Making the Case: Tubi’s “The Call to Action” Campaign

The Problem

Tubi doesn’t make money from subscriptions. It’s free. That means one thing: advertising dollars keep the lights on. Not subcribers. No advertisers, no revenue.

And in the streaming wars, that’s a brutal reality.

Upfront season, the time when networks and platforms pitch their ad inventory to big buyers, is a feeding frenzy. Heavyweights like Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu dominate the stage. Even within the free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) and AVOD space, Tubi faces fierce competition from Pluto TV, Roku Channel, and Peacock’s free tier.

Tubi had to stand out. Fast.

Its pitch? Younger, more diverse viewers. Net-new reach that brands couldn’t get elsewhere. But raw data wasn’t enough. Advertisers and media buyers sit through an endless parade of PowerPoints, charts, and industry jargon. If Tubi followed the standard playbook, it would be ignored.

So the question was clear: How do you make media buyers care?

The Landscape

Media buyers are overwhelmed. They spend weeks wading through the same sales pitches. Incremental reach. First-party data. Targeting efficiency. 60+ hour weeks of building and watching presentations. It all blends into white noise.

But B2B decision-makers are people first. And people don’t respond to dry statistics, they respond to emotion. This isn’t just opinion: Marketing effectiveness experts Les Binet and Peter Field argue in The Long and Short of It that brand-building relies on emotional connection. Even in B2B, storytelling drives memory, preference, and action.

So, Tubi had an opening to do what no other brand did: Instead of another stats-heavy deck, what if it entertained media buyers? What if it gave them something funny, sharp, and self-aware that they wanted to watch?

What if they treated a B2B audience like humans?

The Insight

Media experts are the heaviest consumers of media.

So Tubi flipped the script: treat media buyers like the audience. Make them laugh. Let them see their own industry, their own struggles, reflected back at them—satirized, dramatized, but deeply recognizable.

Enter: The Call to Action.

A short film series. Not ads. Not slides. But three fully produced, highly stylized short films that turned everyday marketing disasters into binge-worthy entertainment.

The core idea: Instead of just telling media buyers that Tubi “gets” them, show them. Make them feel it.

The Strategy

Tubi launched The Call to Action: A Film Series for Marketers, three short films built around inside jokes that every media buyer would recognize:

• The Gen Z Next Door: A marketing team desperately tries to understand young audiences through a suspiciously Gen Z-savvy neighbor.
• Under the Impression: A true crime-style interrogation about a campaign gone horribly wrong.
• Request for Proposal: A romantic comedy where an RFP (Request for Proposal) turns into an absurd love story.

Tubi knew that advertising professionals live in a world of buzzwords, overcomplicated briefs, and high-stakes miscommunications. By exaggerating these struggles, the films broke through B2C clutter to entertain a niche audience.

And Tubi made sure they were seen:

• The films ran on Tubi itself, making them unmissable for industry insiders already exploring the platform.
• They popped up on YouTube, where busy media buyers could stumble across them between work breaks.
• Tubi placed ads in agency-heavy cities like New York and Chicago, making sure the right people saw them in the real world.
• Social media teasers turned the campaign into a conversation, encouraging sharing inside agency Slack groups and LinkedIn feeds.

This was a B2B campaign built like a B2C entertainment push. Tubi kept the same mischievous, playful voice that made its 2023 Super Bowl “interface hack” ad a viral hit. The humor was authentically Tubi and was placed perfectly.

The Outcome

• 10 million+ views, massive reach for a campaign aimed at industry insiders.
• 100,000+ clicks, proving that these industry insiders were engaging and learning.
• Brand momentum jumped from 21% to 33%.
• Brand familiarity rose from 66% to 72%.

That last metric matters. In the advertising business, familiarity is everything. It means Tubi is now on more media plans, since planners know about their audience and their offerings. It means more agencies sending RFPs, more discussions, more dollars shifting its way.

And the ultimate proof? Tubi’s Q2 ad revenue hit $230 million, a record-breaking number, supported by campaigns like this that turned industry attention into real business wins.

Media buyers shared the campaign with colleagues. They talked about it. They felt like Tubi understood them. And in a market where trust and familiarity drive spending, that’s priceless.

The Science Behind the Success

So why did it work?

1. Emotional Branding Over Rational Pitching

Binet and Field’s research proves it: emotion beats logic in brand-building. Tubi didn’t try to convince media buyers with data. It made them feel something, which made Tubi memorable, the primary goal, since media plans are developed over time.

2. Psychological Principles in Action

• Humor lowers resistance: People drop their guard when they’re entertained. Tubi used that to cut through skepticism.
• Mere exposure effect: The more people see something, the more they like it. Tubi placed the films everywhere media buyers already were.
• In-group bias: People love content that reflects their world. Tubi made the campaign instantly relatable by using agency life as comedy fuel.

3. Perfect Timing

Upfront season is a high-stakes moment. Buyers are making massive budget decisions. Tubi launched this campaign exactly when media buyers were deciding where to allocate spend.

A campaign like this at the wrong time? Funny, but forgotten.

At Upfront season? Funny, memorable, and revenue-driving.

Lessons Learned

1. Make B2B Feel Like B2C: If your target audience is human, market to them like humans. Storytelling beats sales decks.

2. Timing Is Everything: Tubi launched these spots at a moment when media buyers were making decisions. That’s strategic brand-building and short-term sales activation working together.

3. Own Your Brand Voice: Tubi didn’t suddenly get “serious” because it was talking to a B2B audience. It leaned into its playful identity, making the campaign feel authentic.

Tubi’s The Call to Action proved that B2B marketing doesn’t have to be boring. That emotion beats endless data slides. That entertaining your audience is one of the fastest ways to build trust.

In the battle for ad dollars, the brands that win aren’t always the biggest. They’re the ones that make people care. And in 2023, Tubi did exactly that.

Making The Case is a weekly newsletter written by Zachary Carpenter that dissects advertising's greatest hits. Each issue peels back the layers of a legendary campaign, revealing the strategy, creativity, and sheer grit behind its success. From boardroom battles to breakthrough moments, these are the stories of how great ideas became unforgettable campaigns. For marketers, creatives, and anyone fascinated by persuasion, it's your backstage pass to advertising brilliance.