FAST forward

The free, ad-supported streaming TV market has matured through the growing pains phase. There remain some pain points, like the pressure of programming costs, but the swelling of the FAST industry has helped to offset those issues and introduce some stability.

The key hits:

• The FAST market is evolving past the era of TV reruns and repurposed social videos.
• A rise in viewership and the expansion of platforms has helped to stabilize the FAST business.
• FAST platforms and channel operators are investing in higher quality programming, including original and exclusive shows.
• Advertisers see the FAST market as a reliable piece of the streaming ad mix.

Over the last six months, digital studio Gunpowder & Sky has seen its FAST business begin to stabilize. That stability doesn’t stem from the FAST market settling down, though, nor does it mean that FAST viewership is slipping or advertiser interest is cooling. Instead, it’s a sign of how the business has come of age as more FAST services and 24/7 streaming channels have come into the market.

“What we’re seeing is a growth rate across the board. The line is straighter where the peaks and troughs are less for now. Initially, it bounced all over the place,” according to Floris Bauer, cofounder and president of Gunpowder & Sky. The company operates 24/7 streaming channels across a variety of FAST services, including Amazon’s IMDb TV, Roku’s The Roku Channel and Samsung’s Samsung TV Plus.

When Gunpowder & Sky stepped into the business in 2018, the FAST industry was relatively nascent. Viacom had not yet acquired Pluto TV; Roku’s year-old The Roku Channel had only just begun adding 24/7 channels; and Amazon was a year away from pitching publishers on distributing their linear streaming channels on IMDb TV, which did not debut until 2019. The next few years were a boom time for the FAST market, but a volatile one as companies adopted a “Field of Dreams” mentality by standing up FAST properties in hopes of attracting audiences and, in turn, advertisers. And so they have.

This year Gunpowder & Sky’s monthly FAST viewership has tripled compared to a year ago, and its FAST channels’ revenue has quadrupled in that span, according to Bauer.

As another indication of FASTs’ viewership and revenue growth, Pluto TV’s monthly active user base has increased from 15 million people in April 2019 to 49.5 million by April 2021. Additionally, the ViacomCBS-owned FAST service is expected to receive $786.7 million in U.S. ad revenue this year, a 78% increase year over year, according to eMarketer.

While the U.S. is considered by industry executives to be the most mature FAST market, services have been expanding internationally to regions including Europe, which have also shown signs of maturation. “The biggest indicator of success is …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron