The Tubi streaming service commercial during the 2023 Super Bowl on Sunday caused quite a stir among sports fans.
When the service debuted the ad that is titled “Interface Interruption,” viewers thought they were missing out on the much anticipated football game, the New York Post reported Monday.
The advertisement opens with Fox Sports announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen talking about how the game was going, but cuts to a Tubi menu.
It appears someone is using the remote to click through the videos, looking for something else to watch. The “viewer” eventually lands on the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and presses play.
However, that is where the commercial ends.
In its YouTube video description, Tubi explained, “No, you didn’t sit on the remote. But on Super Bowl Sunday, we fooled audiences into thinking they did. Discover all of this content and more on Tubi.”
Following the ad, fans were not sure what to think, and were understandably worried they missed watching the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles.
Tubi’s YouTube followers were quick to relay what happened when the ad popped up on their screen.
“My whole family broke out blaming each other for sitting on the remote. My dad said my brother was but really it was the ad. My dad was also very clearly holding the remote. We all said that we hated Tubi after seeing this ad. I’m still dying of laughter inside,” one person wrote.
“Almost had a heart attack looking for my remote,” someone else commented, while another described it as being “The commercial interruption heard around the world.”
Yet another person recalled, “We all freaked out especially since this happened right near the end with the score being neck-and-neck. My dad shouted at the top of his lungs at my 3 year old niece cause he thought she had the remote.”
Greg Hahn, who is co-founder of the advertisement agency that produced the commercial, noted Tubi’s team came to his agency with the idea to “Reveal Tubi to the world, personality-first. Not title-first.”
“These spots reveal a personality we’ve had fun creating over the past few months: quirky, playful and a bit unexpected. Tubi is poised to be the troublemaker of the streaming world,” he said.