FAST - Free Ad-Supported Television on demand - was just taking off globally as the post-pandemic economic slowdown drove down the total available advertising revenue. It’s still a major source of revenue for Paramount Global however, and only promises to grow as advertising demand recovers.
This article provides a good evidence-based overview of Paramount’s dominance in this end of the market. As Star Trek fans have good reasons to be concerned about the state of Paramount+, it’s good to have some solid data on PlutoTV (where many of the older shows are available free) and the bigger picture of where Paramount Global is being successful.
In a Stream Metrics study for IndieWire, the analysts identified an owner for 1,364 of the channels. Most owners are in the single digits, but one company holds more than 20 percent of the channels studied: Paramount Global.
If you’re Paramount/Pluto TV, you can take it to the next level. Paramount has so many channels in part because it has its own platform with Pluto TV, which was launched in 2013 and purchased by Paramount (then ViacomCBS) in 2019. That allows Paramount to launch as many channels as it likes, without the licensing costs, and count the ad dollars. It needs that reliable cash; core streaming service Paramount+, like so many others in the SVOD category, hemorrhages mountains of money.