As FAST continues its impressive growth, NBCU have been busy strengthening their channel offering in recent months, adding as many as 25 new channels since the beginning of July, with some launching outside of the US. The increased FAST activity of the major US players has signalled a maturing of the marketplace, with signs of consolidation by the platforms as competition for viewing and guide prominence intensifies.
FAST has seen an increase in the amount of higher quality content in 2023 as Studios and Broadcasters have entered the FAST channel market. It was inevitable that more established players would move into the space with better quality propositions, with the opportunity to target new revenues and potentially target other objectives such as promotion of paid services like SVOD.
Earlier this year Warner Bros. Discovery launched a suite of 14 WBTV branded FAST channels on Tubi and Freevee and we expect to see more channels launching from US media companies such as Lionsgate and NBCU is the coming months.
NBCU’s recent additions to their US channel lineup have predominantly been in scripted content, which differs from Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2023 strategy of mostly unscripted and reality programming. This shows significant intent to be one of the leading US Studios in the FAST sector, as they continue to grow their channels and commit premium IP to them.
NBCUniversal's Content Proposition
FAST Tracker reveals that NBCU’s complete channel line-up has a strong selection of scripted, unscripted and sports channels available. With their significant library of content, NBCU are able to tap into some long-running series to create a number of single IP channels that have historically worked well in the FAST space. Channels such as Saved by the Bell, The Real Housewives and E! Keeping Up help to push up NBCU’s share of non-news channels to over 50% single IP.
Of the 15 scripted TV channels, 10 are drama and two comedy, with NBCU able to pull from their extensive catalogue of long-running sitcoms and soaps. Series such as Little House on the Prairie, Lassie and Murder, She Wrote are given their own dedicated channels, while the more recently launched Universal Action, Universal Crime and Universal Westerns channels focus on specific genres of content. Of the 21 unscripted channels, six are reality TV and four are based on true crime and courtroom focused programming, with other notable channels including those dedicated to SNL and Top Chef. Another feature of the lineup is the selection of three distinct sports channels alongside the NBC Sports channel. GolfPass provides supplemental golf content and instructional videos, while the two other Peacock exclusive channels are focused on WWE and English Premier League football.
Along with the hispanic network, Telemundo, NBCU owns a considerable amount of Spanish-speaking content, including four local US news networks, a telenovela channel, a general entertainment channel and Telemundo Al Dia, which offers entertainment and sports news.
Peacock, Xumo & Freevee strategy
NBCU’s strategic ties with a multitude of FAST platforms provide different opportunities for growth and distribution. Peacock is NBCU’s own multi tier streaming platform that includes FAST channels. After initially launching with a free tier, Peacock is now a hybrid streaming service, with two paid tiers that includes SVOD and streamed channels. With only 28 FAST channels (and a greater focus on VOD), Peacock has one of the smaller FAST line-ups in the US, especially when compared to the other major platforms such as Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus and Amazon Freevee. How Peacock balances the FAST offer across the two tiers, and potentially utilises FAST going forward will be an area to follow closely.
Xumo Play, which is part owned by NBCU’s parent company Comcast, is in itself another successful FAST service that currently holds dozens of NBCU channels. The company’s technology branch, Xumo Enterprise, also assists in powering and supporting channel distribution on 3rd party platforms, such as Amazon Freevee, who have partnered with NBCU for multiple of their channels, both in the US and UK. While the deal with Amazon has been widely publicised, it is also important to note that NBCU have channels on all other major US FAST platforms, with a notable presence on Samsung TV Plus, Roku and Pluto TV.
International Growth
Internationally, NBCU have launched six single IP channels on Amazon Freevee in the UK, three scripted and three unscripted. With international markets now offering more opportunities in FAST it will be interesting to follow how NBCU and other Studios start to rollout in other markets, including non-English markets that require versioning. With more premium single IP channels being dubbed in multiple languages (e.g. Baywatch) we expect to see NBCU continuing their expansion to additional markets.
It will be interesting to follow how NBCU introduce new single IP channels to the market and work their catalogue. Shows like The Bionic Woman can run through all episodes in their library in one week and continuously schedule them for further weeks. When the time is right we will no doubt see NBCU then swap out that IP for one of their others in an effort to maximise viewing.
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