More Creators Are Coming to FAST - But There Are Tradeoffs

Metrics, control are way different than YouTube

You can find YouTube giants like Mr. Beast and Rhett and Link on Roku. Lifestyle creators such as Liz Fenwick and Emmymade are on Flex and Pluto. Vizio has long put together packages of content centered on food creators for its free channel lineup.

Recently, a startup called Creator Television has even elected to roll out several original TV shows starring creators on various FAST services.

In a world where there already seem to be too many FASTs (LG offers channels devoted to ‘Paternity Court’ and ‘Beverly Hills 90201’, for example), it’s not entirely clear what’s driving this trend - since theoretically, most big creators are ‘on TV’ via YouTube. Presumably, creators are getting paid more, and are drawn to the big screen allure (despite what many say about not caring about traditional TV).

Vikrant Mathur, Co-Founder, Future Today said that because YouTube decided to emphasize watch time several years ago, creators began pumping out longer form videos, while also upping their production quality. “As a byproduct, this content became more suitable for consumption on TV,” he said. “People are now very comfortable with YouTube on TV.”

Still, why do creators need FAST channels? Do people want to watch YouTube content in a linear, packaged fasion? “Depending on the creators, there are different motivations,” he said. “Some just value more distribution and eyeballs. Some are looking for extra revenue, or more viewership to make sponsors happy. And the more sophisticated ones may want to reduce their dependency on YouTube.”

Regardless of the motivation (hint, it’s usually money) one thing is apparent - the control and data-driven programming approach that independent creators are accustomed to is suddenly bumping up against the realities of the still nascent TV- makers-as-distributors/ad companies arena.

In other words, FAST ain’t YouTube.

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To be sure, some creator driven FASTs seem to be well thought out. But others are ‘slapped together,” said Charlie Ibarra, co-founder of Creator TV. “There are several poor executions of this trend. Out of context, [creators on FAST] just doesn’t land.”

That said, experienced YouTubers see an opportunity to bring what they’ve learned from the social video world to the tube.

In February, the company Bold Baking Network launched 24/7 baking FAST channel. backed by 1,000 hours of content. Bold Baking’s top star Gemma Stafford has been on YouTube for over a decade.

“When we started, Food Network was about game shows,” said co-founder Kevin Kurtz (aka Stafford’s husband). “So we were trying to create this idea of a baking network [on YouTube]. We were doing TV shows, TV-like content.”

Eventually Kurtz and his team decided to broaden beyond just Stafford’s channel, by partnering with other creators, to build what he calls, “The Avengers of Baking.”

Over time, the group started looking to broaden beyond YouTube. But there were only so many options.

“As we saw CTV and FAST about two years ago, we said, ‘that’s the opportunity,’” Kurtz said. “There are only two places prioritizing ‘16x9 content,’ YouTube and CTV. Everything else had shifted to short form. And there is still an underserved audience on TV.”

Of course, you could ask, why not just keeping doing this on YouTube, which has seen consumption soar on smart TVs, and is increasingly catering to a more TV-like experience.

Well, in Kurtz’s view, FASTs are filling that former basic-cable need, where people don’t have to think, and let the programmers do the work. “We have created a curated experience, and our audience, they are looking for a turn-it-on, leave-it-on experience.”

Creator Television is going in the opposite direction. The startup, which is a product of the ad tech company Sabio, is tapping creators like Trey Kennedy to launch original series, and even wants to build out a strong brand with some sense of appointment TV.

“We talked to the Vizios and Samsungs of the world, and when you look at FASTs, It’s mostly old catalogue,” said co-founder Joseph Ochoa. “It’s what’s on the shelf (as in, ‘Hunter’ reruns). Now, FAST platforms are trying to get younger and more diverse.”

“And from creator standpoint, it fills a need as well,” he said. “You see this declining spending among the streaming platforms, so this is another option.”

Most FASTs don’t appear to be paying creators a big licensing fee. Rather, they enter rev share deals with the distributors of intermediaries like Future TV.

Ok, but I thought young people who grew up on YouTube are happy with YouTube, and don’t want ‘shows’ and ‘networks.’

Ibarra thinks we shouldn’t sell Gen Z short, cited the recent Deloitte report which found that younger viewers want to see creators make the leap to bigger projects. “The bet we made a few years ago was on elevated storytelling,” he said.

As for the creators themselves, well, there are definitely some tradeoffs. This isn’t YouTube, where views rack up right in front of you, and you you can easily access analytics and ad formats.

“Data in general is very challenging in FASTs,” said Ochoa. Part of the issue is that TV makers aren’t tech platforms by nature. And they all do things differently. “There is zero standardization, and you don’t get much on what type of shows are working or how your channel is delivering.”

“It’s true that visibility, and the ability to optimize, it’s very limited in some cases,” added Mathur. “Some of the TV owners do it intentionally. Remember, most OEMs are in the content business themselves.”

I sort of wonder over time whether creators will find these endeavors worth those kinds of compromises. It’s also not the first time that creators and YouTube networks took money for iffy distribution deals (see: Go90, Vessel). I also wonder whether YouTube might step up with some sort of free, linear-like programming competitor.

As for now, “this is a low-risk, high-opportunity model for creators and media brands,” said Kurtz. “We see FAST as an important complement to YouTube, not a competitor….in a way, it acts like modern-day syndication, opening up new touchpoints for discovery and engagement.”

He sees this trend only accelerating. “We believe that FAST - will probably look more like YouTube than traditional TV over time.”