Explainer
What is FAST? A field guide to free ad-supported streaming TV
FAST stands for free ad-supported streaming television: linear, lean-back channels — with a program guide, scheduled shows, and ad breaks — delivered over the internet at no charge to the viewer. If cable TV and a streaming app had a child, it would look like Pluto TV.
The category's major storefronts are platform-owned: The Roku Channel, Tubi (Fox), Pluto TV (Paramount), Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Xumo (Comcast/Charter), and Plex, among others. Smart-TV makers love FAST because it monetizes the home screen they control; content owners love it because libraries and single-franchise channels earn ad revenue without a subscription paywall.
How the money works: viewers pay nothing; ad breaks are filled per-viewer through the programmatic ad market, typically stitched into the stream with server-side ad insertion so channels feel like broadcast TV. Channel operators and platforms split ad revenue. That makes FAST economics a scale game — which is why engagement metrics (hours per household, session length) matter more than raw channel counts, a point Roku and Horizon Media's research emphasizes.
Why it's growing: free wins in a subscription-fatigued market. eMarketer projects well over 125 million Americans will watch FAST at least monthly in 2026, and the average FAST viewer's daily time keeps rising. The content is following the audience — most visibly sports, where the Roku/Horizon study measured FAST sports-channel viewing up triple digits year over year.
The vocabulary cheat sheet: AVOD is free on-demand video with ads (FAST's on-demand sibling); SVOD is subscription streaming (Netflix et al.); and hybrid tiers — subscription prices reduced by ads — now blur every line. When someone says "the free TV business," FAST plus AVOD is what they mean.