Tubi Launches Mixtapes Feature to Enhance Content Curation and Sharing

Tubi has introduced a new feature called “Mixtapes,” designed to allow viewers to curate and share customized collections of movies and television episodes. This update aims to provide users with a more personalized way to navigate the streaming service's library, which currently contains over 375,000 titles. By enabling users to organize content based on specific moods, eras, or personal interests, the platform seeks to foster a more social and human-centric approach to entertainment discovery.

The Mixtapes feature offers two primary methods for building a collection. Users can either manually select individual titles or utilize an AI-assisted prompt to generate a starting point for their playlist. Once a collection is created, users have the option to add titles, adjust the sequence, and provide a custom title and description. These playlists can be kept private, shared directly with friends and family, or published publicly for other users to browse.

This initiative follows internal research from the company indicating that word-of-mouth recommendations are a significant factor in how consumers choose to engage with streaming services. According to the data, recommendations from friends and family are among the top three drivers for new service adoption, trailing only affordability and content variety. Mike Bidgoli, chief product and technology officer at Tubi, noted that the feature is intended to give viewers a greater sense of authorship and connection.

“Discovery on Tubi has always been deeply personal, and we built Mixtapes to give viewers a new sense of authorship,” Bidgoli said. “A Mixtape can express your own taste, but it can also say to someone else, ‘I made this for you,’ and that kind of personal recommendation has always been at the heart of how people discover their next favorite thing.” The design of the feature draws inspiration from the era of physical media sharing, such as hand-passed VHS tapes and audio mixtapes, aiming to inject a human element into an industry often dominated by automated algorithms.

In addition to the new curation tools, Tubi is expanding its content offerings through new partnerships. The platform recently launched the digital-first series “Try Each Other’s,” a long-form food show produced by Pubity. The series features individuals from different generations and nationalities testing each other’s cuisines and providing unfiltered reactions. The show has already seen significant engagement on social media platforms, and its addition to Tubi marks the first streaming deal between the publisher and the Fox-owned service.

These developments occur during a period of leadership transition for the streaming platform. Anjali Sud, who served as CEO of Tubi and oversaw a period of significant audience growth and revenue scaling, is departing the company. Following the recent $22 billion acquisition of Roku by Fox Corp., it was announced that Sud will transition to the role of CEO at SiriusXM, effective January 1. Her tenure at Tubi was marked by an expansion of the service's monthly active user base to more than 110 million people.