The FAST Gambit
The promise of on-demand video streaming has always been simple – a convenient way to watch old or original movies and TV shows in your own time, from your own home. It was a model that originated from video-sharing sites, not to mention other industries like iGaming, where people play online. Since websites are up 24/7, users can watch the latest YouTube videos or try Betfair pinball whenever they want, without leaving their homes or waiting on a broadcast schedule. Streamers integrated this model with legacy studios to create professionally produced movies and shows beamed to the audience’s screens instead of existing on a channel. The appeal of FAST is that it provides free viewing if you can handle ad breaks. With some services welcoming advertisers into their paid subscription model, it’s no surprise that FAST is a popular, growing way to consume entertainment. As a Nielsen Insight report put it: “The streaming industry is coming full circle.”
Streaming’s Latest 24/7 Channels
That brings us to the latest streaming service to try out the FAST model – Disney+. Sitting on a dragon’s hoard of IPs and licensing deals, Disney is reportedly launching several 24/7 streaming channels in the foreseeable future. By doing so, Disney+ hopes to increase engagement with the service, specifically time spent with its apps open. Channels will be split between the largest IPs owned by the company, so there’s guaranteed to be a Star Wars channel showing everything from the universe. While the House of Mouse hasn’t officially announced this move yet, its subsidiary ABC already has 24/7 channels integrated into its app. It’s rumored that Disney’s version of FAST will ditch the F, so it will stay locked behind a paywall and available to paying subscribers only. Given their titanic presence in the industry, they’re a great candidate to test just how important the F is in streaming’s favorite new acronym.
If proven successful, we may see further adoption of FAST or PAST – paid ad-supported streaming television – in the future. We know that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is warm to the idea, after comments during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in 2022. As reported by TechCrunch, Sarandos responded to FAST’s growing popularity with “We are keeping an eye on that segment for sure, so its something that might well happen in the future.
