FAST channels Tubi and Roku emerge as formidable rivals for ad spend

The rise of FAST platforms signifies a permanent shift in how brand marketers approach lean-back television, moving from fixed linear schedules to on-demand, free environments. For the ecosystem, this means concentrated competition between hardware-integrated services like Roku and content-first platforms like Tubi, both of which are aggressively capturing the ad dollars legacy broadcasters are losing. The immediate effect is a more fragmented but data-rich ad marketplace that challenges the pricing floor of premium SVOD tiers. Watch for MoffettNathanson’s next quarterly revenue estimates for Tubi to see if its growth rate can close the gap with the $2.06 billion Netflix ad-tier projections for the 2025-2026 window.

The broader ad-supported streaming market is entering a high-growth phase, with MoffettNathanson estimating overall AVOD revenue to rise 17% to $15.6 billion across major platforms through 2025, per MediaPost in October 2025. This growth is being led by aggressive gains from established players; while Hulu remains a top earner, newer entrants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are surging to meet it. Per MediaPost, Netflix ad revenue was projected to jump 116% to $2.06 billion in 2025, while the Roku Channel and Tubi were expected to see individual spikes of 22% and 24% respectively. This influx of premium ad inventory is contributing to a 9% decline in national linear TV ad spend.

YouTube’s dominance remains the benchmark for the industry, having reportedly surpassed $60 billion in total annual revenue for the first time in 2025, according to Alphabet’s earnings disclosed in February 2026. Per Media Play News, YouTube's combined ad and subscription revenue now makes it the second-largest entertainment company globally, trailing only Disney. Its quarterly ad revenue alone reached $11.4 billion in Q4 2025, illustrating the scale that FAST services like Tubi (which generated approximately $900 million in 2023 per Business of Apps) are still working to reach.

Hardware platforms are also seeing significant monetization gains. Roku reported that its advertising revenue grew 27% year-over-year to $613 million in the first quarter of 2026, according to a May 2026 report from PPC Land. As streaming hours across Roku devices hit nearly 150 billion annually, the company has increasingly leaned on AI-driven self-service tools like Ads Manager to attract small and medium-sized businesses. This shift indicates that the battle for ad budgets is no longer just about aggregate viewership but about making the high-impact TV screen accessible to the programmatic buying ecosystem.