Netflix considers launching FAST service in international markets
June 25, 2024
For years, top executives at Netflix have considered launching a FAST service. That stands for free ad-supported television, a new model that allows streaming services to reel non-subscribers in. Instead of paying, they get a basic collection of on-site content and pay for them by watching ads instead.
Now Netflix is looking to launch its own FAST platform, in markets outside of the US.
Online Content is King
Since Netflix burst onto the scene in the 2010s, the entertainment sphere has changed dramatically. Today, leading streaming services have outgrown that label. Instead, they need to be streamers and their own production houses, to stay ahead of the competition. This marks a massive shift toward online content, away from more traditional mediums.
This is a trend that’s much larger than TV. Many other industries have taken to the internet, where they have found a lot of success. E-commerce is a great example, as is the iGaming industry which brought casino games online. The internet is an avenue to find bingo games and other types of entertainment, and this trend will only get stronger in the future. When it comes to watchable media online, viewers can choose between video-sharing sites with videos made by users, or premium streaming of big-name shows and movies. As streaming gets more competitive, it’s unreasonable to expect consumers to subscribe to every service. That’s why streamers are juggling ways to keep subscribers happy while keeping non-subscriber numbers up.
Netflix’s History With FAST
To keep both subscribers and non-subscribers happy, streamers have begun exploring FAST. With FAST, non-subscribers can access some content by ‘paying’ through watching ads. Ads are everywhere in modern media, so a lot of audiences don’t mind seeing a few extra ads if it saves them a lot of money. Depending on the service, viewers can either pick on-demand content or tune into a linear channel just like old broadcast TV. Some of the first FAST services were The Roku Channel and Pluto TV, which is owned by Paramount. Both are still going strong today and started to grow dramatically in 2023.
In the past, Netflix brought non-subscribers into the fold with their free trials. That stopped in 2019, the same year that many of Netflix’s subscribers launched their own services. As competition heated up, and subscription fees mounted, those competitors started looking at their own FAST services. Paramount acquired Pluto, Fox acquired Tubi and Amazon acquired IMDb TV to form Freevee, which offers FAST channels. Speaking in an earning call in 2023, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that the company is “keeping an eye on that segment, for sure” but had yet to launch its own FAST service. Now, Netflix may launch that service outside the US, according to insiders who have spoken to Bloomberg. Netflix is dominant in most of the western world, so a FAST service would gather much larger audiences in international markets like Asia, where there’s a lot of growth opportunity.
The company had already experimented with a free ad tier in Kenya’s Netflix service – an experiment which they ended late last year. This may be signalling their move toward FAST streaming in 2024, by offering a whole new service that’s cheaper than every other deal currently available. If successful, there’s no telling if a Netflix FAST service will make its way to home markets in the US and other Western countries in the future.