The first ever joint report from Xumo and Comcast Advertising reveals that 94% of FAST impressions in the U.S. are delivered on the TV screen. It also shows that over half of advertisers there use FAST because it extends the reach of their audience.
Advertisers who were surveyed cited the delivery of incremental audiences (viewers not found through their other TV advertising investments) and the ability to find these audiences more accurately as large factors when choosing FAST. Three in five FAST buyers use it to target a specific audience.
FAST advertising impressions are ten times more likely to be delivered within hard-to-reach households (e.g., light broadcast viewers) than traditional TV impressions. FAST impressions are 2.3 times more likely to be delivered within hard-to-reach households than other streaming sectors.
The report, called ‘The 2023 State of FAST’, looked at consumer use of FAST. It finds that nearly half of consumers regularly watch at least one FAST service, with FAST viewers using an average of 1.9 services. News is the most viewed genre on FAST, accounting for 39% of viewing on Xumo. The next most popular genres are movies (10%), action and drama (5%), sport (5%) and game shows (3%).
The report provides definitive evidence that FAST is a television set experience. Of the 6% of viewing that is not on a television set, 4% was on mobile and 2% of impressions are on desktop/computer. 56% of consumers said FAST channels are as good as cable channels.
The survey dug into how advertisers buy FAST and found that buys can occur across groups of channels by genre, by individual channels, or by a targeted blend of different genres to reach a specific demo. One-in-two FAST buyers run a campaign across multiple FAST services. One-in-three say they have run campaigns using only one service.
Nearly half of advertisers surveyed said they are currently using FAST in their media buying and planning. From the 75 advertising leaders who were buying on FAST, 70% started advertising on FAST in the last 12 months. From those already buying FAST, 84% think they will increase their FAST investments in 2024, following spend growth in 2022-23.
Among ad buyers who were not buying on FAST at the time of their responses (September), 56% said they think they will buy an ad on FAST before the end of 2023.
The 2023 State of FAST is the result of two research studies that were conducted in partnership with leading insights firm CRG Global during August and September 2023. The first surveyed 4,000 U.S. adults, with qualitative interviews held among FAST users and non-users of FAST. The second surveyed 75 FAST advertisers and 75 non-FAST advertisers, with qualitative interviews held with FAST advertisers. Data insights from across Comcast Advertising and Xumo Play have also been used.
Xumo is a joint venture between the U.S. cable operators Comcast and Charter. It was formed to offer a next-generation streaming platform for the entertainment industry. Xumo creates devices and offers the Xumo Play FAST service (for Xumo devices and third-party streaming platforms).
Xumo also provides technology and services to content makers and distributors to bring FAST channels to market and to advertisers who want to market through them. Comcast Advertising is the advertising division of Comcast Cable.
