Driving Growth and Opportunities in the “FAST” Streaming Market

Steve Russell, Chief Product Officer, Red Bee
Anders Wassén, Head of Online Video Development, Red Bee

Through all the changes in broadcasting and the growth of new viewing options, the ultimate goal has never changed: keeping audiences engaged and the advertisers satisfied. As the traditional linear broadcasting and over-the-top (OTT) streaming markets continue to converge, new opportunities for global content distribution and, of course, content monetization are emerging rapidly.

One of the faster-growing monetization models is the use of Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (“FAST”) services. These services deliver the user-focused experience of streaming TV but without the need for a subscription. Content is available to viewers for free, but there are scheduled ad breaks inserted into programming.

This model is an attractive fit for the growing use of connected big screens such as Smart TVs. With more content viewing options available, and even more monetization opportunities, viewers have certainly become more agile when it comes to accessing content, moving between traditional broadcast TV to mobile devices and creating a surge in multi-platform content consumption.

The FAST market is showing no signs of slowing its explosive growth, with reports forecasting the market to exceed $4 billion by the year 2024. This growth perfectly complements the rise in streaming platforms as cost-effective, easily scalable, and customizable models allowing brands to reach new audiences, engage directly with fans, controlling their content and creating new revenue streams.

Combining the streaming and FAST markets creates seemingly limitless opportunities, as long as rights-owners blend the right mix of content and advertising – and deliver it to the right demographics.

FAST is essentially combining the best of the linearized and video-on-demand (VOD) experiences, bundling them to match the right audience with the right advertisers and have them meet where the most eyeballs are. That is the foundation for the monetization formula.

FAST can be seen as an evolution of traditional linear broadcasting, providing a “lean-back” viewing experience without the need to search for, and choose, content to watch.

 It also solves some of the core problems of the traditional model, including removing constraints and reducing costs for content delivery, which are associated with linear broadcasting, allowing new business models to proliferate freely.

Finding a Niche

The continued growth of established social content platforms like Facebook and YouTube, as well as newer platforms like Tiktok, is enhancing the diversification of the media landscape. There is now niche content available to satisfy almost any viewer’s eclectic tastes.

As FAST helps to lower content delivery costs, content owners can now tap into their archives and present niche channels. While the delivery costs have gone down the revenue per viewer has actually gone up because within this new delivery model, you can highly personalize the ad experience.

Brands and rights-owners can create more opportunities to monetize niche content through adapting to market trends and driving value through addressable advertising. Previously, identifying and tracking trends, and then developing and executing a relevant ad campaign required a major investment in time and resources – with uncertain outcomes. You might recoup your money, or not.

Launching a FAST channel together with a managed services provider like Red Bee minimizes the initial investment and risk involved. Now you have the freedom to experiment and analyze data-driven results and evolve your plans over time at your own pace. And, if a trend does die out faster than expected, it’s easy to pivot the model or, if a decision is made to withdraw, the financial loss is minimal.

Red Bee’s Managed OTT Services are evolving constantly and includes partnerships with best-of-breed technology companies. One of these partners is Nowtilus, which specializes in personalized video streaming and ad-insertion programs to help broadcasters, operators and publishers drive viewer engagement and content monetization. With Red Bee and Nowtilus it is possible to set up a streaming service with FAST channels in a matter of minutes, exploring new opportunities in the converging media landscape.   

Two current customer examples are Ekstraklasa and SportsTribal. Ekstraklasa SA – The Polish top tier football league chose Red Bee Media to develop the Ekstraklasa.TV streaming platform and to add greater interactivity and personalization, improve the user experience and implement an advertising model. Sports Tribal have leveraged the Red Bee’s services to launch a sports centric FAST model, delivering multiple sports themed channels under a single “roof” in a free-to-consume service.

FAST is a great example of market convergence, bringing together the strength of traditional linear packaging with the power and flexibility of OTT delivery. Naturally, FAST is not the only path to success – but it can be an important dimension in any 360-degree content distribution strategy. FAST can enable a highly effective route to audience reach and monetization for rights-holders, as well as offering the possibility to convert that reach in establishing other models like subscription or pay-per-view. Success in this rapidly evolving market is increasingly about leveraging a multitude of possible methods for audience reach and monetization – and FAST provides one important dimension in a joined-up content strategy.