How a FAST channel works
A playout system turns a catalog into a continuous schedule. Markers in the stream signal where ad breaks fall, and an ad system fills each break with ads chosen for that viewer. The channel is then delivered through your own apps, through smart TV channel line-ups or through services that aggregate free channels.
How a FAST channel earns
Revenue is advertising: viewing hours multiplied by ads per hour, fill rate and CPM, divided by 1,000. When a channel is carried by a third-party service, that service usually either shares the ad revenue or takes part of the ad inventory to sell itself.
FAST vs AVOD
Both are free and paid for by ads. In AVOD the viewer picks a title and starts it. In FAST the viewer joins a schedule already in progress. The same catalog can feed both, and many services offer the channel for passive viewing and the on-demand catalog for those who want to choose.
What a FAST channel needs
- Enough content to fill a schedule without constant repeats, usually a few hundred hours
- A clear theme: a genre, a single show, a sport, a language
- Rights that cover free, ad-supported linear distribution
- A program guide feed for the services that carry the channel
- Ad demand, direct or programmatic, to fill the breaks
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