FAST market faces 'zombie' channel crisis as ad repetition surges
The FAST sector is experiencing rapid expansion, but issues like ad repetition and 'zombie' channels (<6,000 viewers per hour) are leading to viewer dissatisfaction and depressed CPMs for advertisers. Research indicates a significant majority of viewers notice ad repetition and it negatively impacts their perception of brands and platforms. The article suggests advertisers and agencies should prioritize quality over quantity to mitigate these problems.
Key Takeaways
- Zombie channels are defined as those attracting fewer than 6,000 viewers per hour on major platforms.
- Epsilon research indicates 76% of viewers think less of a brand when exposed to frequent ad repetition.
- Approximately 70% of viewers state that constant ad repetition negatively impacts their perception of the streaming platform.
- Inventory that fails to meet deal guarantees is often diverted to spin-off channels, exacerbating frequency issues.
- Programmatic 'run of network' buying is driving lower CPMs as advertisers receive poor results from low-reach channels.
Why It Matters
The proliferation of under-watched channels threatens the economic floor of the FAST ecosystem. By diluting limited high-quality inventory with 'zombie' supply, platforms risk a race to the bottom for CPMs while simultaneously alienating the viewers they worked to acquire. For the broader technology stack, this underscores a critical need for more sophisticated server-side ad insertion (SSAI) and frequency capping tools that work across fragmented platform silos. To maintain growth, the industry must shift from pure volume to premium curation. Watch for a potential consolidation of independent FAST channels as they struggle to stay above the 6,000-viewer-per-hour 'zombie' threshold.
Additional Context
The supply shock in the FAST market follows a period of unprecedented volume growth. According to Gracenote and Nielsen data from March 2025, the number of active FAST channels in major markets like the U.S. and U.K. nearly doubled over an 18-month period, reaching more than 1,600 individual channels. This expansion has been led by TV manufacturers; per MediaPost in August 2024, Samsung’s smart TV advertising reach hit 45.5 million households, competing directly with Prime Video’s 45.48 million. This race for scale has created a surplus of inventory that often outpaces advertiser demand, leading to the frequency issues noted in recent reports.
Simultaneously, the cost of sub-scale operations is becoming more apparent. Market analysis from February 2026 by industry analyst Gavin Bridge suggests that when ad loads reach 'the red zone' of 10 minutes per hour, effective CPMs can fall to $5.00—dropping below the standard programmatic floor of approximately $6.00. This pressure forces platforms to accept lower-tier ads or fill empty slots with house promos, further contributing to the negative viewer experiences described by Epsilon.
To counter these trends, platforms are increasingly leaning on high-value niche content rather than general library filler. Wurl reported in June 2026 that news content now accounts for 8.6% of all FAST viewing hours, representing a shift toward live and urgent programming that commands higher engagement. Additionally, Amagi noted in March 2026 that applied AI is being integrated into workflows to improve metadata enrichment and context tagging, which may eventually provide the targeting precision needed to resolve the ad repetition issues currently plaguing the sector.
Read full article at advanced-television.com
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