In the FAST Lane

Some of the most prominent players in FAST, from leading AVOD platforms to distributors of scale, talk about navigating the evolving landscape.

Choice fatigue is real, lean-back viewing still matters, connected TV usage is gaining ground and despite some speed bumps, the FAST sector holds a wealth of potential for IP owners—as long as you’re innovative and strategic about approaching it.

“We go where our audiences are,” says Beth Anderson, senior VP and general manager of FAST channels and VOD sales at BBC Studios, which has set up a range of single-IP and multi-genre services. “We see the FAST business as a place to iterate within and incubate our brands. It’s an awesome opportunity to curate content discovery.”

Amanda Stevens, VP of global digital partnerships at All3Media International, says, “AVOD and FAST is an opportunity to monetize content for producers throughout the life cycle of that content. We work with our international sales team. AVOD and FAST will never cut across those traditional paid-for deals, but it does offer incremental revenue.”

Lionsgate began operating in AVOD a decade ago, with its first FAST offering arriving in September 2020 with MovieSphere. “We have looked at more genre programming,” says Chase Brisbin, executive VP of international SVOD sales and head of global channels. “We do both multi-content and single-series IPs. We’ve also begun leaning into partnerships with existing brands that have their own organic reach.”

Anderson adds, “FAST is not cannibalistic to other business models, but it’s also not a stand-alone business. It’s part of an overall media flywheel. Brands are served by having a multi-tenet distribution strategy and content available in multiple places.”

Being multiplatform is critical, notes Graham Haigh, executive VP of global digital partnerships at ITV Studios. “If you take something like Hell’s Kitchen, it is about that 360 model. FAST is not going to be the be-all, end-all. We’ve got a great YouTube channel; how does that feed into the FAST world? We’ve got some amazing Hell’s Kitchen-branded pots and pans; how do you promote those in your inventory in FAST, AVOD and YouTube? How does that work with our producers selling that format around the world? And how do we use that information to make the format bigger in terms of scale, scope and number of regions?”

CHASING DATA
For many, accessing analytics is one of the biggest hurdles in navigating the FAST space. These are crucial for making programming and marketing decisions.

“By operating our own streaming network, which includes apps and FAST channels, we can gather same-day performance insights, giving us a real-time view of what’s resonating with audiences,” says Johnny Holden, CFO and chief strategy officer at FilmRise, which has assembled a slate of FAST channels across multiple genres. “This allows us to quickly spot potential hit content and adjust our release strategies accordingly. These insights are also invaluable in advising our platform partners, helping them make informed, data-driven decisions.”

“It’s not transparent; it’s very insular,” Haigh adds. “We get data for our channels and very little context around that. I won’t say it’s enough—it’s sufficient for scheduling a channel, but you’re doing it with your arm tied behind your back. If we can’t effectively schedule a channel based on the most data we can access and have that transparency across not just our channels but all of the universe, then nobody wins. If we generate and schedule a more effective channel that drives more viewing, that benefits us and our platform partners.”

Stevens agrees, noting, “There is a lack of consistency across all platforms about what’s being reported and the cadence of how often you get that reporting. We are tracking highest- and lowest-rating shows on any given channel, the strongest dayparts if you want to launch new content and performance over time. But, of course, it could always be better.”

Anderson adds, “In the industry’s defense, the cake isn’t baked yet. FAST goes beyond an EPG. It’s not necessarily the only way to engage with a linear feed. As a result, there’s just a lot of technical development going on in this business. It makes sense that there isn’t a consensus on the metrics provided. Everyone is operating while also building. As an industry, we need to identify some key performance indicators. Revenue is paramount, but time spent is also the most valuable metric. In the U.S., there are over 1,900 FAST channels live today. It’s not necessarily about chasing the highest number of views on a specific channel at a specific moment. [It’s about] consistency, sustainability, making sure that we’re carrying through the right channel identity that can appeal to an audience on a loyal, long-term basis. That creates a much richer channel experience and provides more opportunity to introduce new IP to audiences.”

Given the competitive environment and sheer volume of channels viewers must choose from, smart marketing and scheduling strategies are paramount.

“We’re learning a lot about programming,” Lionsgate’s Brisbin says. “We try not to look at just the top 10 percent because knowing that The Hunger Games is going to perform isn’t that hard. We try to see some of our more surprising performers. Then, we also look at the bottom 20 percent to see what’s not performing at all. Maybe those need to be removed from that channel, used on a different channel or rested for a while. Refresh is important, but we’re also spending time and understanding dayparts. Can we repeat more often? Can we use it across our suite of channels? That’s still a space that we’re testing in.”

“We want to get more content and more genres out in the market, but we don’t want to flood ourselves with 40, 50 different channels,” Haigh says. “We’re launching new channel brands, but we’re doing it in a manner that creates a portfolio of things that can be consistent, and we can use the consistency to drive growth.”

PLATFORM AWARE
The key, ultimately, is to make a channel compelling to a platform, and the majors certainly do have an abundance to choose from.

“We’re not about having hundreds and hundreds of channels,” says Jennifer Batty, head of content acquisitions for Europe at Samsung TV Plus. “It’s difficult to find content. We see the sweet spot at 120, 130, 140 channels. Discoverability is key. If you have hundreds of channels, you get lost.”

Batty also stresses the importance of curating a lineup based on each territory’s needs. “Something that works in the U.K. might not work in Germany and vice versa. We look across all the consumption, not just within Samsung TV Plus, to use data to drive our decisions on what we bring to our platform. We have sports, news, movie channels, entertainment, comedy, lifestyle—you name it, we have it.”

Marcos Milanez, chief content officer at Rakuten TV, similarly emphasizes the importance of paying attention to consumption trends in local markets and highlights the role originals play in the platform’s offering. “We started in 2019, primarily with feature sports documentaries,” he says. “We’ve broadened to other genres, such as reality and talent shows. We don’t want to stop doing sports documentaries, but reality and talent shows have that stickiness in engagement and repeat viewership. They equally appeal to brands.”

Following its tremendous success in the U.S., Tubi has set out to make waves in the competitive U.K. landscape, where it faces significant competition from other global services and a vibrant local BVOD segment.

“There is a tendency, with both BVOD and SVOD platforms, to be quite clustered around a monoculture,” says David Salmon, executive VP and managing director of international. “They’re focused on super-serving the median viewer because the way they either license their content or think about monetizing is focused on trying to have one piece of content be watched by as many people as possible. That creates a lot of concentration for demos in the middle. But it means you have these interesting, diverse demos that get underserved by any of those platforms. We’ve entered the market with a broad catalog. We’ve got 20,000 titles as a starting point. It’s already one of the largest catalog libraries in the market. Of that 20,000, there are about 4,500 movies, which is ten times what you typically find on the standard BVOD services. We’re hoping to provide amazing content discovery and a real breadth.”

That need for diversity and depth is displayed among independent platforms that are carving a niche for themselves in this space.

“Being independent, we’re able to work with just about anybody to deliver a wide variety of content,” says Scott Olechowski, co-founder and chief product officer at Plex.

INDIE SPIRIT
“We are in the business of saving people money,” quips Thanasis Tsiris, senior VP of digital, distribution and partnerships at Free TV Networks. “We do that by providing a lot of free entertainment, which is professionally curated and high quality, and we’re working with major studio partners to get that done.”

It’s a similar story for wedotv, says Philipp Rotermund, CEO and co-founder of the platform. “When we started back in 2018, it was tough to find content. But since free has evolved, AVOD has evolved, and everyone is talking about FAST, content owners are getting more flexible on different business models.”

Addressing the issue of too much choice, Rotermund notes, “It is all about curation. Whether you have 30,000 hours, 100,000 hours or 10 million hours doesn’t matter. You have to give the user a guideline. Curation is the key, and that’s where the human factor comes in. You can have all the data, but you have to make the content accessible for the user.”

Tsiris adds, “This is a very big generalization, but about 80 percent of the revenue has been driven off 20 percent of the content. On the flip side, you’ve got 80 percent of your content fighting for that bottom 20 percent of the revenue. If you get to a point where you start seeing some diminishing returns on that long-tail content, that’s a problem.”

Regarding content licensing and partnerships, Tsiris has seen a slight move away from rev-share toward flat-fee licensing. “I think that will probably continue as the space matures and ad revenue catches up to engagement.”

“Part of the reason people are probably moving to fixed fees is because there isn’t that much clarity in the value chain,” says Kasia Jablonska, director of digital and on-demand for EMEA at BBC Studios. “FAST platforms cannot do too many sophisticated ways of packaging content; it’s usually packaging inventory across genres and then providing advertisers with men 60-plus, women 60-plus, etc. It’s difficult for your content to be recognized as a stand-alone premium. Having said that, the industry is maturing. Content owners, FAST platforms and advertisers are getting closer together and trying to figure out a single set of KPIs.”

At FilmRise, Holden stresses the importance of flexible and collaborative revenue models. “We engage in various structures, including flat-fee deals and revenue-sharing agreements where we receive a portion of advertising revenue. FilmRise’s performance-driven approach allows us to offer large-scale, high-quality content to platforms without requiring upfront guarantees. This differentiates us from other major content owners and enables our platform partners, particularly those with more limited budgets, to access premium content. Ultimately, we aim to foster long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships that drive growth for FilmRise and our partners across the OTT space.”