FAST 2.0: The Next Iteration

So FASTs are having a moment. It’s been fascinating to watch the entire ecosystem move into overdrive to a point where even the erstwhile Wall Street Journal is acknowledging their popularity in a consumer-oriented piece.

The industry, however, is one step ahead of the hype cycle and is preparing for what I’ll call FAST 2.0.

This isn’t a TVREV prediction, this is actually happening now, based on conversations with multiple executives at the various FAST services.

Here are the key components:

1. Better Integration Of Linear And VOD 

If you remember the early days of FASTs, some of the services (Pluto TV) were big on linear channels, some were big on video-on-demand or VOD (Tubi).

That, plus the fact that everything was still new, meant that contracts were often negotiated in a less-than-standardized fashion and services would wind up with linear rights to content but not VOD, vice versa, or some incomplete version of both.

That’s changing.

The FAST aggregators realized that their viewers want the same options they can get on OG TV (or at least some OG TV): the ability to come into a show 13 minutes in and be able to start from the beginning. Along with the ability to decide they want to binge that series at their own pace.

So they are renegotiating rights deals to allow this to happen. It’s not all that technologically complex (if the MVPDs can do it..) and it fills an unmet consumer need.

Will it be the primary use case? No. But knowing that capability exists should they want to take advantage of it could be the reason why someone chooses one FAST over another.

2. A Further Push Towards Quality

FAST aggregators are realizing that too much choice is a bad thing, that having too many options is often worse than having too few.

So they’re cutting back on their overall offerings, getting rid of content that doesn’t get much of an audience and cutting back on the number of linear channels they have on offer.

To do that, they’re taking fewer “out of the box” channels and doing a whole lot more curating instead.

That’s not all that surprising given that the notion of single-IP “FAST Channels” was always a myth. Recent research from Stream Metrics shows that only 18% of FAST channels are from a single IP provider and that number is even somewhat high due to media company-owned services like Pluto TV having a fair number of unique single IP channels courtesy of their parent company.

So look for more curated channels and fewer, but better options overall.

3. Beefed Up Branding

FASTs no longer have to do a lot of education around what they are—Nielsen’s latest The Gauge numbers show that both Tubi and Pluto TV are among the most watched streaming services, not all that far behind subscription services like Disney+.

So look for the FASTs to shift the emphasis of their promotional campaigns from “this is what we are” to “here’s why we’re the best” as they battle for viewers.

That means crafting a distinct brand image and personality to create some degree of loyalty while also promoting specific shows, channels and events to drive tune-in.

4. More Live Events

Live events, including live sports, are a great way to bring new users to the FASTs, particularly users who were previously unaware of their existence. 

While the FASTs are not going to start broadcasting NFL games, look for them to do more with other sports, especially those with dedicated fan bases who will give the service extra points for making viewing more accessible. 

Live events also increase time spent on platform, which in turn increases the number of ads viewed, which then increases revenue. 

So there’s that too. 

5. More Local Broadcasters and Public Television Stations

There’s a paucity of local news coverage and the FASTs are looking at how they can fill the gap. There are a number of startups looking at ways to package local news broadcasts from independent and affiliate stations and bring them to the FASTs, who currently mostly only have access to local news from network O&Os (owned and operated stations.)

This is not purely altruistic, however: hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent on down-ballot races (state legislatures, city councils) in 2024 and the FASTs would like a bigger piece of them. Their ability to geotarget ads to specific zip codes or even blocks within those zip codes will be huge for those down-ballot races, where the need to buy ads that reach the entire metro region on linear has kept those candidates off TV.

In a similar vein, PBS recently signed a deal with Allen Media Group’s LocalNow to live stream PBS stations in over 300 markets and, depending on whether there’s any sort of exclusivity clause in that contract, others are looking to follow.

PBS stations are popular with viewers (or at least a category of viewers) and provide a range of ad-free programming.

In addition, they rely on fund-raising drives to keep most of their lights on and so the more places they can reach potential donors, the better.

A win-win all around. 

6. FASTs Go Global

Many of the FASTs, Pluto TV and Samsung TV Plus in particular have already rolled out on a global basis and can be found in several dozen countries.

In addition, European programmers are rolling out their own FAST services. This is not surprising given the popularity of and widespread availability of free ad-supported over the air television in Europe.

The real action though will happen in the emerging economies of the Global South, where few people have the disposable income to pay for subscription services and the big American SVOD services will need to roll out a free (or almost free) option in order to gain market share.

If you want to learn more about FASTs, especially the challenges of programming a linear channel, I am going to be hosting a free webinar on May 4th, 11AM Eastern. It’s sponsored by Mediagenix and you can sign up at this link.