The Latest Developments In The FAST Broadcaster Landscape
What's happened? What's changed? What's next?
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In case you missed it 🔥
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SkyShowtime keeps growing its distribution network in Europe with a spanish launch on Movistar+ (Telefonica). The surprising bit? They will launch a linear channel (yes those still exist).
The Town got THE guest this week. Hear from Netflix Ted Sarandos himself on why they released their engagement report. “Engagement is a metric of joy”.
Back in April 2023, I wrote a piece about the FAST Broadcaster Landscape in Europe.
I’m vocal about the topic as I believe broadcasters will be instrumental to the growth of FAST in the region.
At the time, I analysed 3 trends:
→ Broadcasters launching FAST Channels
→ Broadcasters building FAST Channel Hubs
→ Broadcast TV syndication deals to FAST Platforms
What happened in the FAST Broadcaster Landscape in the last 6 months?
A LOT.
Let’s dig in.
Today at a glance:
What’s happened?
What’s changed?
What’s next?
What’s happened?
A slew of new launches.
1st time launches include:
→ UKTV launched in August 2023 a suite of 4 FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus and Pluto TV in the UK.
Why do they bother getting into FAST?
“FAST is a fantastic opportunity to reach new audiences with our rich content catalogue and showcase a wide array of genres across the four new channels.
Our new FAST channels will be a valuable complement to the existing channel network and will help supercharge the UKTV Play streaming service by further extending its reach”, said Jonathan Newman, GM Commercial.
Reach and added value.
→ Canal+
Canal+ has 10 Pay TV Channels already including 3 dedicated to Sports CANAL+ SPORT 360, CANAL+ FOOT, CANAL+ SPORT) and yet they launched 4 FAST or Streaming Channels exclusively on their platform myCanal:
Canal+ Top 14
Canal+ MotoGP
Canal+ Formula 1
Canal+ Premier League
More ways for viewers to find what to watch next.
For more sports-related FAST launches ↓
→ Channel 4 crossed the pond and launched 4 Adventure and 4 Emergency on Tubi, Plex and Xumo.
Here the play is also about extending reach but in an international market (and the biggest FAST market). It plays to Channel 4’s Future4 goals to prioritise digital growth over linear ratings and to diversify revenue streams.
The next logical step was to launch FAST channels within their streaming hub. Here comes: Married at First Sight UK. A 2-month test to gauge viewer appetite for the FAST format.
Surprising bit: the channel will be available on Channel 4 streaming across web browsers, mobile devices, tablets but not in their CTV apps.
→ France Télévisions launched a TV Series FAST channel within its streaming hub.
→ News outlet France 24 launched on Samsung TV Plus across Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK.
→ TV5 Monde announced a partnership to launch 2 channels on Tarfeeh TV in MENA.
→ Interesting trend with the launch of Zee One.
Zee One was a German TV channel launched in 2016 and sunsetted in 2020. It’s back! Where? On Samsung TV Plus Germany.
The model wasn’t making financial sense on Broadcast TV, will it make sense in FAST?
→ The latest launch announcement: Altice Media & Samsung TV Plus France.
This one ticks all my boxes of why broadcasters should get into FAST:
✅ Free to air channel syndication: BFMTV, RMC Découverte, RMC Story, BFM Business and Tech&Co.
✅ New FAST channels: 8 channels will be launched with 3000 program hours.
✅ Exclusivity: 6 of the 8 channels will be co-exclusive to Altice and Samsung.
✅ FAST Hubs: Altice will bring the channels to RMC BFM Play (their streaming hub).
Active FAST players went deeper and wider:
→ ZDF Studios (the commercial arm of ZDF) announced a partnership with Samsung TV Plus Germany which will see the launch of an additional 20 FAST Channels (on top of the existing one “TerraX”).
→ BBC Studios took Top Gear to more Pluto TV markets and gave Samsung TV Plus an exclusive in the Benelux.
→ ITV X cleaned up its line up to focus on a smaller line up of channels: 12 channels (besides its Broadcast channels) vs 22 in Q1 2023. A mix of takedown and new launches.
→ MyTF1 carries 43 channels (again besides its Broadcast channels) vs 50+ in Q1 2023. 23 were taken down while 17 new ones were launched. With the launch of TF1+, I expect these channels to be featured more prominently. We’ll know more on January 8th.
→ 6play has 10 channels (vs 2 in Q1) including a NFL channel they launched as they bought the rights to the NFL in France (Sunday night games on the FAST channel, the bigger games and the Super Bowl on M6).
→ UKTV had announced plans to build on its FAST offering by launching channels on its streaming service UKTV Play. Perhaps something they will do once the rebrand is live.
What’s changed?
→ New, Premium
As evidenced above, more and more broadcasters enter the space with similar strategies: reach extender, revenue diversification, added value to their existing streaming hubs.
Platforms are thrilled to onboard these premium local brands.
→ Test and Learn
Within their hubs, broadcasters launch and takedown channels:
because they are inherently pop ups (e.g. Xmas, Halloween, new season launch of a show, sports events etc.).
or because they may not find an audience.
This incredible flexibility makes for a fun playground to try new things.
→ Syndication
Broadcast channels onboard FAST platforms to reach new audiences (e.g. RTVE last year, Altice last week) and make sure they got a spot when the CTV ecosystem becomes the new entertainment hub by default for cord cutters and cord shavers.
FAST is also the opportunity to relaunch a sunsetted Broadcast channel (e.g. Zee or ITV X Kids). Question is: will the model be sustainable? FAST is cheaper to operate but rights remain expensive and there are no guaranteed revenues.
→ International
Beyond their home market, there is a play for Tier 1 broadcasters to fuel their commercial arm (BBC Studios for BBC, ITV Studios for ITV etc.) to make their brands and IPs travel to international audiences.
→ Portfolio
We’re past the test and learn phase with one channel. Channel owners build mini FAST networks. See ZDF Studios committing to launching 20 channels with Samsung.
→ Exclusivity / Co-exclusivity
Samsung TV Plus clearly positions itself as the next TV hub by syndicating Broadcast channels and securing exclusivities to newly launched FAST channels.
Broadcasters keep their FAST channels mostly to themselves.
→ Monetisation
Broadcasters are advertising powerhouses in their respective markets which solves the biggest challenge native FAST channels face: filling the ad inventory and making money.
All these companies can sell their FAST inventory as part of their wider available inventory. They can skip the educational work towards brands and agencies. I bet the term “FAST” doesn’t even come up.
That’s actually why Samsung TV Plus France brokered a deal with TF1 Advertising.
What’s next?
In 2024, I don’t expect European broadcasters to stand still and let first movers like ITV, TF1 or Altice occupy the front stage alone.
Every company will make up its mind about FAST and execute on its strategy (even if it’s only as a test).
Channels will come and go within their hubs.
They will do trials and syndicate some of their channels to 3rd-party FAST platforms.
More platforms will try to figure out how they can syndicate Broadcast channels.
It’s a fine move as long as they don’t copy and paste Broadcast TV in Streaming since one would hope that this is an opportunity to bring the best of both worlds, not just hit repeat.
The upcoming merger of Pluto TV & My5 will be fascinating in that regard.
Let’s meet again once they’ve launched in Summer’24 and find out.
That’s it for today.
I wish you a merry Xmas and thank you again for your readership throughout the year.
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bonjour Marion, merci pour votre newsletter, je me demandais juste si FAST est réellement la bonne désignation pour les châines Canal+, qui sont payantes, non ? Je peux me tromper... je ne suis pas un expert. Merci