Why Your FAST Channel Isn’t Making Money (And It’s Not Your Content)

You’ve got a FAST channel. The content is good. People are watching. But somehow, you’re barely making any money. Sound familiar?

Here’s the thing: most FAST channel operators think their revenue problem is a content problem or an audience problem. It’s not. It’s a monetisation problem. And it’s fixable. Let’s diagnose why your FAST channel isn’t printing money like it should:

1. Your Ad Fill Rate Is Terrible (And You Don’t Even Know It)

You’re running 8 ad breaks per hour. But only 3 of them are actually filled with paid ads. The rest? Slate cards. PSAs. Dead air. Or worse—the same promo for your own channel that nobody cares about. That’s 62.5% of your ad inventory burning money.

Why does this happen?

• You’re only using one demand source (usually programmatic)
• You don’t have direct advertiser relationships
• Your inventory isn’t packaged for premium buyers
• You’re competing with 1,900 other FAST channels for the same bottom-tier demand

Most channels see 40-60% fill rates and think “that’s just how it is.” It’s not. Channels with proper monetisation strategies hit 80-95% fill. That difference? That’s the difference between breaking even and actually making money.

2. You’re Leaving Premium Demand On The Table

Programmatic pays $3-8 CPMs if you’re lucky. Maybe $10-15 on a good day. But there are advertisers who would pay $25-50+ CPMs for your inventory. Auto dealers. Home services. Financial services. Local businesses.

You’re not accessing them because:

• You don’t know they exist
• You don’t have the tech they need (like interactive ads)
• You don’t speak their language
• They don’t know YOU exist

So you settle for programmatic scraps while better-monetised channels are getting premium rates for the same viewers.

3. Your Inventory Isn’t Packaged Properly

You’re selling “30-second spots on our FAST channel.” Cool. Meanwhile, smart publishers are selling:

• “Exclusive sponsorship of our sports content”
• “First position in every ad break during primetime”
• “Interactive ads targeting car buyers in these metro areas”
• “Category exclusivity for Q2”

Advertisers pay more for specific, valuable inventory packages. They pay less for generic spot inventory. If you’re not packaging your inventory based on what advertisers actually want, you’re leaving money on the table.

4. You’re Not Diversifying Demand Sources

Most FAST channels have one revenue stream: programmatic through their platform’s default ad server. That’s it. When that dries up (and it does), your revenue tanks.

Channels making real money have multiple demand sources:

• Programmatic (as a baseline)
• Direct advertisers
• Sponsorships
• Interactive/performance advertisers
• Local/regional demand
• Seasonal opportunities (political, holidays, etc.)

One source = vulnerable. Multiple sources = stable revenue.

5. You Don’t Actually Know Your Numbers

Ask yourself:

• What’s your actual ad fill rate?
• What’s your average CPM by daypart?
• Which content drives the highest CPMs?
• What percentage of revenue goes to intermediaries?
• How much money are you losing to unfilled inventory?

If you can’t answer these questions, you can’t optimise. You’re flying blind. Most channel operators look at their monthly payout and shrug. “Guess that’s what we made.” That’s not a strategy. The Real Problem: You’re Playing Defence

Here’s what most FAST channels do:

• Set up their channel
• Turn on default programmatic
• Hope the platform sends them ads
• Accept whatever revenue shows up
• Wonder why it’s not more

That’s playing defence. Waiting for demand to find you.

Channels making real money play offence:

• Actively seek out premium advertisers
• Package inventory strategically
• Optimize fill rates aggressively
• Test new demand sources constantly
• Know their numbers and act on them

Defence = accepting whatever scraps programmatic throws you
Offence = actively maximising every ad slot

How FAST TV Fixes Your Monetisation

This is what we do. We don’t fix your content or grow your audience (though those help). We fix how you make money from the audience you already have.

We Optimise Ad Fill

Your 40% fill rate? We get it to 80%+. How?

• Multiple demand sources competing for your inventory
• Backfill strategies that actually work
• Direct advertiser relationships filling premium slots
• Smart scheduling to maximize high-value inventory

Those empty ad slots are costing you thousands per month. We fill them.

We Connect You With Premium Demand

Instead of generic programmatic at $5-8 CPMs, we bring you:

• Auto dealers paying $25-50 CPMs
• Interactive advertisers with performance budgets
• Local/regional businesses with high LTV
• Seasonal opportunities (political, holidays)
• Sponsorship deals for specific content

Premium advertisers want your inventory. They just don’t know how to find you. We make that connection.

We Package Your Inventory Properly

We help you create inventory packages that advertisers actually want:

• Content-based sponsorships
• Exclusive category positions
• Interactive ad placements
• Daypart-specific packages
• Geographic targeting options

Better packaging = better rates.

We Diversify Your Revenue

Relying on one revenue source is risky. We build multiple streams:

• Keep programmatic as baseline
• Add direct advertiser relationships
• Layer in interactive/performance demand
• Capture seasonal opportunities
• Test new formats and demand sources

Multiple sources = stable, growing revenue.

We Give You Actual Visibility

You can’t optimize what you can’t measure. We help you track:

• Real ad fill rates (not what the platform tells you)
• CPMs by content type, daypart, advertiser
• Revenue per thousand viewers
• Where money is being left on the table
• What’s working and what’s not

Then we act on that data to make more money.

What You Need to Qualify

We’re honest: this isn’t for every channel.

You need:

1. Decent viewership – At least 50k+ monthly views. More is better.
2. Real viewers – Not bots, not fraud, not background noise. Actual humans watching.
3. Consistent content – Doesn’t have to be premium, but needs to be consistent and appropriate for advertisers.
4. Willingness to optimize – This isn’t “set it and forget it.” We test and improve constantly.

If your channel is brand new or has sketchy traffic, focus on fixing that first. But if you have real viewers and aren’t making real money, that’s a monetisation problem we can fix.

What You Actually Get

• Higher fill rates – 80-95% vs your current 40-60%
• Better CPMs – Access to premium demand paying 2-5x programmatic rates
• Multiple revenue streams – Not dependent on one source
• Actual visibility – Know your numbers, optimize accordingly
• Growing revenue – As we learn what works, we scale it

Some channels see 50-100% revenue increases in the first few months. Not because they got more viewers (though that helps), but because they stopped leaving money on the table.

What This Costs

Most monetisation partners take 30-50% of your revenue. Some take more. We’re not going to share exact pricing in a blog post, but our model is simple: we make money when you make money. If we’re not improving your revenue, we’re not worth working with.

We’re not here to skim off the top of your existing revenue. We’re here to unlock revenue you’re not currently getting. The Bottom Line:

Your FAST channel isn’t making money for one (or more) of these reasons:

• Terrible ad fill rates
• No access to premium demand
• Poorly packaged inventory
• Single revenue source
• No visibility into your numbers

None of these are content problems. They’re all monetisation problems. You can keep playing defence, accepting whatever programmatic throws you, and wondering why your payouts are so low. Or you can play offence, optimise your monetisation, and actually make the money your audience is worth. Let’s Talk

If you have a FAST channel with decent viewership but disappointing revenue, we should chat. We’ll look at your channel, diagnose what’s costing you money, and tell you honestly if we can help. No long-term contracts. No BS. Just a real conversation about why you’re not making money and how to fix it. Because at the end of the day, viewers are watching. Ads are running. Money exists in the system.

The question is: are you actually capturing it?