Bell Media and Tubi struck a long-term strategic partnership covering content, distribution, and ad sales in Canada. The deal is a hybrid of licensing, co-development, and exclusive ad sales. Tubi, the Fox-owned AVOD/FAST platform, licenses Canadian on-demand titles and Bell Media FAST channels (e.g., CTV News, TSN The Ocho). Critically, Bell Media secured the right to be the exclusive Canadian sales partner for Tubi’s entire ad inventory. The pact includes co-development of new original content for global distribution.

The principal dealmakers are Bell Media (licensor, exclusive ad sales house) and Tubi (acquiring AVOD/FAST platform). Sean Cohan, President, Bell Media, stated the pact advances Bell Media’s digital ad and distribution goals. Anjali Sud, CEO, Tubi, drove the deal, aligning with her vision that “The future of streaming TV is free.” Sud, who joined Tubi in September 2023 from Vimeo, targets scaling Tubi as a diverse, next-generation destination.

The advantage for Tubi is immediate local relevance and content volume from essential Canadian brands. The advantage for Bell Media is monetizing its IP on a fast-growing platform while securing control and revenue from the digital ad stream through exclusive rights. The pact is Unique in granting a domestic broadcaster (Bell) ad sales exclusivity over a major US platform’s (Tubi) inventory, paired with a co-development mandate. This move reflects industry trends:

• The Apple TV and Peacock Bundle (Oct 2025) shows major streamers favoring complementary bundling (>36M subs each) to boost retention and cross-promotion.
• WBD licensed content and FAST channels to Tubi and Amazon Freevee (2023-2024), demonstrating priority on library monetization.
• Pluto TV launched CBC News FAST channels (2024), highlighting the push for local relevance via news IP.

Conclusion: Precedented in licensing; Unique in the combination of exclusive ad sales representation and co-development. The main competitive implication is a challenge to other FAST players in Canada, likely forcing rivals to seek similar deep local partnerships.

The most profound operational impact is the re-engineering of the Canadian digital video ad supply chain. Bell Media’s exclusive sales partnership for Tubi inventory centralizes a scaled, digitally native audience segment, moving buyers away from unmanaged programmatic platforms to a premium, bundled offering. This provides Bell Media with unprecedented pricing power via data integration, packaging its proprietary CTV/Crave data with Tubi’s reach. This monetization channel is crucial to fund Tubi CEO Anjali Sud’s aggressive content strategy, which includes the “Tubi for Creators” program (now over 5,000 episodes) and the strategic hire of former TikTok executive Kudzi Chikumbu (VP of Creator Partnerships).

This strategic pact establishes the necessary hybrid distribution and monetization model for Canadian incumbents navigating a globalized, regulated market. Future deals will prioritize ad-based revenue maximization and global distribution over proprietary exclusivity. This aggressive expansion by Tubi—merging diverse content sources with strong monetization control—is a blueprint for growth. Expect Bell Media to leverage its exclusive ad sales to bundle all inventory (SVOD, FAST, CTV) for comprehensive Canadian audience reach.