Streaming’s Next Battlefront: Free Services Seize Their Moment
Could Netflix’s pain be someone else’s gain? A number of entertainment companies are counting on exactly that. As consumers grapple with higher subscription costs, and with more subscription video offerings than ever, those companies in the free, ad-supported streaming space (usually referred to as FAST, in industry jargon) think their time is now. In fact, many of the biggest players in the FAST space will be familiar to close followers of the entertainment business. There’s Pluto TV, owned by Paramount; there’s Tubi, owned by Fox Corp.; there’s Freevee (formerly IMDb TV), owned by Amazon; there’s Peacock’s free tier, owned by NBCUniversal; and there’s Roku Channel, owned by, well, Roku. All of the services combine a wealth of licensed TV and movie content (in some cases from the libraries of their corporate parents)…