FASTMaster, Summer 2023 Edition
Hello to all the FASTites out there. It has been a busy summer for me so far. VIP+ has moved to a daily newsletter mode, which feels like output has ramped up considerably, but the plus to that is lots more FAST coverage. I also appeared at StreamTV where I keynote interviewed Colin Petrie-Norris from Xumo and the following day, keynoted with a presentation on Streaming Monetization Strategies that many people enjoyed. If anyone’s keeping count, that’s 5 keynotes at 4 conferences on 3 continents in 2023. (This is why I’m the FASTMaster!).
So, what have I been saying about FAST? Here’s the highlights version of what’s been on Variety Intelligence Platform (obvious pitch being go subscribe if you like! There’s going to be a new Life in the FAST Lane coming out one month from today but it’s subscriber-only. If that’s not a lure, I don’t know what is).
I looked into the inclusion of FAST channels within network TV CTV apps, even if FoxNow just got discontinued a month later. The most interesting thing: Disney’s ‘secret’ FAST experiment they’re conducting within the ABC CTV app. A full list of what’s available is in the article (or you could download it and see for yourself…).
Following my keynote with Colin Petrie-Norris, I conveniently had the first published reaction to the news he broke about the X1 cable box integrating Xumo Play channels into the EPG and recommendation screens. The key takeaway: the blurring of the lines between FAST and TV is getting greater and greater.
I published a free-to-read analysis of the number of channels available to key services in June. What I’ll say on this is plenty of companies are entering the FAST space and trying to speak at conferences to be the experts on the space, yet they don’t count the channels by hand and thus the figures you’ll see published in other places are just wrong, I mean I saw some from a published report from March or April that had English channels on ViX, for example. TLDR; trust the FASTMaster on this stuff.
June was Black Music Month (and has been since 1979), but most Americans don’t know that. Yet many FAST channels programmed content to celebrate the event… the issue being that services didn’t necessarily highlight or spotlight these. Perhaps next year we’ll see more of a focus on this cultural event, but FAST channels like Revolt Mixtape, Qello Concerts, Vevo’s suite of channels and Shades of Black shouldn’t stop embracing it (for a full list of what TV and FAST networks did for the month, check the article out).
Music channels continue to grow within FAST, so I took a deep dive into the format, looking at the number of music channels per platform, who the biggest distributors are and which channels are most widely available. Music content can boost some strong view times on FAST (if I recall correctly from the Vevo NewFront, they see an average of something like 38 minutes viewing per stream), so its contribution to the financial growth of our favorite streaming format shouldn’t be overlooked.
Something that has seen tremendous pickup on LinkedIn (and kept growing throughout this week) was my blueprint for Netflix to enter the FAST business. (I mean, my blueprint for Warner Bros Discovery was pretty on the mark…). Definitely worth a read for anyone yet to see it. One key thing: use that Netflix library for single-IP and curated channels (more likely curated will be the greater volume given how few Netflix shows have gone to enough episodes to stand up an IP channel).
I’ll end this with a preview of what you can expect in the next FAST Lane report. Pure industry savagery. If that’s not enough to whet your appetites, here’s a peek at some analysis I figured out how to easily to do via the power of Jasper’s AI prompt boosting tool to build some formulas (oh, I love AI! Also - subscribe to VIP+ for my AI consumer attitude report coming out on July 17!!). If you have long memories, you’ll recall I did something in Life in the FAST Lane II on exclusive channels but it took so long to do, I opted out from doing it again. But now I have figured it out, so enjoy the below and know there’ll be a lot more good analysis on the way.
You know there’s more in the bag ;)
Until next time,
Gavin