When it comes to free streaming, growth in the United States has been powered by pure players like Pluto TV and Tubi, as well as connected TV platforms like Roku and Samsung, who are trying to serve cord-shavers and cord-cutters who require a linear viewing experience.
According to the November 2023 Cord Evolution Study by MRI-Simmons, 63% of Tubi streamers are cord cutters or cord nevers.
For years, these organizations have enjoyed an advantage with a clear path to test and learn. However, over the last 18 months, pay TV providers have recognized that they, too, have a role to play in free streaming.
READ MORE: Three Free Ad-Supported Streaming Services, Including Crackle, Are Shutting Down
If alternatives to pay TV thrive and provide more and more premium content with the flexibility and ease of navigating among AVOD, FAST, and SVOD offers, pay TV must take a hard look in the mirror and reconsider its value proposition. It is definitely necessary to halt the flow, as MVPDs lost 2 million customers in Q1 2024 and are expected to lose another 10 million by 2029, according to Digital TV Research.
Free streaming gives existing members more value for their money and increases time spent on the platform. It can also be used to gain new subscribers or keep churners close by in order to upsell them to premium tiers or re-engage them. Finally, it generates a new revenue stream through advertising.
Who Is Active in Space Right Now?
All of the vMPVDs in the United States have already implemented free streaming. The channels are available in either their basic tiers or as a standalone free tier. Philo revealed in a blog post that all you need now is a registered account to watch the 70+ FAST channels and save programs to a cloud DVR for 30 days. Fubo launched Fubo Free, a free tier with over 170 channels (but no DVR feature), in an effort to keep churners engaged with the Fubo platform.
Cord-cutting has not yet taken off in Europe (due to economical and aggressive bundle efforts), but disruption is on its way. Digital TV Research predicts that Europe would lose 9 million customers by 2029. Revenues will fall faster, to €22 billion (about $23.6 billion) by 2028, a €5 billion (about $5.36 billion) reduction. Meanwhile, smart TV penetration is fast increasing in Europe, with 65% of European viewers now directly linked to the internet via smart TVs, up 5% from 2022.
European pay TV stakeholders had learned from their American counterparts and recognized they needed to make a move into free streaming. Here are some examples of corporations that established FAST channel hubs in the United Kingdom and Germany:
German vMVPDs Waipu.tv and Zattoo seamlessly added channels into their current EPGs.
READ MORE: Fubo Has Launched A Free Ad-Supported Streaming Service
TalkTalk, powered by Netgem TV, has expanded their FAST channel aggregation service, FAST Lane.
During the summer of 2023, Virgin Media O2 released a number of FAST channels. The launch partners were A+E Networks EMEA, All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Blue Ant Media, Extreme International, Fremantle, Little Dot Studios, and Tastemade.
What Do Pay TV Players Bring to the Table?
Despite the challenges, pay TV providers offer scale (71.3 million customers in the United States, according to Leichtman Research Group, and more than 100 million subscribers in Western Europe by 2027, according to Digital TV Research). They specialize at aggregating and directing viewers to their television offers. For the past ten years, they’ve done it with TV channels, TVOD, and now SVOD. FAST is simply the streaming version of their television bouquets.
What’s Their Unfair Advantage in Free Streaming?
All of these companies benefit from their existing EPGs, which include free-to-air, pay TV, and now FAST channels. To the consumer, these FAST channels are simply more channels in the EPG. Consumers benefit from this ease of access, as well as the aura of long-established traditional broadcast TV channels and the ability to use cloud DVR services.
By the end of 2024, I expect the most, if not all, of U.S. and Western European pay TV providers to have their own free streaming channel centers. They are merely turning FAST into TV.
Radiant TV, offering to elevate your entertainment game! Movies, TV series, exclusive interviews, music, and more—download now on various devices, including iPhones, Androids, smart TVs, Apple TV, Fire Stick, and more.
