Why Samsung’s FAST Platform Could Be Poised for Its Breakout Moment 

Is Samsung FAST approaching a breakout moment? 

In a show of confidence, the technology giant recently disclosed, for the first time, figures on the user base for Samsung TV Plus, the free ad-supported streaming service included on its devices. The platform now boasts 88 million monthly active users globally, according to a press release, and had “an over 50% increase in global viewership YoY,” although the parameters of the latter claim were not made clear. 

The 88 million figure may put Samsung TV Plus’ user base ahead of breakout FAST platform Tubi, which had “just under” 80 million MAUs at the end of Q1 (its most recent public update). Of course, with free ad-supported streaming, it’s viewing time — the metric driving ad-revenue generation — that ultimately matters most, and Samsung is still lagging behind its competitors in this department, at least for the moment. 

The TV Grim Reaper X account (run by Bill Gorman, formerly of TV by the Numbers), citing a source within Nielsen, reported that Samsung TV Plus accounted for 0.61% of U.S. TV viewing in September, versus the 1.7% and 1.6% claimed by Tubi and The Roku Channel, respectively. (Nielsen did not respond to requests for confirmation on the Samsung TV Plus figure.) 

Still, while less than two-thirds of a percent of total TV viewing — or 1.5% of streaming viewing that month — may seem insignificant, Samsung TV Plus’ share is not far behind Pluto TV, the Paramount-owned FAST platform, and more than twice the 0.25% notched by Apple TV+ in September, per TV Grim Reaper. 

Samsung’s figure also jumped in September after plateauing at 0.55% in July and August, suggesting its share of viewing time will continue to grow. Indeed, increased adoption of both FAST and smart TVs will likely lead to higher usage of smart TVs’ proprietary FAST platforms, which come natively installed on the devices — and Samsung, as the dominant smart TV manufacturer, stands to reap the greatest benefit. 

According to data from Comscore, 26.6 million U.S. households — about a third of those with smart TVs — use sets manufactured by Samsung, more than 10 million more than TCL, the second-place original equipment manufacturer (OEM). 

As such, Samsung’s FAST platform stands head and shoulders above those of other smart TV OEMs, such as Vizio WatchFree+ and LG Channels. In a June consumer survey commissioned for Variety Intelligence Platform’s special report “The Future of FAST,” Samsung TV Plus was the only OEM FAST platform watched at least weekly by more than 1% of U.S. adults. 

The advantage of services such as Tubi, of course, is they are platform agnostic (as is The Roku Channel, despite what its name might suggest), available across multiple devices and OS platforms. Samsung TV Plus may therefore never attain the levels of viewing time seen by Tubi and the like, but the increasing popularity of smart TVs could continue to boost the service’s usage. 

Uptake of smart TVs continues to grow — the latest Hub Entertainment Research survey on the topic found 79% of U.S. homes had a smart TV as of Q1 2024, with 62% streaming weekly on the devices. And Samsung’s market share could easily see an upswing by the end of the year, as the holiday season is a popular time for new TV purchases and upgrades. 

Meanwhile, the factors behind the rise of FAST, including consumers’ subscription fatigue and content discovery frustrations, seem likely to continue fueling the format’s popularity. It may therefore only be a matter of time before Samsung TV Plus is within spitting distance of some of the major SVOD shares of viewing time.  

And while that’s merely speculation at this point, the fact that it’s even a possibility shows just how profoundly SVOD has transformed over the past three years, as detailed in the VIP+ special report “The Postwar Streaming Market.” The subscription streaming wars, as I’ve argued before, have ended; the primary battle now is over engagement, and low barriers to entry — no subscription cost, preloaded apps — can make a big difference. 

Now dig into a VIP+ subscriber report ...