April 2026's Status Check on FAST
FAST is stuck in a Nimby spiral: everyone wants change, nobody wants to be the catalyst. This month's US FAST update breaks down the channel bloat, the rise of OEM and vMVPD-branded O&Os, and a new 20-minute FASTMaster Intelligence keynote on the problems no one will say out loud.
It’s time for the monthly update for US FAST. Naturally, it continues to go one way – up, up, up!
One may question why channel counts continue to grow when everyone I speak with in the industry grumbles about smaller ad revenue. Much as my deep report for Luminate Intelligence notes, better curation and sensible analysis of economics is key for long-term growth. I am beginning to think that the whole thing is a charade of Nimbyism, where everyone wants change but to not be the catalyst of it. Come on, be bold! Bring some excitement back to the format. I’d love to be making happy images for FAST instead of the deep satire of its many problems (more on that in a little).
To be generous this month, I added in a number of FAST services to the overall count, either being a VMVPD’s FAST offering or an OEM. Don’t expect these to be covered in detail every month – for that reason, unique channels like TCL Anime are not included in the analyses noted to be among major platforms. But an interesting trend is developing. Many platforms are publishing branded O&Os, like Terrified fubo or TCL Horror, and I speculatively wonder if this is to do with these channels being worth more revenue internally (even with licensing) versus rev shares, or if FAST platforms think there’s more value in a TV set manufacturer name being on a channel versus a minor digital brand.
That’s not to pick on TCL or fubo, everyone either does it or used to (Vizio dropped the Vizio brand from their O&Os a couple of years back but who knows, maybe that will come back!
Many many channels remain on one (687) or two (287) platforms. That’s 60%. Some of these are O&Os. Others are exclusive versions of a channel. But many of them are ones that if they vanished overnight or, even better, sensibly consolidated into bigger ‘best-of’ channels, would not make a dent. In fact, one could argue, it would improve ad profitability.
So why does no-one do it? Well I am glad you asked. Those of you who remember me before I joined Amazon may recall a time where I would keynote events all over the world – Australia, Canada, Spain, Korea, MIPTV (RIP), StreamTV, SXSW… well I used to keynote a lot. And I got to thinking, and think I did, and I put together a 20 minute video on the key problems facing FAST. I would be so bold as to say it is as good a keynote as any you’ll see this year. It goes deep into the issues preventing meaningful change in FAST. (Also, the sharp-eared among you will notice it is not my voice speaking. No, it is the voice of FASTMaster Intelligence).
Have a watch, enjoy the satirical images which I think do an amazing job of summing up each issue (the style itself being a satire of the number of 1970s game shows on FAST) and keep reading.
