Commentary FAST Channels Making TV Stations Happy - But Not So Fast

 

Commentary

FAST Channels Making TV Stations Happy - But Not So Fast

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

Reinventing the over-the-air broadcast model finds executives focusing on one similar -- yet different -- streaming segment: FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV).

At a recent industry event, General Manager of Data Solutions at ad research company AdImpact Don Norton said there was a 30% increase in the number of ad impressions available on the top five FAST channels.

In terms of Super Bowl viewing, 25 million viewers out of this year’s Super Bowl total of 127 million for the event came from Tubi.

It’s all about extended reach -- in the wake of linear TV cord-cutting. One NBC executive said there was only a 16% overlap of viewers when comparing NBC prime-time programming to that of NBC content on streaming.

On Bravo it is even less -- the overlap of viewers between its linear TV cable TV network and Bravo content on streaming is just 6%.

Shawn Makhijani, senior vice president of business development and strategy for NBCUniversal Television and Streaming and NBC Spot On, said 90% of local OTT deals have advance targeting. This is in contrast to the NBC Television Network, which has yet to reach 50% with advanced targeting.

While this is a key positive part of what FAST can bring, nagging issues remain -- especially cross-platform measurement, and where advertisers and brands might need to shift to make good underperforming ad inventory from local linear TV to local OTT TV.

All this gives legacy TV media companies some hope that fast-growing FAST channels will help them pull in more consistent viewership, helping them when it comes to guaranteeing audiences and providing specific return on media investment results.

National media buyers are already seeing strong results from Fox Corp’s Tubi, Paramount Global’s Pluto TV, Roku’s The Roku Channel, and Comcast Corp.'s Xumo.
Tubi, for example, is nearing advertising revenue of more than $1 billion.

Good news is that FAST local channels are a step up for local TV stations from the initial digital media business: news-related websites and the like, which started up at least two decades ago. NBCUniversal, for example, has 11 local FAST channels.

Last year, BIA Advisory Services estimated local broadcast TV ad spend to be $23.8 billion, with around $3.23 billion coming from digital media platforms, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

TV station executives now hope FAST will help them pull back some local advertising dollars that have gone to big digital-first platforms like Facebook and Google.

There is still a long, slow way to go. Not so fast.