The battle to control the living room - and the TV advertising interface -may be about to get a lot more interesting.
Sony PlayStation is moving toward rolling out a series of FAST (free ad-supported TV) channels to its millions of gaming consoles in the U.S., according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Unlike many FAST lineups in the market today, the electronics titan is looking to create a curated list of FAST channels for its unique gamer audience, such as channels focused on animation, creators and sports content, said sources. This would be designed to stand out against existing TV apps available via PlayStation consoles, such as Tubi and the Roku Channel.
PlayStation’s entrée into FAST comes just as TV makers like Vizio and Samsung are looking to assert themselves as legitimate programmers and distributors in the connected TV era, while Fox snatches up Roku to become a new streaming gatekeeper. However, it’s worth noting that while nearly 29 million PS5s have been sold in the US, per VGChartz data. the PlayStation audience may never rival that of some more mainstream platforms.
Thus, Sony is looking to build a FAST lineup that caters to a PlayStation-centric media consumer. That said, some industry experts said that Sony has explored bringing FAST to other devices.
Sony declined to comment for this post.
It will be interesting to see just how aggressive PlayStation becomes in the ad business - as the company has had numerous fits and starts in the advertising business.
Back in the late 2000s, Sony rolled out PlayStation Home, a 3D virtual world available via the PS3, where marketers were able to create branded placements, such as Red Bull Island. Home never really took off.
Sony has experimented with in-game advertising over the years, but has been reserved in its approach. PlayStation even tried its hand at original scripted TV content once upon a time, only to abandon the effort.
Pete Wood, executive VP of consumer platforms and services at Sony Pictures Entertainment, is said to be spearheading this effort. For this upcoming launch, Playstation could build out an ad sales team - or rely on partners and ad tech firms to sell ads. UPDATE - Sony Pictures Entertainment did recently ink a deal with Pubmatic on this front.
Sony starts out with strong data here - and many PlayStation users log in to access PlayStation Network, for example. But how many stream through their consoles versus their TVs? There was a time when gaming consoles were a big source of streaming traffic (the Nintendo Wii was one of the first places you could stream Netflix, for instance). Check out this data from Parks and Associates:
In the meantime, it’s been fascinating to see the ongoing proliferation of FAST channels, despite the low impact the rollout seems to have had among viewers.
Could Netflix be next?
During a panel I moderated a few weeks back at StreamTV in Denver, CO, Aden Ikram, Director of Content Acquisitions and Business Development at the satellite company Viasat, strongly hinted that Netflix is on its way to adding a FAST option.
“You'll see it happening for the next couple of months,” he said. “All the streamers are gonna look exactly the same. Netflix is gonna look more like TV.”
“You’re going to see Netflix and some of the premium streamers looking more and more like FAST channels,” he said. “You’ll see FAST on premium streamers in the future.”
That would be noteworthy on several levels. For starters, Netflix would have to balance keeping its paying subscribers happy, with making an AVOD service that has real appeal to consumers. Such a move would also seem to indicate that Netflix needs more ad inventory to satisfy ad demand.
From what I’ve gathered from industry sources - unlike PlayStation - nothing is imminent on the Netflix/FAST front. The company has been asking a lot of exploratory questions in the FAST programming and tech world, but that doesn’t mean a free ad-supported Netflix is coming any time soon.