Tubi Goes Viral for Troll Commercial During Super Bowl LVII

During the Super Bowl LVII, streaming service Tubi aired a 15-second commercial that pranked millions of viewers.

No, you didn't sit on your remote. During the fourth quarter of Sunday night's Super Bowl LVII, streaming service Tubi aired a 15-second commercial spot where it appeared that viewers' televisions returned from a commercial break. FOX Sports announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen briefly appeared on the screen, but the commercial skipped to what looked like someone switching to the Tubi TV app and searching through the platform's library. The commercial ends with the viewer clicking on 2005 action film, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Although millions of viewers fell for the prank, even some thinking their television malfunctioned, the commercial titled  “Interface Interruption,” soon went viral on social media.

Greg Hahn, co-founder and CCO at Mischief, who produced the ad in collaboration with Tubi, said, “Nicole [chief marketing officer at Tubi] and the Tubi team came to us with a unique brief for the streaming sector: 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.”

A free and ad-supported streaming platform, Tubi offers over 48,000 movies and TV shows along with 200-plus local and live news and sports channels. Pitchfork recently covered the service for hosting films starring rap artists like Ice-T, Coolio and the late DMX.

Held at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 38-35 during the Super Bowl LVII. Another surprise occurred during halftime when music icon, Rihanna, revealed that she is pregnant with her second child, nine months after having her first son with rapper A$AP Rocky.