The Case of the Disappearing Dollars: A Private Investigator's Take on FAST Channels

In the shadowy world of streaming, where transparency is as elusive as a genie granting wishes, episodic TV and film content owners find themselves at the end of a rainbow that promises gold but delivers mere pennies. Welcome to the FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) Channel ecosystem, where the pot of gold is siphoned off by a dozen intermediaries, each taking their cut in commissions and technology fees.

Imagine this: you're a content owner, and your prized creation is placed within the FAST structure. You expect a fair share of the ad revenue, but what you get is a mere 10% of the gross ad sales. Meanwhile, YouTube creators, who don't get charged technology fees, are raking in CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) at least three times higher. The solution seems simple—ditch FAST, optimize your content for YouTube, and watch your revenues multiply.

But the plot thickens. Despite the billions Pluto TV, one of the largest FAST players, turns over annually, it still captures only a fraction (<1%) of the total U.S. television viewership. Why? Because FAST Channels lack curation, recognizable branding, and up-to-date content. It's a far cry from the polished, engaging experience viewers expect from a television service.

Creating quality content isn't cheap. While YouTube content might cost around $100 per minute to produce, episodic TV and films can cost forty times that, with blockbuster films reaching astronomical budgets of $400 million for 90 minutes. The tech companies saw an opportunity in the desperation to monetize content as traditional over-the-air broadcasting waned, and they capitalized on it, turning the business model upside down.

The result? A convoluted monetization model where FAST Channels act as a cancer in the streaming world, draining the lifeblood from content studios. Enter View TV, the premium content monetization experts. They've built the View TV Cloud, a suite of tools designed to streamline the revenue stream for content owners, studios, and broadcasters. By reducing intermediaries and empowering platforms with the tools to act as a single point SSP (Supply-Side Platform), View TV aims to reclaim commissions and technology charges, driving monetization to levels that surpass even YouTube.

Jamie Branson, View TV's founder, has been vocal about the need for change. Since early 2024, they've been referring to the outdated FAST model as "Legacy FAST," advocating for a new approach called COMO (Content Monetization). The #contentisking hashtag encapsulates their mission to put control back in the hands of content creators.

So, let's avoid FAST like the plague, or risk ending up in a FAST Channel pile-up. The future of content monetization lies in transparency, efficiency, and empowering creators to reap the rewards of their hard work.

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