The benefits of building your own TV streaming platform
October 2, 2023
In recent years, Over-The-Top (OTT) TV streaming platforms have taken the world by storm – from streaming services to gaming sites, these platforms have revolutionised the way we consume content and entertainment. But OTT isn’t just changing the way we absorb media, it’s also transforming the business landscape.
With the current number of digital streaming platforms, it might initially seem like a no-brainer to host your content on a third-party site. There is however an alternative streaming service – your own!
What is FAST?
Free Ad-supported Television (FAST) is freely accessible and viewable content funded by ads, meaning viewers can watch live and on-demand content without having to pay for a cable package or streaming service. To audiences, FAST channels are almost indistinguishable from traditional linear TV, but instead of being broadcast, all the content is streamed.
FAST commands a higher CPM than traditional cable channels. Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) provides viewers with targeted and relevant advertising that can’t be skipped, meaning a greater potential earning for every hour of content watched.
Why create your own service?
Take control of your content
We’ve reached a saturation point in the streaming market, making it easy for your content to become lost on a third-party site. A content provider is seldom likely to spend money pushing third-party content, particularly if it’s niche, meaning you will be responsible for driving traffic – your viewers, your followers – to an external platform, where audiences will have to sift through rails of content to view your channel.
By creating your own platform, however, you’re free to spend your marketing budget pushing viewers to your own app, where your content sits front and centre.
No hidden costs
Pitching your content to a subscription-based streaming platform can be pricy, with many distributors charging at least $1,000 to get your content on any one site. Then there’s the additional fees to consider, including nominal pitching fees or standing annual charges.
Similarly, some free streaming services will also charge you to host your content, which is often priced per viewer. This can make it near impossible to budget for, particularly when first launching.
By choosing to create a streaming platform with FAST Channels TV, you can eliminate spiraling costs. FAST Channels TV offers its technology and channels for free on a revenue share model, unlike other providers who will ask for upfront fees and huge monthly minimums, meaning you can launch your app at minimal cost, and if you don’t succeed, FAST Channels TV doesn’t succeed.
Collect and manage your own data
Have you done your research? Do you know your audience? How many viewers your content is reaching? How long they spend viewing your content? What devices are they using?
When using a third-party online streaming platform, you don’t always have full access to user data. A gap in analytics mean you lack the full transparency you would otherwise have by owning a digital streaming platform, and you end up being restricted by what the third-party software decides to make available to you.
Creating your own service grants you ownership of user generated data. Gain valuable insight into your audience’s behaviour, interactions, and viewing habits, utilising these metrics to refine your content strategy, inform decision-making, content optimisation, and targeted marketing, and deliver personalised experiences.
With data analytics being the main driver behind many business decisions these days, it suffices to say that having access to full user data can make or break your business and set you apart from competitors who use third person streaming platforms.
Further monetisation
You can further monetise your content by not only launching your own TV streaming service, but by making your content available on other free, ad-based platforms too, including traditional subscription service partners that are willing to pay you licence fees. It is not a case of always using an ad-based model, you will want to monetise your content in any way possible, in whatever way make you the greatest return.
How FAST Channels TV can help
There are two things FAST Channels TV looks for; do you have compelling content that separates you from everyone else and do you have a ready-build audience, either on social media or as part of an existing base of users, you can expose your new free TV streaming service to? If the answer is “yes”, there is a huge opportunity for growth within the FAST space.
At FAST Channels, they recognise the real value of TV isn’t in the technology. It isn’t in just the content, or even the marketing, while important, the true valuation is in your viewership and if you give that away you will never be able to pull them back.
FAST Channels TV can help you to create and deploy a branded platform in under a month, giving you the tools to develop, market and monetise your video content effectively to your ready-made fan base.
FAST Channels TV latest partnerships NOMADslow.TV, a content powerhouse in the slow living space with an engaged social media following of 20,000 meditation and relaxation enthusiasts, has artfully crafted a monetisation strategy that seamlessly merges ad-based and subscription content. Recognising the pivotal need to invest in marketing efforts to propel their followers toward third-party TV streaming platforms, NOMADslow.TV took the strategic leap to launch their very own TV streaming platform using our white label platform and content.
This visionary platform serves as a beacon, thoughtfully accentuating their distinctive content portfolio, which serves as the main attraction for their dedicated followers. Moreover, NOMADslow.TV is poised to augment their viewer experience by integrating additional FAST linear and VoD content. This curated selection ensures their followers can indulge in a wide array of entertainment, spanning news, sports, movies, and other captivating genres.
In a parallel narrative, Glorystar, an esteemed purveyor of Christian content subscriptions for nearly two decades, has embarked on a transformative journey. Having successfully served over 500,000 dedicated users in the USA, they now aspire to introduce a complimentary ad-based content offering. Leveraging FAST Channels TV’s advanced white-label platform and content, Glorystar is seamlessly integrating a rich tapestry of VoD and FAST channels from its expansive library, culminating in a comprehensive and all-encompassing content ecosystem for their cherished user base.
For an exhaustive catalogue of these and other groundbreaking ad-based TV streaming platforms, FAST Channels TV invite you to explore our partnership roster, easily accessible at fastchannels.tv/where-to-watch.
With its sophisticated white-label platform and FAST playout generation services, along with our 2,000+ AVoD titles and 200 FAST linear channels, launching a successful streaming service has never been easier. FAST Channels TV continues to bring advanced, flexible solutions to the market to give content owners and operators the power and confidence to leverage the value of their existing content library, build a global audience, maximise monetisation, expand channel lineups, and onboard new partners.
To learn how FAST Channel TV’s products and services can help you set up your service quickly and effectively, visit Fastchannels.TV.
This is a sponsored article.