and a figure of $156.7 million. While advertising revenue was up 147 percent to $18.6 million.
“The company delivered record results during the third quarter of 2021, growing total revenue by 156 percent, increasing advertising revenue by 147 percent and delivering subscriber growth of 108 percent, each compared to the prior year period. Additionally, we added 262,884 net subscribers in the third quarter – more subscribers than added throughout all of 2020,” said CEO David Gandler.
