Today’s streaming providers deliver endless amounts of content, which can overwhelm viewers who are simply looking for something to watch. The content discovery process often takes far longer than viewers are willing to wait. FAST channels have the power to redefine content discoverability by using data to serve customers the content they want to watch and to help them find new content based on prior viewing habits. FAST platforms have a vast amount of data available to them, but only a small amount of it is being used to its full potential. Incorporating viewership data into the content discoverability process can remove the pain points that have bubbled up in the new streaming landscape, lead to more engagement with the content, and open up more opportunities for advertisers to reach their target audiences.

Revry’s Rodriguez agrees that discovery has never been about going it alone and standing out by producing copious quantities of original content; it’s also about leveraging strategic partnerships. “The discovery of Revry was actually achieved through partnerships with all of the emerging FAST networks. We were an early partner of Pluto in 2017, and that’s how we got our feet wet in this space. One of the biggest, most appealing things early on was the fact that we didn’t have to play the content arms race that Netflix was perpetuating, which we couldn’t do. We couldn’t afford all this content, but on FAST, we didn’t have to because there are only 24 hours in a day, so you really just have to fill your daytime programmingwith something that’s compelling. So, we were really drawn to it, and then we saw the emergence of a lot of other networks. Of course, we are expanding and marketing direct-to-consumer, but we’ve actually subsisted largely over the past several years on just marketing within the CTV environments and riding the coattails of a lot of these bigger mainstream platforms that are carrying our channels.”

Continue reading at Streaming Media.