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Broadcast audiences have increasingly moved to digital spaces, and in an attempt to “fish where the fish are,” broadcasters have launched free advertising-supported television (FAST) channels and streaming offerings to reach them. While these products are growing rapidly, their share of the revenue still pales in comparison to what broadcasters garner on the linear side.
To try to take better advantage of these platforms, companies need to focus on scaling them — often by partnering with larger platforms — and supplying them with quality content, including live sports, news and entertainment programs. On the flip side, working in their favor is their immense targetability, letting advertisers geo-target audiences down to the ZIP code.
During a panel discussion at TVNewsCheck’s Local Television Strategies event at NAB New York last week, executives from NBC, CBS, E.W. Scripps and The Weather Company shared their approaches to driving revenue growth from streaming and free ad-supported television (FAST) platforms.
Sahand Sepehrnia
“For any FAST channel, you need great content, you need reach and you need monetization,” said Sahand Sepehrnia, EVP of digital content strategy and business, CBS News, Stations, Entertainment and Sports. “You need to be ubiquitous, and you need to be everywhere. And you need that reach. You need that scale. So you see all of our FAST platforms available across all distributors.”
While broadcasters’ FAST channels and streaming offerings may not offer the same scale and reach that their linear channels do, they do provide local advertisers what they want in terms of addressability.
“[Local advertisers] know who their