Whip Media unveils FASTrack
April 12, 2023
When it comes to streaming, FAST (free ad-supported television) continues to gain traction at a rapid rate among both American and international audiences. That surge in popularity, though, has also made it increasingly difficult for distributors to accurately manage data tied to FAST content.
Whip Media – the leading enterprise software platform and data provider to the world’s largest entertainment organisations – is looking to address those challenges. Thus, the company has announced its newest product, Whip Media FASTrack, which is designed to solve reporting problems associated with FAST and AVoD (ad-supported video on demand) for mid and smaller-tier companies.
The announcement comes right before the start of MIPTV in Cannes, where Whip Media will be offering attendees a comprehensive first-look at FASTrack.
FASTrack, Whip Media believes, will become an integral tool for channels and distributors struggling with disparate data in various formats. As the industry leader in content performance tracking, Whip Media has a proven track record of solving these issues for the largest global media and entertainment companies for more than a decade.
“The parallels between cable TV adoption in the 1980s and FAST adoption in the 2020s are striking,” said Jason Weiss, Chief Operating Officer of Whip Media. “As the industry continues to rapidly mature, developing innovative technology that helps efficiently and accurately meet the demands of content distributors becomes imperative. FASTrack is the solution to those challenges, and I can’t wait for more media and entertainment partners to see this innovative platform firsthand.”
FASTrack supports other service types as well, including SVoD, TVoD, streaming apps, and more. Entertainment organisations will also be able to track content provider contracts and generate royalty statements automatically.
And as Whip Media Chief Strategy Officer Michael Sid noted in the company’s announcement, FAST is “exploding right now,” with global FAST revenue projected to triple to $12 billion by 2027.
“FASTrack will help the SMB (small and medium-sized business) market manage that chaos and use data to drive their way through it, at accessible pricing,” Sid added.
The new platform debuts with beta launch partner Motorvision.TV, the lifestyle and entertainment channel dedicated to live motorsports, car documentaries and the latest car trends.
“Data is key to success in creating a compelling customer experience and successful TV products,” said Raimund Koehler, Chief Executive Officer of Motorvision Group. “We are thrilled to have found a partner that enables us to gain more insight into our consumers’ streaming behavior and assess the profitability of our content. As a content creator, producer, and operator of automotive-themed television, we have content deals and TV products in more than 115 countries and distribute our channels across 60+ FAST platforms. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly complex to handle all of the different data sources. Whip Media perfectly understands the broadcast media landscape and its challenges and has built a solution that allows us to merge all data in one single source.”
Key features of Whip Media FASTrack include:
· Automated ingestion of performance data from FAST/AVoD, SVoD, streaming apps, TVoD/EST and more
· Revenue and viewership allocation down to the title level
· Access to real-time actionable data with a fully customizable report builder and analytics dashboard, and contract management tools for acquired content
· Automated generation of partner payments
General availability of Whip Media FASTrack is anticipated for Q3 2023. For more details on Whip Media, please visit www.whipmedia.com/fastrack.