Globoplay, Pickbox & Radio-Canada cool on FAST in Lat Am & CEE

Sanja Božić-Ljubičić

FAST might be seen as a road to relative riches in the US, but execs at key streamers in Latin America, CEE and Canada have cooled the current potential of the medium in their parts of the world.

TBI revealed earlier this year that global FAST revenues are set to hit £12bn by 2027, but almost 90% of that will come from the US, according to research powerhouse Omdia.

Streaming chiefs at Globoplay in Brazil, CEE operator Pickbox & Quebec-based Radio-Canada underlined the nascent stage of FAST here at Conecta Fiction in Toledo, Spain, pointing to the ongoing dominance of linear and free TV services.

“The Adria region is not yet ready for FAST or AVOD channels to be honest, not yet,” said Sanja Božic-Ljubicic, CEO at Pickbox. “Broadband coverage in Croatia is not that good for one, but everyone is getting there.”

“AVOD and FAST in Brazil is like it is across the rest of Latin America,” continued Pablo Ghiglione, head of international coproductions at Globoplay, the streamer owned by Brazilian giant Globo.

“Compared with the US, the revenues coming from AVOD for content owners is so much less – it is 3-4% of what you might be makimg in the US,” Ghiglione continued.

Windowing & experimentation

Globo is experimenting with FAST channels Ghiglione added, with two channels launched within Globoplay that also lie on Samsung TV, while the company has also licensed its programming to third-parties such as Vix and Pluto TV in the US.

“The revenues are very different though and when you have shows in AVOD, it is very important to understand the right windowing. We see everyone talking about FAST and AVOD but we don’t see the revenues coming from there now, so it is important to be careful about what you put there so you don’t sacrifice revenues elsewhere.”

André Béeraud, head of scripted at Radio-Canada, added that linear continues to have the greatest reach despite the rapid expansion of streamers, while AVOD provides its own challenges because of the need to retain a large library.

“You can see with Paramount+, Netflix or Disney, they are not now looking at expanding their reach, they are about profitability and if you don’t have Disney sustaining disney+, which doesn’t make money right, now it is hard to survive.

“For our platform, yes there is a budget located for the platform but the big buys and series are paid for by linear. And that is why programming will eventually be on linear.”