Tubi fakes Super Bowl viewers with commercial. ‘Our entire living room was scrambling’
The horror of thinking you sat on the remote and changed the channel played out for many Super Bowl viewers during one memorable fake-out.
Tubi, the ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox, enlisted Fox Sports commentators Greg Olsen and Kevin Burkhardt for the commercial that aired during the fourth quarter of the game on Sunday, Feb. 12.
“We can’t be forgettable in this moment,” Tubi chief marketing officer Nicole Parlapiano told Adweek. “It’s our coming out. I want to shock, and I want to surprise, and I want to get attention.”
Attention they received, as the 15-second commercial made it look like the channel was being switched as the broadcasters called the game. The commercial showed a fake Super Bowl broadcast being switched over to the Tubi TV app with someone searching through the interface.
That tubi commercial definitely made me start a fight with my husband
— Haley Cruse Mitchell (@haley_crusee) February 13, 2023
That Tubi commercial had everyone in the living room near the remote like pic.twitter.com/GrW0btn0Kp
— Tori Peot (@ToriPeot) February 13, 2023
Everyone during the Tubi Commercial pic.twitter.com/9aJZTbLEYP
— Football Jones #BearDown️ (@WilburWildcat2) February 13, 2023
Me trying to figure out why my TV switched to Tubi when I had the remote in my hand #tubicommercial #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/L6vILCHVwl
— ✰Julí ✰ (@asiajuliaa) February 13, 2023
I just want whoever made that Tubi #SuperBowl commercial to know that you will be hearing from my lawyers for making me paranoid and scared for a few seconds…
pic.twitter.com/9NINPH2hkI— TV Fanatic️ (@TvKhaleesi) February 13, 2023
Tubi even gloated about the prank on YouTube
“No, you didn’t sit on the remote. But on Super Bowl Sunday, we fooled audiences into thinking they did,” Tubi said.
But not everyone was thrilled.
Some people commented on social media that they were looking for the remote on the couch, while others blamed their viewing partners.
“Our entire living room was scrambling trying to figure out who was sitting on the remote,” one Twitter user said.
“That Tubi commercial came on & I yelled at every single person in this room,” another commenter said.
That tubi commercial definitely made me start a fight with my husband
— Haley Cruse Mitchell (@haley_crusee) February 13, 2023
That Tubi commercial had everyone in the living room near the remote like pic.twitter.com/GrW0btn0Kp
— Tori Peot (@ToriPeot) February 13, 2023
Everyone during the Tubi Commercial pic.twitter.com/9aJZTbLEYP
— Football Jones #BearDown️ (@WilburWildcat2) February 13, 2023
Me trying to figure out why my TV switched to Tubi when I had the remote in my hand #tubicommercial #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/L6vILCHVwl
— ✰Julí ✰ (@asiajuliaa) February 13, 2023
I just want whoever made that Tubi #SuperBowl commercial to know that you will be hearing from my lawyers for making me paranoid and scared for a few seconds…
pic.twitter.com/9NINPH2hkI— TV Fanatic️ (@TvKhaleesi) February 13, 2023
‘He gets us’ Super Bowl ads promoting Christianity have ties to Johnson County nonprofit
Super Bowl With a Smirk: Hamm & Brie at $233,000 a second, chicken wings, Mannings & a zodiac winner