One of the most interesting announcements from the Amazon NewFront presentation last week was the launch of Fire TV Channels, designed as a hub for their FAST, or free, ad-supported TV, channels. Our resident entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A, unpacks the news further.
The Home of Food
With food-related programming to be a cornerstone of the new offerings, it is rather fitting that Amazon had celebrity chef Martha Stewart unveil the news. Ironically, we saw her at last year’s event on behalf of Roku.
Fire TV Channels will be taking over a wealth of programming already popular via Amazon’s Fire TV devices. Viewing hours for the limited existing service have risen over 300% in the last half-year across the approximately 200M devices currently in use.
For now, the focus is on rolling out the centralized FAST channels, but once the rollout is complete, Amazon will also be adding an ‘always-on’ app hub to smooth out access issues for customers.
The Growth of FAST
FAST TV has proved to be an interesting offset to the many subscribers jettisoning paid streaming services, gaining considerable momentum over the last year. However, despite a range of pushes into the space, the sector remains very fragmented overall. Adding a new channel hub, primarily consisting of news, travel, sports recaps, lifestyle, music, and entertainment could be a lucrative sector for Amazon, especially with 400 partners, including deals with Xbox, the NHL, and TMZ, in the mix. The PGA and Conde Nast are also set to join the fold. Amazon reported a 21% year-on-year gain for advertising revenue at the NewFronts, reaching $9.5B in 2022, and was keen to lure advertisers to spend with the service off the back of both FreeVee and its Twitch-related gamer-focused options.
While we were given no set timeline for the rollout, it is expected to be finalized within the next 6 months. Will this be the hub-related revolution the fractured FAST space needs? That remains to be seen, but Amazon does seem ready to commit to being a major player in this rapidly-evolving space.
