FAST Channels Part One: Samsung, ATP Media, Telstra Discuss Ins and Outs of Launching, Managing Free Ad-Supported Streaming Sportel Monaco session dives deep into the elements of FAST success By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Monday, December 4, 2023 - 10:14 am
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The rise of FAST (free ad-supported streaming) has been undeniable in the past two years, and a recent Sportel Monaco panel, moderated by SVG Co-Executive Director Ken Kerschbaumer, featured three key entities either involved in or seriously investigating a FAST sports service: Samsung (represented by Chris Gregory, strategic content partner, lead, Samsung TV Plus); Telstra Broadcast Services (Anna Lockwood, head of EMEA/Americas, Telstra Broadcast Services); and ATP Media (Alan Bruno, head of broadcast development, ATP Media). Below is Part 1 of a two-part edited transcript from that conversation, which examines what FAST channels are, how to get started, and more.
FAST Channels will also be front and center at SVG's Digital Engagement Workshop on Dec. 11 as part of the 2023 SVG Summit in New York City (click here to register today!).
FAST panel at Sportel: (from left) ATP Media's Alan Bruno, Samsung's Chris Gregory, Telstra Broadcast Services' Anna Lockwood, and moderator SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer
Chris, can you walk us through what FAST is from the Samsung-platform perspective?
Gregory: Sure. So, what is FAST? Free ad-supported streaming television. And Samsung, which is the number-one TV manufacturer in the world, was the very first adopter of the FAST platform, launched in the U.S. in 2015. My remit is Europe, [with] 16 countries in the European service and around 1,300 channels across 250 partners. That's a lot of partners to look after, and they range across all genres.
I think what we're looking at now is more broadcast-quality partners, moving into that space rather than potentially digital first. Sport is a big driver at a television-sales level as we know from the data that we see whenever there's a World Cup. Whether that be male or female football or even the recent Rugby World Cup, there are big sales at a device level. We want to flow that down into our own service as well.
Can you explain the user experience if you own a Samsung TV?
Gregory: The service runs on 2016- to 2023-year TV models, and we're also available on selected Galaxy mobile and tablet devices. We sit prominently on the home screen next to the biggest SVOD and BVOD players as well. We're taking FAST very seriously. It's our own service, and whilst there has been huge progress over the last three, four years, there's still more to come.
Alan, you are with ATP Media, and you are looking at FAST. Please give us a sense of the rights landscape, your current offerings around apps and streaming, and where you see FAST fitting into that equation.
Bruno: We look at FAST as a potential additional vertical of our wider content strategy. We are not a channels business, we're in broadcast. We monetize 60-plus tournaments across the ATP Tour each year and also operate an SVOD service, Tennis TV. We also have short-form content across social and a publisher network as well. We are looking at FAST as potentially an additional vertical, maybe using some archive content, potentially looking at dark-market solutions for some of our tournaments. We don't have many dark markets left, but we are looking at that as a potential option.
But we are also looking at it as a way potentially to find a more general audience, a different audience. We're certainly super-serving the tennis fan. Could we perhaps use this as a way of reaching the wider, more general sports fan or general entertainment fan? We're looking at it closely and, obviously, speaking to guys like Chris around the distribution solutions. But what we need to make sure is, we are looking at it probably on a market-by-market basis with the broadcast partner in a market or with our SVOD platform in mind.
What are some of the questions that pop up when your internal team discusses FAST?
Bruno: We want to make sure it's got the right brand identity. We didn't want to launch just an archive channel. I think, a few years ago, the FAST landscape was very focused on people monetizing their archive, the content that was sitting on the shelf. We want it to form part of our wider content strategy. Yes, it would utilize some of the archive, but we also want it to connect with our other touchpoints with our fans.
Gregory: When it comes to sport, live is a big push, and I think the launch of the DAZN FAST Plus, which happened last December, gave us premium football content that we never thought we were going to get from three of the biggest leagues in the world. We also had an exclusive Champions League highlight show. This is the kind of thing that we speak to partners about. We don't expect partners just to launch blindly into this space; we're very hands-on, and we'll see what's working, what's not and advise from there.
Chris, how did the DAZN deal come about?
Gregory: The initial conversation started about two years ago. We've got a very strong relationship with DAZN because they've got the app business that's prominent in Germany as well as on our home screen and other markets. They've got loads of archive, but, at the same time, because DAZN looked to disrupt the market, they had carved out live rights to add into their FAST channels. It was just making sure that they weren't necessarily impacting their day-to-day business. And then we worked together on the Champions League show. I don't think there's any free-to-air highlights package for the Champions League in Germany and Austria, so it was, How can we make this channel someth
