FAST TV Viewers Are Younger, 'Mainstream': Report

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 6, 2024

FAST TV viewers are “on the cusp of being mainstream” in comparison to pay TV subscribers and cord-cutters, according to a new report from Comcast’s Xumo, the company's wide-ranging internet TV brand.

One major data point is that 47% of regular pay TV subscribers also regularly watch free-ad supported linear TV streaming (FAST) networks. And 46% of traditional cord-cutters of pay TV watch FAST TV content.

 

More of the mainstream piece of the research shows that 72% of FAST viewers also watched cable or broadcast TV, with 86% of FAST viewers also subscribing to at least one premium streaming service.

 

Perhaps most revealing is that true FAST consumers focus on the word “free” when it comes to these channels, particularly streaming services: 43% don’t watch premium advertising video on demand services (AVOD), platforms that run limited ad messages and also require consumers to pay a subscription fee anywhere from $4.99 to $9.99 a month.

 

What do FAST consumers watch? Xumo says on its Xumo Play free-streaming TV platform, big viewing comes from news, movies and crime content.

 

More important to brands is that FAST TV also reaches an increasing amount of young viewers. 

 

The research says the average age of all FAST format users is 40.9. It adds that 58% of FAST viewers are between 18-44 (with 50% being male, 50% female). Overall broadcast TV and cable TV viewers are close to the U.S. census average -- 44% of TV viewers are aged 18-44.

 

Xumo says most age groups use between 1.9 and 2.0 FAST services, and that total time spent watching FAST TV content -- evening time periods -- is around one hour/40 minutes per viewer.

 

The survey was produced in the third quarter 2023 through the first quarter 2024 among 4,000 U.S. adults aged 18 or older