So, for publishers, at a time when all they want to do is keep their users engaged with proven premium video, VideoElephant has the goods. And that works in both directions: video we license from top publishers, and top publishers who use our video. Virtuous circle.
More timely this year, though, has been the surge in FAST. If you can believe it, new data found that as many as 66% of TV viewers are now using FAST platforms in an average month, with Fox’s Tubi, Paramount’s Pluto TV, Amazon’s Freevee, YouTube, and Roku ranked as the top-used platforms by those surveyed.
VideoElephant’s own three high-growth channels, Beyond Paranormal, Travel Escapes, and Real Crime Uncovered, have successfully tapped into the consumer zeitgeist and have given brands a viable showcase for their ads. Since launching its first two FAST channels in 2023, VideoElephant has seen, on average, double-digit increases in monthly HOV (hours of viewing), with sessions lasting well into the one-hour mark.
By leveraging timeliness and seasonality – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas - and curating programming with the strategic approach of traditional TV, we’ve turned viewers into loyal regulars, and our channels into go-to destinations. Says VideoElephant’s VP of Streaming Partnerships, Preeya Naul, “Managing FAST programming content around the clock, mastering the intricacies of TV broadcast scheduling, managing ad insertion, and navigating the complexities of selling ad inventory - it’s a steep learning curve, making FAST a challenging venture for those not already immersed in the industry.”
According to a recent expansive article in StreamTV Insider, where writer Bevin Fletcher discussed VideoElephant’s FAST business, she points out that VideoElephant’s third owned and operated FAST channel, Real Crime Uncovered, just landed on the TCLtv+ FAST service joining its two other FAST channels there. In addition to TCL+, VideoElephant's other two channels have distribution on SlingFreestream, Plex, LocalNow, TCLtv+, VIDAA Channels and now FreeCast.
For those publishers or media companies that want to get into the FAST space but don’t want the hassle of doing a million deals and hiring a team, VideoElephant Managed Services can step in, with its vast content library at the core. Aggregation and distribution are also key aspects for VideoElephant.
Says VideoElephant CCO Brian Cullinane in StreamTV Insider, “If you’re a small content owner, knocking on the doors of all these streaming platforms all day every day is incredibly time consuming and expensive, and increasingly incredibly difficult to get carriage,” Cullinane said. “So we just saw there was an opportunity and simultaneously it allows us to scale.”
Monetization is also part of the picture, where the vendor serves content owners that might not have their own in-house mechanisms.
In the end, says Cullinane, “The quality of FAST channels is improving enormously.”
