Ep. 26: Alan Wolk - The “Godfather of FASTs” Recounts The Rise of Free Streaming TV

The “Godfather of FASTs” Recounts The Rise of Free Streaming TV

Alan Wolk earned the moniker “Godfather of FASTs” for coining a now ubiquitous industry term, but his influence extends far beyond a clever acronym. Wolk recently traced the origins and rapid maturation of the free, ad-supported streaming TV services now known as FASTs.

As the co-founder of TVRev recalls, it started around a decade ago when companies like Pluto TV seized on an opportunity for streaming comfort food programming. By packaging older licensed content into linear channels viewable for free, they essentially adapted the early cable TV model for the internet era.

Wolk himself catalyzed the category by branding these ad-supported platforms with a catchy name. “I coined a term that has become very popular,” he explains. “At the time, we were calling all the SVOD services flixes...And then there's this other weird category, Pluto and Tubi and Xumo. And they're not the same as Hulu because they're free, so free. Ad-supported became fast, started calling them the flixes and the fasts, and then fast just took.”

According to Wolk, Roku then kickstarted a pivotal change by launching The Roku Channel. Major TV manufacturers followed suit in making FASTs central to the smart TV experience. As Wolk puts it, “Seeing that Samsung, LG and Vizio possibly in that order, I don't remember, I'm not sure. But they all said, hey, what a great idea. We should do this too. And they did.”

With free channels bundled directly into internet-connected sets, FASTs have become integral offerings on modern televisions. And key players have diverged from earlier models. While Pluto TV, Tubi and Xumo have been acquired as standalone branded apps under major media parents like Viacom, Fox and Comcast respectively, TV manufacturers have centralized free content within smart interfaces.

Besides the prominence of built-in options on sets from the likes of Samsung and LG, Wolk highlights several other recent evolutions in the wider FAST ecosystem:

• Integration of linear channels and on-demand libraries for a more seamless experience

• A “push to quality” as major studios sell rights to popular shows like Westworld

• Expansion into live events and sports programming

• Emergence of original programming, with Emmy nominations for shows on Amazon's Freevee and The Roku Channel

As Wolk summarizes, “They’re really coming into their own right now.”

Besides updates in the core FAST landscape, Wolk also weighed in on the migration of sports streaming given his longstanding analysis of media trends.

In terms of major U.S. leagues, he sees potential fallout from fragmentation across various Direct-to-Consumer offerings. While diehard fans may subscribe to everything, more casual audiences could lose interest amid what Wolk calls a “money grab.” Nevertheless, he believes faster-growing, younger-skewing sports like soccer represent strong streaming opportunities - hence the value behind Apple's recent deal for MLS rights.

Having conceived the category’s common shorthand to start with, Wolk speaks authoritatively on FASTs’ promising trajectory. “They’re really coming into their own right now,” he observes. And with free ad-supported viewing becoming integral for internet-connected TVs, the Godfather of FASTs will no doubt remain an influential voice guiding developments. If the last decade marked the origins of modern FASTs, they seem primed to become even more prominent in the future according to the man who named them in the first place.

A Turning Point ArrivesAdditional DevelopmentsOutlook for Sports StreamingThe Future According to The Godfather of FASTs