Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Still Sees Potential FAST Service as ‘A Real Opportunity For Us’
In the Warner Bros. Discovery Q3 earnings call, company leaders were excited about the prospects for an upcoming free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service.
WBD executives have been discussing the potential creation of a FAST service for a while now. The idea was first floated in August. In September, WBD CEO David Zaslav said that the launch of the combined HBO Max/discovery+ service — now scheduled for spring — is the company’s top priority, but that following that launch a free ad-supported channel could come quickly. Zaslav went further into detail in the company’s recent earnings call.
“We see FAST is a real opportunity for us. And I think it’s unique for us. We have the largest TV and motion picture library,” Zaslav said. “We can take content we already own, and get ourselves into an AVOD service, which I think makes us full service.”
Zaslav noted that the company keeps careful records of what content is getting the most attention on its streamers. Content that is less popular might be sold to other providers, but there is still a huge swath of shows and movies that the company can monetize by making them free to watch with ads.
That’s the company’s biggest advantage when it comes to creating a FAST service. With such a large back-catalog it can pull shows and movies that no one is watching from HBO Max and revitalize them on FAST channels. The FAST service will also be able to steer more customers toward the wider content offerings on one of WBD’s paid services.
“The ability to see over the last 1.5 years what’s happened to that entire library of motion picture and movies or on — and to see that if none of it’s being used, why aren’t we putting it on an [ad-supported video on-demand] AVOD where it will be used?” Zaslav asked rhetorically.
The launch of a FAST service would be a wise move on WBD’s part. Zaslav has infamously spent much of 2022 slashing content from HBO Max to recoup a $50 million debt left over from the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery. FAST services become profitable rapidly, especially when the company operating them doesn’t have to pay to license content from other providers.
Still, the roll out of a WBD FAST service may not take place until later next year or 2024. Judging by Zaslav’s comments, the company is still evaluating what content is doing best on HBO Max.
“What we’re really trying to understand is what has worked on the platform and what hasn’t,” he said. “And then based on that, we’ll determine how to operate going forward.”
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