SME#12: The impact of the latest trend in FAST: Platforms' Own & Operated Channels
Streaming Made Easy #12
Welcome back to Streaming Made Easy. This week, I take a look at FAST platforms and the impact of their Own & Operated FAST channel businesses on the ecosystem.
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Today at a glance:
Analysis: The impact of FAST’s latest trend - Platforms' Own & Operated FAST Channels
Streamer snapshot: AVOD & FAST pioneer, Wedotv
Content Recommendation: Apple TV+ “Slow Horses”
💡 Analysis:
There’s a new trend taking place in FAST: FAST platforms launching their own and operated channels (O&O).
Pluto TV created this business we’re in and took this approach of building its own network of channels from Day 1. Now that they are a Viacom company, a true global content powerhouse, it’s even easier for them to tap into great content and manage their channels end to end.
They do take on 3rd-party channels from Tier 1 brands (Euronews, BBC Studios) and IPs (Hell’s Kitchen, Masterchef). Why? They’re very strong on the movie/TV serie vertical but for genres like news, sports, factual, it makes sense to bring in 3rd parties. Looking at their channel line up I’d say it’s only 1/3 of the total channel count though meaning that the focus remains to program their own.
As time passed, we saw more FAST platforms launching (20+ in the US, 10+ in Europe) but most played catch up and focused, at first, on aggregating 3rd-party channels.
Now once you’ve done this for a few years, it only makes sense to take it one step further and start your own channels. You’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, time to build it yourself.
Which FAST platforms operate their own channels?
Samsung Germany launched several O&O channels e.g. Comedy Mix, Crime Mix, Terra X (through a brand & licensing partnership with ZDF Studios), Entertainment Mix etc.
Rakuten TV has several O&O channels living within its platform and on third-party FAST platforms like Samsung & LG. They are mostly movie focused: drama, comedy, romcom, documentaries.
Roku discreetly launched a Western Movies FAST channel a few months ago.
Tubi started Tubi Originals.
I expect more and more platforms to follow this path.
Why does this new trend matter and to whom?
It signals a market shift. It’s no longer enough to aggregate the same FAST channels as your competitors. Platforms want to differentiate themselves. There are many ways to go about it:
Exclusive deals (e.g. DAZN+ & Samsung Germany) are one but it’s pricey.
Start your “Originals” label (e.g. Roku Originals, Rakuten TV Originals), lengthy and pricey too.
In comparison, building your own network of channels feels like low hanging fruit.
The consequences of that? Platforms will be even pickier when it comes to channel selection. They will ask themselves: is this a channel I could build myself? If the answer is yes, then some channel providers may be left stranded.
To counter that, any company operating in FAST (or about to) should ask themselves these hard questions:
Should I launch my channel or license my content? A mix of both?
Is my brand strong enough? What can I do to make it stronger?
What makes my programming different?
What data from other platforms can inform my overall strategy?
How can I engage the audience in a way the platform cannot?
What is the next underserved genre on these platforms I could focus on?
The list goes on.
The answers will greatly vary from market to market, from platform to platform, from genre to genre, so the winners will be the ones who go through the exercise and apply a nuanced FAST strategy.
Sounds familiar? Direct-to-consumer services like Disney+, Warner Bros Discovery, are going through this exact transition now. It’s no longer all in on their streaming services, license deals to 3rd-party services are back for example. The same goes for FAST players, a multi-faceted and localized strategy will be key to succeed.
📺 Streamer snapshot:
I came across Video Solutions AG back in 2019 when I was wearing the Roku purple shirt. At the time, the company operated two services, in the UK and Germany, under the Watch4free and Watch4 brands. These services were AVOD-based and were of course looking for ubiquitous distribution. FAST wasn’t a thing in Europe then.
You fastforward to today and the company rebranded to wedotv and started a network of services and channels (derived from the umbrella brand) across AVOD & FAST:
wedo movies
wedo big stories
wedo tv (D2C app/website)
Few European companies have made a bet on the ad-supported model like Video Solutions AG did.
Besides the UK and the DACH region, the company is now live in Italy (with a 1st deal struck with Samsung TV Plus Itay ). No doubt this will help to grow their reach and revenues beyond today’s 20M people reach every month (with a technical reach of over 40M homes).
Their mission: “To be the main provider of free films, television & sports across the world”. Being amongst the 1st movers tends to do wonders. Keep a close eye on these guys.
To know more about them 👉 wedotv
🎬 Content recommendation: “Slow Horses”
This Apple TV+ show is another great example of the “Where was this release marketed?” problem. I’m a Apple TV+ sub, I’m a TV series lover, I’m in this industry and yet I randomly heard about the show and then watched it only in August ‘22. It’s 4 months after its release date when streamers judge the performance of a title during a 30-day release window.
If the marketing doesn’t reach me, who does it reach? How much viewership did it garner? The show was renewed for a 3rd season so Apple TV+ must be happy with the results. The concern is that so many great shows like this one can fall through the cracks and I would have hated it as it’s a brilliant (and funny) spy show.
Go see for yourself 👉 here
That’s it folks. I hope you found this interesting and if you did, please don’t hesitate to tell your colleagues, bosses, friends & families about it.
Enjoy your weekend and see you next Friday for another edition of Streaming Made Easy!
By night, I write Streaming Made Easy and post each working day on Linkedin.
By day, I run The Local Act, a streaming video consultancy.
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