Future of TV Briefing: Free, ad-supported streaming TV platforms are cable TV’s streaming heirs

By Tim Peterson

The Future of TV Briefing this week looks at how free, ad-supported streaming TV platforms like Roku’s The Roku Channel are pushing into original programming and assuming the role of streaming’s cable TV networks.

FASTs get with the originals program
Peacock’s programmatic advertising pitch
Amazon’s streaming ad business, Hollywood’s lost generation and more

FASTs get with the originals program

For all the attention that free, ad-supported streaming TV platforms like Roku’s The Roku Channel and ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV have received over the past few years, that segment of the streaming market has taken a backseat to subscription-based streamers like Disney+ and Netflix. But now that these so-called FAST services are increasingly pushing into original programming, they are putting themselves in a position to attract more attention from audiences as well as producers and advertisers — and to situate themselves as streaming’s version of cable TV networks.

The key hits:

Roku’s The Roku Channel, ViacomCBS’ Pluto TV and Fox’s Tubi are making moves to distribute original programming on their platforms.
While not expected to pay as much for shows as Netflix, the platforms’ budgets are expected to resemble cable TV networks, and producers hope to retain more rights for the lower fees.
Original shows should improve the platforms’ standing when vying for advertisers’ streaming dollars.

After Amazon’s IMDb TV premiered its first original shows last, The Roku Channel, ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV and Fox’s Tubi are making their own forays into exclusive programming. Since January, Roku has acquired Quibi’s show library as well as the library and production studio of This Old House to fill The Roku Channel. The CTV platform has also posted a job listing that mentioned plans for a “slate of original content” and debuted its first exclusive series on March 19. Meanwhile, Pluto TV and Tubi are talking with entertainment companies about original programming for their respective platforms, according to Bloomberg.

In all three cases, the FAST platforms are considered to still be sorting out their original programming ambitions, according to three entertainment executives who have talked with Roku, Pluto TV and/or Tubi about original programming. Roku, for example, is “having talks about original series, but every time we’ve reached out, [the response from Roku executives has been] ‘We need to see how the Quibi library does first,’” said one entertainment executive.

Nonetheless, an image is emerging among show makers and ad buyers of how these FAST platforms fit into the broader streaming landscape. “These apps are becoming cable networks,” said one agency executive.

“For Tubi, that’s exactly the mandate: They’re filling in for cable. What would TNT have bought?” said a second entertainment executive who has discussed original programming with the Fox-owned FAST platform.

Amazon’s IMDb TV has offered the clearest example of the FASTs’ role as streaming heirs to cable TV networks. The platform has offered cable TV-sized budgets for original shows — low- to mid-six figures for unscripted shows and higher amounts for scripted series — as Digiday previously reported. The e-commerce giant’s service is even rebooting a former …read more

Source:: Digiday