SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The media business pendulum may now be around half-way between subscription video and free streaming TV.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, Katy Loria, Chief Revenue Officer, FreeWheel, says 50% of growth in over-the-top TV viewing is coming from FAST – free, ad-supported TV services.

Loria says that is going to bring a host of benefits.

Growth and winning

“(There is) a lot of attention around FAST recently because of the astronomical growth,” Loria tells Beet.TV contributor Rob Williams. “By our own viewing reports, 50% of OTT audience is coming from FAST channels and nearly a third of the ad views.

“It makes sense with the economic headwinds, but it also makes sense and we believe media owners will continue to prioritize FAST because there’s kind of a triple win factor:

  1. “The consumer wins, it’s more access to premium content without a subscription fee.
  2. “The publisher or content rights owner wins because it’s additional distribution.
  3. “The advertiser wins because it’s the opportunity to engage with an audience that’s elected to view the ads.”

FAST forecast

A January 2023 Omdia forecast spills some numbers on FAST:

  • $12 billion global revenue by 2027, up 3x from 2022.
  • US revenue up from almost $4 billion in 2022 to more than $20 billion in 2027.
  • Largest markets will be US, UK ($500 million) and Canada ($300 million), followed by Germany, and Brazil.

Consider experience

But FreeWheel’s Loria says the emerging sector must learn from industry experience – it is imperative to present the advertising in a sensitive manner.

“If we don’t get it right, we’ll lose our viewers,” Loria says.

“The way that we do it is to keep a heightened focus in a privacy-compliant way so that we are putting the right creative message in front of the most receptive audience.

“We have to not burden our viewers with repetitive ads, irrelevant ads, dead space.”

FreeWheel for free

Comcast-owned FreeWheel provides advertising solutions to television networks, broadcasters and content providers.

The company’s solutions include ad management, video distribution, data management and programmatic advertising.

FreeWheel’s platform allows content providers to target audiences, measure their ad performance in real-time and manage their inventory more effectively.

You’re watching coverage of Beet Retreat San Juan 2023, presented by LiveRamp, Madhive, Magnite, Paramount, T-Mobile Advertising Solutions and VideoAmp. For more videos from the Beet Retreat, please visit this page.

By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews