The first day on ATF 2023 closed with a keynote focused on FAST segment, where industry executives and thought leaders discussed the impact and future of this ever-growing model. From profitability to investment projections, the panel addressed crucial questions surrounding FAST channels and their role in today’s media ecosystem.
Tom Gennari, CEO of BB Media and panel moderator, opened the session by highlighting the relevance of ad-supported free-to-air channels and presented key results from the opinion leader survey conducted by consultancy.
Alexandra Lowes of GroupM Nexus, a company based in the USA that is dedicated to offering digital transformation solutions in the region. In this market, Lowes highlighted the enormous opportunities there are in the FAST field, especially highlighting India, Australia and Japan, as she assures that they are countries that have had slower development in this segment. ‘We are all aware of the commercial opportunities of starting in the FAST business, but what market is viable for this? We believe that these three territories will concentrate the objectives of the majority of global streamers, as will also be in the local launch plans.’ .
Ed Love, Head of Business Development at Samsung TV Plus, reaffirmed the strategy that the company has been carrying out: curated and dedicated channels, new genres such as sports and local content, through alliances with FAST channel programmers, but also with suppliers. of local content. ‘For New Zealand we have a strategy with differentiating content regarding our international offer, which will have a strong focus on sport, taking advantage of the enormous fan base in this country.’ In this market, the service has 112 channels and they hope to reach 120 by 2024.
Meanwhile, Kaushal Modi from Jio Entertainment Services, talked about company approach to exploring different genres of content, from cricket to anime. The flexibility of the FAST model to adapt to changing public preferences and the surprises that arise when experimenting with new niches was highlighted.
