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FASTMaster Intelligence is an independent publication launched in December 2025 by Gavin Bridge. If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows FASTMaster Intelligence to continue to exist. Thank you!

The Map is Not the Territory.

We are drowning in "thought leadership."

Open LinkedIn on any given Tuesday and you will see the same colorful bubbles, the same "Media Universe" maps, and the same high-level philosophizing about where the industry is going. It looks clean. It looks organized.

But I’ve spent the last 18 months inside the machine—first running FAST channel strategy, then launching a startup studio inside Amazon to crack the code on Gen Z and AI—and I can tell you this: The maps are wrong.

While the futurists were drawing bubbles, the inventory was burning. While the consultants were selling "ecosystem" theories, the actual production pipelines were being dismantled.

There are plenty of brilliant analysts in this industry. But almost none of them have had to actually execute the strategies they write about. They analyze the game from the press box. I just walked off the field.

The View from the Inside

For the last 18 months (July 2024 – Jan 2026), I wasn't just watching the shift; I was building for it.

  • The Engine (FAST): I spent a year building and packaging channels for Prime Video. I managed the teams effectively licensing and packaging content to drive engagement, not just fill a grid. I saw exactly what works, what fails, and how the internal math of "free TV" actually functions when you have to balance the P&L.
  • The Lab (Future Formats): I then transitioned to lead strategy for an internal startup studio focused on the next frontier: low-cost YA content, the creator economy, and integrating AI into production. I wasn't reading white papers on "How AI will change Hollywood"—I was stress-testing it.

I realized I was sitting on data—and a perspective—that the "outsiders" simply don't have access to. I know the legacy business (FAST) and the disruption (AI/Micro-content) because I was operating in both.

What is FASTMaster?

I am relaunching this platform today with a single rule: Zero Fluff.

We are moving beyond simple tracking. We are moving into Media Forensics.

1. The Physics of Content (Peak TV 2020–2025) Everyone tells you where the FAST channels are distributed. That’s a phonebook. I’m going to tell you what is actually on them. I have built a proprietary database tracking the original programming output of every major service and network from 2020 to 2025. I’m not tracking the "brand"—I’m tracking the inventory. I can tell you which "Empire" is actually a ghost town, and which quiet player is sitting on the only sustainable library in the game.

2. The Podcast: No Pay-to-Play Let me be clear: I do not charge guests to appear on my show. If you hear someone speaking on the FASTMaster podcast, it is because they are competent and have something vital to say. They are not there because they wired my bank. This is an intelligence briefing, not an infomercial.

3. The Operator's Edge Because I've been in the room where it happens, I know the difference between a press release and a P&L. If a platform is failing its partners, I will show you the numbers. If a "top tier" channel has zero depth, I will show you the decay rate.

The Membership

The industry is becoming a "Haves" and "Have-Nots" game. The Haves know the math. The Have-Nots have a map.

  • Free Subscribers: You will get the "Pulp" commentary—my high-level take on the industry’s absurdity, from the FAST trenches to the AI frontier.
  • Member Tier: You get the Analysis. Deep dives into the charts, the "Bursting the Bubble" reports, and the forensics on which streamers are failing the math test.
  • Founder Tier: You get the Data. Access to the raw intelligence—the specific episode counts, the decay rates, and the numbers I used to inform my own strategy.

The holiday from reality is over. Let’s look at the numbers.

— Gavin Bridge Editor, FASTMaster Former Executive, Amazon Studios