Usage of free, ad-supported streaming platforms including Tubi, Pluto TV and The Roku Channel continues to climb at steep rates, according to a new research report compiled by Wurl, an AppLovin-owned provider of software-as-a-service to FAST companies.
In the Advertiser Edition of its 2025 "CTV Trends Report,” Wurl found that the number of “monthly active households” using free ad-supported streaming TV services was up 12% YoY as of August, while the average daily FAST viewing hours per household climbed 16% YoY.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company based its findings on “aggregated data across major FAST platforms,” using a measurement period spanning September 2024 - August 2025.
Taken together, Wurl said the increase in average daily households and HOV per household resulted in a nearly 29% boost in total hours of viewing across ad-supported streaming channels over the past 12 months.
FAST viewers appear to be settling into some habits, according to the Wurl data — compared to last September, FAST users in August spent 25% more time on a single channel before switching channels. And most households typically spend most of their time on a particular platform within the confines of three or four channels.
Meanwhile, among programming genres, reality programming garners the biggest share of FAST viewing time, consuming nearly 11% of aggregate usage, while dramas (9.4%) and documentaries (7.6%) are also popular on FAST platforms.
Notably, despite a flurry of recent launch activity in the space, usage of sports-based FAST content is relatively low, accounting for only around 2.6% of overall viewing.
Wurl’s findings seem to match other data sources pointing to sustained growth in the area of FASTs. For example, what is perhaps the most widely observed data set of all these days, Nielsen’s monthly market-share tracker “The Gauge,” put The Roku Channel’s share of aggregate U.S. viewing at only around 1.6% in September of last year. That figure swelled to 2.8% in August. Tubi, meanwhile, also saw its market share increase significantly, growing from 1.7% in September 2024 to 2.2% last month.
Back to Wurl, the SaaS company also noted that explosive growth in both FAST content supply and viewership has outpaced advertiser demand. That has resulted in steadily lowering “fill rates,” which measure the percentage of available ad inventory that is actually filled with paid impressions. Wurl sees this dynamic as an opportunity for advertisers.
“For advertisers, the decline in ad fill rates highlights a market where content supply is expanding faster than demand, creating untapped opportunities to reach engaged viewers at scale and signaling that advertisers may need to adjust their media mix more rapidly to keep pace with consumption,” the report states.
“This environment also benefits buyers who adopt smarter, more targeted strategies,” Wurl added. “As streaming platforms prioritize metadata, contextual segmentation, and innovative ad formats to facilitate more demand for their inventory, advertisers can align creative with content in ways that enhance attention and lift.”