FASTs are increasingly winning because they are products first, and walled gardens for content last.
Only now, its on the internet, and its on demand.
The concept of free, ad-supported television is not new.
Getty Images
Cue the streaming wars.
The demand for streaming libraries is much lower than they had assumed, Rosen said.
Walled gardens are less valuable in the streaming era.
That reflects as much a problem of imagination as it does execution.
Thats the philosophy on which all the premium streamers built their platforms.
Tubi, Roku Channel and Pluto all reject that logic.
Thats why the personalized recommendations and user interface are key to the success of the streaming model.
From a user standpoint, its the totality of the experience.
You have to think about the entirety of the user journey.
When one video ended, a whole list of personalized recommendations was available to keep going.
And if theres one thing that this generation of young viewers knows, its the internet.
The leaders of the FAST channels argue that isnt necessarily true.
Tubi is an example of that just being a myth, Lewinson said.
Are they on social?
Are they watching short form?
[But] Gen Z loves to watch long-form content.
That is, relying much more on acquired content than their own originals.
Tubi, the Roku Channel and Pluto have all dipped their toes in the originals market.
In April,The Spiderwick ChroniclesbecameRokus most-watched on-demand titleever in its debut.
Deadlinerecently toutedTubisBig Mood,starringNicola CoughlanandLydia West, as one of the best shows of the year so far.
Lewinson says roughly 26% of Tubis viewership each month comes from original content.
Still, licensed content makes up a vast majority of the library on every FAST service.
Eilenberg says he thinks that will always be the case.
Why do these services exist if they cannot get target customers to pay to watch their libraries?
