Is fuboTV stock a buy after Netflix’s live sports events debacle?

In a highly anticipated event, former world boxing champion Mike Tyson took on famous YouTuber Jake Paul on November 15 in Texas. The fight continued to be streamed Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)however, thousands of viewers experienced severe disruptions, buffering and outages. This debacle raises an important question: Can Netflix carve out a lucrative niche in live sports streaming?

If the answer is “no,” that’s good news for you fuboTV (FUBO 7.33%)a streaming platform specializing in sports. Let’s find out whether fuboTV, a company that has faced significant headwinds in recent years, could benefit from Netflix’s recent failed attempt at sports streaming.

What’s wrong with fuboTV?

In recent years, fuboTV has struggled with slower revenue and subscriber growth. In the third quarter, the company’s revenue increased 20.3% year-over-year to $386.2 million. That’s far less impressive than the 42.6% revenue growth reported in Q3 2023. FuboTV’s North American subscribers increased 9.2% year-over-year to 1.6 million – this number increased 20% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2023. Performance in the Rest of the World (ROW) was far worse.

FuboTV lost subscribers in its ROW category in the third quarter, which fell 8.1% compared to the same period last year, ending at 378,000. To be fair, as a company gets larger, growth almost inevitably slows. However, since fuboTV isn’t yet profitable, it’s fair to question whether the company can ultimately turn a profit even if it isn’t growing its revenue and subscriptions as quickly as it once did. The bottom line is that the company has made progress. FuboTV’s third-quarter net loss per share of $0.17 was much better than the loss per share of $0.29 reported in the year-ago quarter.

But potential competition could complicate things for fuboTV.

Will Netflix be a problem?

Netflix’s decision to stream the Tyson vs. Paul fight was not an isolated incident. The company is planning further steps in live sports. Netflix announced it will host live NFL games on Christmas Day. If this works well, it’s hard to imagine Netflix stopping here. The possibilities when it comes to live sports streaming are endless. The company ended the quarter with 282.72 million subscriptions.

There’s likely some overlap between Netflix’s existing customer base and fuboTV’s. If Netflix succeeds in this endeavor, many of the company’s subscribers who are also signed up for fuboTV will cancel their secondary subscription. From today’s perspective, however, that’s a big “if”. Netflix may not be ready to host live sports on a large scale, as we learned from its recent attempt. Does this mean fuboTV is out of the woods?

Is fuboTV worth the risk?

Netflix knows there were problems during the Tyson-Paul fight. The company will likely try to address these issues in upcoming live streaming events. Just because Netflix isn’t ready to become a live sports hub yet doesn’t mean it’ll never crack the code. The mere possibility of Netflix dominating this space – or even making a small splash – poses a significant risk to fuboTV. But what if Netflix never manages to stream live sports?

Even then, fuboTV may not be worth investing in. The company faces significant competition in its niche, and other players not named Netflix could join the fray. FuboTV is currently fighting antitrust law Walt Disney, foxAnd Warner Bros. Discoverythree major media companies looking to launch a sports streaming platform called Venu. If it ever sees the light of day, Venu will lose significant market share given the industry expertise, deep financial resources and brand names of the companies backing it.

Venu would be a disaster for fuboTV – no wonder the company is trying to prevent it from ever coming to market. Even if it is successful, this highlights an important point. FuboTV still needs to build a competitive advantage that would allow it to succeed despite stiff competition. And given all the other problems, fuboTV isn’t worth investing in right now. There are far better streaming providers, including Netflix.