FAST has come a long way from its early days as a home for random library content, commanding as much as 10 percent of all U.S. TV viewing. That kind of growth brings real money to the industry but also real challenges, ones the industry can no longer afford to ignore. This report is based on dozens of off-the-record interviews with executives across the various FAST platforms as well as agencies, brands, content owners and ad tech players. It's an honest look at where FAST actually stands: what's working, what's broken, where the money is flowing (and where it isn't) and what comes next as the category shifts from "interesting side business" to "core part of how TV works." In this report, you'll learn:
Why FAST viewing keeps growing—and what that means for advertisers and content owners Why transparency remains FAST's most stubborn problem—and why none of the major players have strong incentives to fix it How contextual targeting is emerging as the most promising solution for privacy-compliant, scalable ad targeting on free streaming Where revenue splits between aggregators and content owners are creating unsustainable economics Why measurement fragmentation is pushing ad dollars toward YouTube How creators, podcasts and niche live sports are helping FAST services differentiate and command higher CPMs Our predictions for which players and strategies will thrive—and which ones won't This report is free to download, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors Gracenote, LG Ad Solutions and Magnite, whose leaders are featured in our unique Innovator Spotlight interviews. It's the kind of plain-English, no-BS analysis that TVREV is known for—download your copy and see where FAST is really headed. |
