While studies may point to the benefits of taking a break from the screen and enjoying some print reading time, for many, gone are the days of flipping through pages of long-form narratives. For a significant number of publishers, audiences represent an age in which it makes sense for the publication’s readership to become its viewership. In a number of ways, they are doing just that.

Leveraging the rising power of FAST services

Converting readers to viewers is becoming simpler, thanks to the proliferation of free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services.

FAST services help publishers effectively break down the financial barrier that was previously associated with building new streaming TV channels. In the days of traditional TV, publishers had to invest a significant amount of money to have a studio stitch together a linear TV channel. Today, due to the rising FAST market and other new technologies, publishers can build a streaming TV channel at little to no upfront cost and immediately begin to accrue recurring revenues off of the channel’s viewership.

This is because select FAST platforms often offer services that allow publishers to utilize their platforms to create and build a streaming TV strategy, and then monetize the channel through dynamic ad insertion technology. Publishers can even opt for syndicated distribution to more easily reach tens of millions of new viewers. And it shouldn’t require significant upfront monetary or engineering resources.

Some FAST operators can be one-stop solutions for everything from ingesting and encoding content, creating curation rules, managing monetization, electronic programming guides and ultimately, distribution across multiple devices — mobile to TV sets — as well as providing reporting and analytics.

Understanding how to tap into — and accelerate — existing momentum

One of the biggest hurdles that publishers face in creating a new channel is creating momentum — that is, creating an audience base through which viewers feel comfortable to engage and trust in the content being presented.

However, many publishers have already completed this step. Through their existing newsletters, print publications, apps and websites, publishers have identified a fan base. They can now use those existing touchpoints to help further grow their audience and overall streaming presence.

In addition to the legwork of building an audience, publishers have an advantage on the content production side as well. They already have their story frameworks mapped out, based on written content plans; now, they just need to translate those written narratives over to video. This step is, for the most part, simple and can …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron