FAST

Content Americas in Miami: Latin American Media Gathers for Inaugural Event

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For a decade, from 2010-2020, the third week in January meant that television buyers, programmers, and producers met for NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives) in Miami. In late-2022, NATPE declared bankruptcy, and London-based C21 Media, hot off their successful Content London event in late-November, announced the launch of Content Americas, which presented a fresh look at the burgeoning Latin American content business. The inaugural event, held at the Miami Hilton Downtown from January 23-26, was sold out; a crowd of 1,500 executives gathered to do business in a post-pandemic landscape that looked vastly different than the last in-person NATPE in 2020.
One of the major inflection points in the LATAM media universe is the migration to Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television, or FAST, models, both with U.S. Latino populations and across Latin America. Wrapping up Day #2 on Wednesday, January 25th was the session ‘FAST Across the Americas: How Latin Brands Are Migrating to Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV,’ which discussed the growth of  FAST models in Latin America and with U.S. Latino populations, and how advertisers and brands are collaborating on models for existing and new streaming audiences.
Left to right: Chris Pfaff, Jorge Balleste, Jasmin Rezai, Tony Kelly, Jonathan French
The OTT landscape across the Americas has, until recently, consisted mainly of operator-driven curation of video channels. Now, the FAST revolution has taken hold, and channels are being launched to support existing OTT brands, including SVOD services, to create upsell momentum and brand recognition amongst Spanish, Portuguese and English audiences alike.
Moderated by Chris Pfaff, CEO of Chris Pfaff Tech Media LLC, the session included Jasmin Rezai, vice president content distribution & partnerships, Olympusat; Tony Kelly, CEO, DMD Limited/CINDIE; Jorge Balleste, VP, content partnerships and acquisitions, Vix/Vix+, TelevisaUnivision, and Jonathan French, SVP, sales & business development, MuxIP.
Jonathan French, Chris Pfaff, Jasmin Rezai, Jorge Balleste, Tony Kelly
You can listen to the full session here:
Pfaff kicked off the session discussing what he called ‘FAST Figures,’ including:
  • There are more than 1,500 FAST channels in the U.S.
  • Omdia has reported that FAST channel revenues will each $12bn in 2027
  • According to TVRev, by 2025, more money will be spent on FASTs ($33.7B or 35% of total ad spend) than on cable, broadcast or SVOD. That number will grow to $42.6B or 42% of total ad spend by 2027
  • According to Omdia, two of the top 10 CTV markets are in LATAM: Brazil is #2 and Mexico is #7. Will we see further regional LATAM growth in CTV in the next 3 years
  • In the U.S., leading FAST channels massively increased their Spanish language catalogs during the pandemic (March, 2020-Sept. 2022): Pluto from 389 to 5,529; Roku On Demand from 0 to 3,815 and Tubi from 1665 to 9,455
  • According to GSMA, Take-up of 4G has more than doubled across Latin America in the past 5 years, with more than 410 million connections at the end of 2021. This is projected to peak in 2024, as consumers increasingly migrate to 5G plans.

Pfaff directed the conversation to the emerging FAST strategy in LATAM, including using FAST channels to upsell viewers to premium content, as Tony Kelly acknowledged for CINDIE. Jorge Ballesta’s Vix – which encompasses more than 40,000 hours of content in all genres – became part of the discussion. Pfaff discussed the “FAST is the new cable” mantra with the panel, and even discussed how FAST is also the new “independent TV.” With a shout-out to TelevisaUnivision’s Luis de la Parra, a leader in branded content, Pfaff discussed the growth of FAST channels as a promotional vehicle.

 

 

 

 

Chris Pfaff appears on CTAM Europe virtual session – ‘Get Ready to Go FAST’ – November 16, 2022

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Chris Pfaff appeared on the CTAM Europe virtual webinar – Get Ready to Go FAST’ – on Wednesday, November, 16, 2022. Marco Frazier, from Screen+ moderated, and Christian Kneel, from Global Media Consult also appeared. The panel discussion included points regarding the content requirements for FAST and the monetization and tech requirements for FAST channel development.

You can watch the entire ‘Get Ready to Go FAST’ session at:

 

Christian Knaebel (upper left) makes a point as Chris Pfaff (upper right) and Marco Frazier (lower right) look on

Karen Doyle, from CTAM Europe (lower left) introduces the panel

Chris Pfaff moderates ‘Life in the FAST Lane’ pre-MIPCOM panel

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Chris Pfaff moderated an all-star panel – ‘Life in the FAST Lane’ – as a pre-MIPCOM virtual session on the Media Meet & Greet community, on the Deal Room platform, on Monday, October 10, 2022.

The speakers included:

  • Jonathan French, senior vice president, sales and business development, MuxIP
  • Larry Baird, chief marketing officer, Crackle Plus
  • Richard Young, director of syndication, Little Dot Studios
  • John T. Wells, CEO, Dooya Media Group

The session discussed the accelerated adoption of Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television, or FAST, models, and how advertisers and brands are positioning their content for this growing sector.

Chris Pfaff (upper left); Larry Baird (upper center): Richard Young (upper right); Jonathan French (lower left), John Wells (lower right)

You can watch the entire ‘Life in the FAST Lane’ panel at:

Chris Pfaff moderates ‘The Future of Advertising’ panel at Streaming Media East 2022

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At the first-ever Streaming Media East event held in Boston, Chris Pfaff moderated the ‘Future of Advertising’ session on May 24, 2022 with the following experts:

Brian Kline, president, Penthera

Jessica Masters, Director of East Coast Sales – Roku

Tim Ware, VicePresident of Platform Partnerships and Sales – Crackle Plus

You can watch the full panel at:

https://youtu.be/uq4Gq10mmIY?list=PLcSb1s2U3uyCXba5dvCf6sEnphLdTjq1q

Session Description:

SSAI. CSAI. DLA. FAST. AVOD. It’s a veritable alphabet soup of advertisingtechnologies and models, but they all share one thing in common: opening up a new world of TV advertising leveraging technologies that are only possible in streaming. This panel of industry leaders talks about what’s working, what’s not, and where the smart money says OTT advertising is headed.

(Left to right): Jessica Masters, Roku; Brian Kline, Penthera, Tim Ware, Crackle Plus

(Left to right): Jessica Masters, Roku; Brian Kline, Penthera, Tim Ware, Crackle Plus, Chris Pfaff, Chris Pfaff Tech Media LLC

Chris Pfaff moderates Streaming Media East Connect session, ‘Ad-Supported Streaming Takes Over?’ – May 19, 2021

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Chris Pfaff moderated the Streaming Media East Connect session ‘Ad-Supported Streaming Takes Over?’ on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, featuring some of the content and technology leaders in the Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) space, including:

  • Damian Pelliccione, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Revry
  • Chris Yates, general manager, on-demand, Redbox
  • Nick Colsey, VP, Business Development, Sony Electronics
  • Srinivasan KA, Co-founder, Amagi
  • Philippe Guelton, EVP of Online Networks & President of Crackle Plus at Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment

You can watch the full panel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmxMh1u8BQ0

 

Chris Pfaff (upper middle); Srinivasan KA (upper right); Philippe Guelton (middle left); Nick Colsey (middle middle); Chris Yates (bottom left), Damian Pelliccione (bottom right)

 

Chris Pfaff moderates all-star panel at Media Meet & Greet Spring 2021: ‘OTT Platforms for All Sizes: Not All Content Wears the Same’

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Chris Pfaff produced and moderated a supersession at the Spring (NAB-themed) Media Meet & Greet event ‘OTT Platforms for All Sizes: Not All Content Wears the Same’ on April 22, 2021, presented by Broadband TV News, and sponsored by Amagi Corporation. Avner Ronen, from Samsung Electroics; Tony Huidor, from Cinedigm; Paul Edwards, from ViacomCBS’ Pluto TV, and Sriivasan KA, from Amagi, discussed the explosion of free ad-supported television (FAST) and the growth of niche content channels in this 42-minute session. Kudos to Janet Greco and the Dealroom team for a great event.

You can watch the full session at: https://dealroomarchivedsessions.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/46556092/269e189d-45f5-40f7-9c01-4470b75320e1/archive.mp4.

 

Paul Edwards, ViacomCBS’ Pluto TV: (upper left); Tony Huidor, Cinedigm (upper middle); Avner Ronen, Samsung Electronics (upper right); Srinivasan KA, Amagi (bottom left), Chris Pfaff, Chris Pfaff Tech Media LLC (bottom right)