veteran Tin Pan Alley tunesmith was once asked the secret of composing a hit song. His answer: a tune that’s similar enough to an existing song to sound warm and familiar, but different enough to sound exciting and fresh. Perhaps this helps account for the growing popularity of FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV), which takes the familiar, one- programme-follows-another approach of conventional broadcast TV and catapults it into the digital age by telling broadcasters – and their advertisers – precisely who is watching. “FAST channels mimic traditional TV’s lean-back experience while providing streaming benefits, such as analytics, addressable advertising and reaching new market segments,” begins Mrugesh Desai, VP North America at Accedo. “They present immense opportunities for video content owners to reach a wider audience, create new and diverse revenue opportunities and enhance the viewer experience.” “FAST is an excellent way to monetise old or stale content and meets the needs of a large portion of consumers who don’t wish to pay for content,” adds Allan Nicholson, senior director for advertising solutions and strategy at Harmonic. “Traditional free-to-air broadcasting will continue to decline with the natural replacement life cycle of traditional TVs with smart TVs.” “The ability to include targeted advertising makes FAST very attractive for established broadcasters, who see that if they can do good targeting, they’ll raise revenues,” says Cees van Versendaal, COO of MwareTV. “What’s valuable for FAST is the ability to
DIGITAL PLAYGROUND Old kids’ shows can find a new lease of life (and monetisation potential) on FAST channels with tailored ads
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