PAST Takes Off

Paramount+ is the third SVOD to add PAST to its offering

Apologies for the late delivery of FASTMaster this month, work is kicking my ass! That will be coming in the next few days, but I quickly wanted to touch upon the growth of PAST given Paramount+’s new channels launching today.

For those that don’t know, PAST is the premium version of FAST. Ad-supported, linear channels but available only within a premium paywall instead of being freely distributed.

This is big news as it now means that three U.S. SVODs are offering PAST channels: AMC+, Discovery+ and Paramount+.

The point is to increase audience engagement times and be served more ads. So far it’s working for me on Paramount+ as I have a Daria marathon on the Adult Animation channel. It’ll be that channel for me when Celebrity Deathmatch makes it on.

Expect to see the number of PAST channels on SVODs offering them currently to grow in the next few months, as well as for other SVODs to start offering them. Much as FAST saw viewership engagement owing to its lean-back style, so will PAST reap the rewards.