FAST may get a lot of domestic coverage given the companies involved and the scale of the market offering, but the international side of free streaming channels should not be forgotten.
That may seem strange to say considering how immense the U.S. FAST market is predicted to be. Analysts Omdia, in Blue Ant Media’s recent FAST report, forecast that in 2027, FAST revenues in America will be worth $10.1 billion, while the next three markets — all English speaking — will be worth $1.1 billion.
That is still good money to be a part of and explains why U.S. FAST giants such as Freevee, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels+, Plex, and Roku Channel are all active in at least one additional English-speaking region. Samsung, LG and Plex are available in each of the U.K., Canada and Australia, with the others in one or two.
Tubi should also be mentioned. As Fox’s streaming service put it in their own words in VIP+’s last report on the FAST market, they view AVOD as the primary source of future revenue for free streaming and, as such, only offer FAST channels currently in the U.S. with AVOD-only functionality in Canada and Australia.
Money aside, it makes sense for platforms and channels active in the U.S. to enter other English-speaking markets. There is an economy of scale at play, as content does not need to be dubbed into a local language or have subtitles added. The shared culture across the major Western powers also helps, as it means that local audiences will accept content coming from the U.K. or Canada to the U.S., or vice versa.
To that note, it’s worth pointing out that both Canada and the U.K. each currently have over 500 FAST channels available, a feat especially impressive for Canada considering that its population is almost half that of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. While America’s 1,628 dwarves the other countries, so does its population count, and that shouldn’t be considered the yardstick of success.
Big media brands have embraced FAST in the U.S., with VIP+ counting 68 distinctive entities with at least one FAST channel each in 2023 in the U.S. With many of these companies also active overseas, this is a pattern other regions should see occur.
One important factor to consider with international FAST is it doesn’t need to follow the same trajectory as the older American market. By this we mean the innovations in FAST content can be immediately adopted by newer regions rather than following the same trajectory as the U.S.
This includes formats that incorporate live content mixed with scheduled programming (such as news, sports and now some lifestyle), the inclusion of original content, and single-series channels. These channels represent an innovation on traditional TV — essentially nonstop marathons of a show, if sometimes run out of order — and are one of FAST’s best tools to attract and keep viewers engaged with channels.
The American market has the most with 284, but it is very interesting to note that the U.K. already has 100 — over a fifth of all channels — with Canada fast approaching the 100 mark. Australia has fewer with 28, but it is worth noting that domestic services like SevenPlus have already embraced single-series channels with 17 based on classic Australian shows.
International FAST markets will likely never catch up with the U.S. for a variety of reasons: scale, difference in infrastructure such as diginets being embraced by media companies, viewing habits of consumers.
But FAST will continue to grow and with English-speaking countries predicted to take the lion’s share of global FAST revenue within the next four years, having them as part of a distribution strategy is something any company involved in free streaming must do.
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