The FAST industry, including FAST Channels, has experienced significant hype over the past few years, attracting individuals from various backgrounds. A group of industry consultants and analysts have profited substantially by advising channels and technology start-ups on the future of TV, FAST. However, they all failed to mention the business model, just how many channels there are, apart from View TV, they highlighted that the business model is fundamentally flawed for content owners. View TV Studios did the study, this has always been avoided in any press releases and industry discussions.

“Oh, bravo to the FAST Channel operators, FAST Channel Playout, CDN, SSAI, Ad-tech, and SSPs! They’ve truly outdone themselves by managing to rake in the cash via fund raising and commisions, all while leaving the real heroes—the content owners and broadcasters—high and dry. What a triumph!” said many parties.

The Foundational Principle of Media Businesses

The foundational principle of Linear TV and On-demand Episodic TV and Film is the monetization of content, it is not based around technology. Linear TV and on-demand services are provided as technology platforms that enable audiences to engage with and view linear channels or on-demand content. Audiences may pay to view, access content as part of a subscription, or watch for free in exchange for viewing strategically placed advertisements. These advertisements may be targeted to the viewer (Programmatic) or based on the content audience (Addressable).

Content studios, Broadcasters & Content Library owners had the highest inestment, bear the highest costs, face the greatest risks, and have the least control, making them the primary losers in this scenario. The industry operates like an unregulated, unpoliced private island, far removed from the concept of delivering TV in the cloud. Instead, it feels as though we are delivering television from another planet.

Audience engaging with Streaming are drawn in primarily by the content

Audiences are predominantly attracted to television, video, and film content, with minimal concern for the underlying technology, provided it ensures low latency and an exceptional user experience (UX). However, within the FAST ecosystem, content is often relegated to a secondary status. Ad-tech companies contribute only minimal revenue, sufficient merely to maintain operational status, resulting in content libraries that are struggling rather than flourishing.

Lets educate people about FAST rather than simply disregard it to allow you to come to your own conclusion

We have resolved to provide a comprehensive overview to educate individuals about the FAST ecosystem. This will enable them to identify its inherent flaws and comprehend why various professionals might question their investment of time and resources into the prevailing hype. Additionally, we will elucidate how View TV has successfully shifted control of TV technology in favor of content creators, thereby empowering the ‘Content Kings’.

The success of the Future of Television comes down to Content, Audience, Revenue & Technology within COMO.

View TV contends that successful broadcasting in traditional television, content creation, and streaming media necessitates a balanced approach across four distinct business units. These units, collectively referred to as COMO (short for Content Monetization), and encompasses Content, Audience, Revenue, and Technology. We elucidate the critical areas and underscore the importance of maintaining equilibrium among these units to achieve effective content monetization. Through the COMO Streaming Content framework.

“Content combined with Audience generates Revenue, facilitated by Technology” says Jamie Branson of View TV

Content – The key part of COMO to license or create TV and Film experiences audiences want to watch

Content remains the paramount element in the realm of streaming television and platforms, as it has historically been and will continue to be. Subscribers and users primarily base their engagement decisions on the available content, which constitutes the core product offering. This principle is exemplified by YouTube, a wireframe technology platform, notwithstanding the fact that YouTube retains 45% of revenue after Google appropriates 25% of all advertising sales, Content owners receive one third of gross advertising spend.

“FAST is now a legacy content monetization solution premium broadcasters and content studios would rather not talk about”

Content production represents the most significant expenditure in this industry, with budgets for content marketing being the secondary major expense at more than 15% of content budget. The cost of content production varies widely, ranging from $1,000 per minute to in excess of $1 million per minute for high-end productions. Notably, premium movies such as “Batman” and “Barbie” incur costs exceeding $4 million per minute for theatrical releases. In comparison, the technological costs per minute viewed in theatrical releases are minimal relative to the overall production investment.

Content is King, and Content is expensive.

Audience – The KPI of COMO to attract viewers by marketing and distribution

Possessing exceptional content and the technology to monetize viewership is futile if it remains undisclosed. The Audience aspect of COMO necessitates a balanced approach to marketing expenditure; neither excessive nor insufficient spending is advisable. Moreover, the marketing strategy must be tailored to each of the high-level genres. For instance, children’s content warrants a greater focus on social media marketing, whereas horror and comedy benefit from targeted marketing, and news and entertainment require more traditional methods to attract a broader audience.

TV & Movie Content should be around 15% of production budget for content marketing and linear television broadcaster marketing should be around 18% of overhead costs.

Content DIstribution was fabricated to sell more tech via Connector Fees – The adage ‘being everywhere means you are nowhere’ aptly describes the distribution of FAST Channels. This underscores the necessity of a focused content strategy. A well-executed strategy can yield superior financial returns by concentrating efforts on a single platform rather than dispersing content across multiple platforms. In the context of FAST channels, the presumption that widespread distribution would inherently increase viewership and that platforms would manage marketing in exchange for a 50/50 revenue share has proven to be erroneous. This misconception highlights the need for a more strategic and targeted approach to content distribution.

Revenue – The lifeline of COMO to provide the earnings and return on content investment

The objective of FAST, Streaming TV, and COMO is to ensure a return on content investment. For linear channels, this pertains to covering weekly overhead costs. The strategy involves driving audience engagement through content marketing and leveraging technology to monetize viewer interactions. The goal is to achieve profitability for the content studio or broadcaster by multiplying the number of views by the revenue per view.

EXAMPLE 1 – Based on a $30m production cost for a low budget movie of 1 hour in length:

Content Monetization Business Model	Content $Rev/Hr	Tech $ Rev/Hr	No of Content Views to Justify Investment
FAST – Free to View Ad-funded Streaming	$0.01/hr	$0.10/hr	>3 billion views
YouTube – Free to view Ad-funded Streaming	$0.10/hr	$0.20/hr	>300 million views
COMO – Free to View Ad-funded Streaming	$0.30/hr	$0.15/hr	>100 million views
SUBS – Subscription based Video Platform	$0.35/hr	$0.10	>90 million views
PPV – Pay-per-view based Video Platform	$3.00/hr	$0.60	>10 million views

EXAMPLE 2 – of deductions throughout the prorgrammatic process across FAST, YouTube, O&O and Kapang

Technology – The enabler of COMO providing a cloud-based suite of commodity SaaS tools

The technology behind the monetization of broadcasters and video content, be it episodic TV, short form or Longform movies is very similar and compared to that of a website wireframe which differs depending on the device it is being used on to provide a fitting user interface to engage with the navigation device.  E.g. On a Smart TV you have a remote-control device which is limited, and, on a laptop, you have a full keyboard and mouse for navigation and engagement.

Some of the major issues related to ad-fill and loses in per advert CPM’s are related to the transactions passing through multiple inadequate software and servers relating in multiple hops adding latency and adjusting data syntax as each different piece of software reads and write the data.   These hops are also providing commissions to the parties to thank them for devaluing the credibility of the data being shared between the viewer and the advertiser’s campaign.

View TV has created a commodity broadcast platform that powers its own consumer platform and enables View TV to provide a single suite of software tools to each broadcaster, a common dashboard and the lowest latency to the advertiser’s campaign software (DSP) to provide a more efficient method of yielding advertising revenues and getting super targeted ROI for advertisers.

View TV is able to ingest the content and distribute to multiple end points on behalf of the content studio or broadcaster with a single point for performance reporting for audience and earnings data.

What is the imbalance in FAST and how did it happen?

As the above clearly stats the primary party, the content be it a broadcaster or content studio, has the largest risk, the largest overhead and is required to get paid a lion share of the earnings prorate to the risk and effort to the other stakeholders in the content monetization process.

AD-Tech came first and took advantage of the lack of structure

What originally happened in the programmatic industry is that the adtech came first as the bringer of revenue to the media companies via a DSP, Ad-exchange and SSP but with the lack of transparency and many niche markets the media company, commonly know as the publisher in programmatic ecosystem did not limit, expose or police the number of hops each particular advertising trade could go through, so the publisher was unable to see where the revenue was being syphoned off.

Revenue Share deals were a cover-up for a web of commissions

The act of adding a revenue share as a contract deal is basically exposing the revenue share between the who parties and not related to the gross revenue that the advertiser is being invoiced and merely a revenue share of what is left at that point down the pipeline of ad-revenue, so a 50/50 deal could actually provide 5% of gross revenue in practice.

Bootstrapping lowered the barrier to entry and the average quality of a FAST channel

Bootstrapping FAST channels with minimal or no funding necessitates engaging in costly revenue share agreements with SSPs and content owners. While this approach enables channels to commence operations with limited investment, it results in only a modest revenue stream for both the channels and content owners. This is due to the multiple revenue shares involved in the multi-hop ad journey between them and the advertiser. Additionally, channels are relinquishing half of their inventory to present to audiences without the platforms actively promoting or driving traffic. This situation arises from the channels’ decision to exchange half of their stake and 75% of the content owners’ stake in a deliberate swap of revenue share for services.

FAST was flawed from the start with a big Hype – Amagi created the hype, Right!?

The Rise and Fall of FAST: An Examination of Amagi’s Role in Hyping a Fundamentally Flawed Ecosystem. In recent years, Amagi has positioned itself as a pioneer in the realm of Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST), promoting it as the future of content monetization. However, a closer examination reveals that the business model, despite its initial allure, is fundamentally flawed. We have delved into the reasons behind this assertion and scrutinizes Amagi’s role in perpetuating the hype surrounding FAST, despite its inherent shortcomings.

The Hype and the Reality of Amagi and FAST

Amagi’s marketing strategy has been instrumental in making FAST fashionable. By positioning itself at the forefront of Connected TV ad-transactions, Amagi successfully attracted significant investment. The allure of being a leader in a burgeoning market was compelling, and investors were eager to capitalize on the perceived potential of FAST. However, this enthusiasm often overshadowed a critical analysis of the ecosystem’s viability.

Fundamental Flaws in the Hype of FAST Ecosystem

1. Lack of Standardized Procedures: From its inception, FAST has been plagued by a lack of standardized procedures. This absence of a cohesive framework has led to inefficiencies and inconsistencies in content delivery and monetization.
2. Chaotic Advertising Technology: The advertising technology landscape within FAST has often been described as the “wild west.” The lack of regulation and oversight has resulted in a fragmented and unreliable ad-trading infrastructure. This chaos undermines the potential for consistent revenue generation and diminishes the appeal for premium content owners.
3. Reluctance of Content Owners: One of the most significant challenges facing FAST is the reluctance of content owners to part with their premium content under mere revenue share agreements. Content owners, particularly those with high-value episodic TV and film content, are understandably hesitant to engage in deals that do not guarantee substantial returns on their investments.

Amagi’s Role in the Hype

Amagi’s role in promoting FAST cannot be understated. By leveraging its position as a leader in Connected TV ad-transactions, Amagi created a narrative that positioned FAST as an innovative and lucrative opportunity. This narrative was compelling enough to attract substantial investment, despite the underlying issues within the ecosystem.

Raising Investment on Hype

The investment raised by Amagi was largely driven by the hype surrounding FAST. Investors were drawn to the promise of being at the forefront of a new wave of content monetization. However, this promise was built on a foundation that was, at best, unstable. The fundamental flaws within the FAST ecosystem were well-known, yet they were often downplayed in favor of promoting the potential for high returns.

In conclusion, while Amagi’s efforts to promote FAST have undoubtedly brought attention to the potential of ad-supported streaming, it is crucial to recognize the fundamental flaws within the ecosystem. The lack of standardized procedures, chaotic advertising technology, and reluctance of content owners to engage in revenue share agreements all contribute to the challenges facing FAST. As the industry moves forward into COMO, it is essential to address these issues to embrace the more stable and viable model for content monetization.

In Conclusion, FAST is Toast and COMO is the original broadcasting kid back on the block?

It is acknowledged that the adoption of the FAST channels ecosystem presents significant challenges, rooted in its complex and often flawed infrastructure. However, it is imperative to recognize that dwelling on past shortcomings will not yield progress. Instead, a forward-looking approach is essential. By addressing the inherent issues and implementing strategic improvements, stakeholders can navigate the complexities of the Streaming TV ecosystem more effectively. This proactive stance will facilitate the successful integration and optimization of FAST channels, ultimately leading to more sustainable and profitable outcomes.

In conclusion, the era of FAST and FAST Channels has seen its rise and fall, marked by a focus on rapid monetization often at the expense of content creators. As we move forward, it’s clear that the true value lies in the content itself. By prioritizing and empowering content owners and broadcasters, we can restore content to its rightful place as the king of the streaming video ecosystem. This shift promises a more sustainable and enriching future for both creators and viewers alike.

Here’s to a new chapter where quality content reigns supreme!

Join the many parties engaging with View TV in the future of Monetizing Content and Streaming TV with the COMO approach.