Vimeo to Tubi: Anjali Sud Leveraging Disruption to Build Billion-Dollar Companies

Tubi is the most-watched free TV and movie streaming service in the U.S. to date, with the world’s largest content library of over 200,000 movies and TV episodes, a growing collection of originals, and nearly 250 Fox channels. The powerhouse behind Tubi’s success is no stranger to the media industry: Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi. Prior to Tubi, Anjali led Vimeo to become a public company following its spin-off from Barry Diller’s IAC Internet Conglomerate. When Anjali took over as CEO of Vimeo, she halted all prior initiatives to reinvent Vimeo as a software company serving the B2B market. Under her leadership, Vimeo achieved around $400 million in annual recurring revenue when she left. Now, as Anjali takes on the role of CEO at Tubi, will she apply the same strategic disruption to her leadership of Tubi? In this week’s episode, we discuss her rise to leadership, the role of media and culture, and much more.  

TIMESTAMP / KEY TAKEAWAYS

0:00 – Intro 03:14 – Who is Anjali Sud? Crucible moments that led Anjali onto entrepreneurial journey 08:22 – Being rejected by investment banks; Anjali’s career path in her 20s and pivoting into media 10:08 – Filling the market gap as Vimeo CEO; “I was willing to bet on myself and on the idea” 12:21 – Vimeo’s transition from ad-free version of YouTube to B2B SaaS model; the challenges and how to see the “signals” 18:06 – Vimeo going public as a spinoff; the tradeoffs of IPO 21:38 – Anjali’s advice to CEOs getting ready to be listed or for an exit event; importance of revenue predictability 23:44 – Changes are the only constant; growth strategies that worked for Vimeo 25:40 – The virality opportunity and word of mouth 26:31 – Anjali’s nine years in Vimeo and her transition to Tubi; “Media is going through significant disruption.” 29:10 – The future of media and content; Tubi as the free entertainment for the cordless generation 31:29 – The product-led mindset; strategy to combat stereotypes towards media ads 33:49 – Quality content with cultural relevance amidst the competition for attention; Tubi original series: Boarders & Big Mood 35:26 – The role of media and culture; influence of AI on media and content 39:31 – Billion Dollar Questions  

About Anjali

“I believe in the power of video. No other medium has the ability to bring stories to life in a deeply personal way, while simultaneously reaching every corner of the globe.” Anjali Sud is an American businesswoman and technology and media executive. She is the CEO of Tubi, the entertainment platform and free ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. Sud was previously CEO of Vimeo for six years, until August 2023. FOLLOW ANJALI: https://www.instagram.com/anjsud/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjali_Sud https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjalisud – PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.com Watch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobal Join the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondollarmoves   FOLLOW SARAH: LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal Instagram: https://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahchenglobal