VideoElephant uses short form roots for FAST expansion, launches third channel on TCLtv+

VideoElephant, a relative recent entrant in the FAST space, is utilizing roots in online web video content licensing to launch its own FAST channels and to help populate, distribute and monetize channels for others.

The Dublin-based vendor just launched its third owned and operated free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, Real Crime Uncovered, on the TCLtv+ FAST service native to the device-maker’s smart TVs in North America. The true crime-focused channel joins two other FAST channels from VideoElephant on TCLtv+, including Beyond Paranormal and Travel Escapes. VideoElephant Chief Commercial Officer Brian Cullinane told StreamTV Insider the company aims to launch three or four more O&O channels in the next six to nine months.

Its latest launch focuses on the popular true crime genre, featuring series, documentaries and vodcasts.

“True crime is a proven genre, and viewers cannot get enough” said Catherine Zhang, VP of content service & partnership for TCLtv+, in a statement. “We are excited to expand our collaborations with VideoElephant and add this popular genre to our growing FAST lineup.”

In an interview with StreamTV Insider, Cullinane noted that the crime genre continues to deliver, citing increases in month-over-month hours of viewing (HOVs) as new monthly programming launches.

Real Crime Uncovered joins VideoElephant's other two channels, Beyond Paranormal and Travel Escapes, which both have distribution on FAST platforms including Sling’s Freestream, Plex, LocalNow, TCLtv+, VIDAA Channels and FreeCast.

Since launching its first two FAST channels in 2023, the company has seen, on average, double-digit increases in monthly HOVs (hours of viewing), according to Cullinane, with sessions lasting well into the one-hour mark.

In the fragmented world of FAST, content, distribution and monetization are three elements VideoElephant aims to help others with. It’s working to serve as a central point to deal with the distinct and respective requirements of various services and platforms for those that might not want or have the resources to do so themselves.

The vendor is making moves in the FAST space as ad spending on CTV is projected to increase and viewers are also getting more comfortable with free ad-supported streaming. Recent Horowitz Research data found 66% of TV viewers are now using FAST platforms in an average month, with Fox’s Tubi, Paramount’s Pluto TV, Amazon’s Freevee, YouTube, and Roku ranked as the top-used platforms by those surveyed. 

Background in short form content licensing, distribution 

Founded in 2012, VideoElephant’s background is in licensing and distributing short-form online video content around the web. It’s a legacy business the vendor’s utilizing to fuel and underpin an expansion into FAST and other areas.

Its legacy business licenses under-utilized web video content from publishers and distributes it to new places on a non-exclusive basis, such as to online websites that want to embed video in their articles, driving incremental revenue for the content creators or owners.  Through that it’s amassed a library of 5 million short-form video assets that span categories and genres from familiar brands like Bloomberg, CNN or Fox. According to Cullinane, VideoElephant gets up to 3,000 new videos in any 24-hour period.  Because of this history, the company counts publishers that don’t produce enough video content as a big part of its customer base, where the CCO noted sites like USA Today, MSN, or the New York Post among those embedding its short-form web video content. 

Fast forward to 2018, more screens became connected, streaming started to pick up steam and the use cases for video began to expand greatly. VideoElephant saw opportunity to leverage its historical relationships with content owners and web publishers into new areas.

“Anywhere there’s a screen getting connected there’s opportunities for us to bring content plus ads into that environment,” Cullinane said.

The vendor now counts two major distribution points in addition to online web video publishing. One is digital signage, which he noted is spilling over into OOH and retail media with connected screens in locations such as gas stations, airplanes, gyms and bars and restaurants.

The other is the FAST space.

When first launching FAST channels Cullinane acknowledged early efforts equated to “essentially glorified playlists” of short-form content. Since then, the FAST ecosystem has matured a bit and he’s seen a shift towards quality alongside an abundance of channels from service providers and platforms to choose from.

Now the vendor is using its video aggregation expertise to launch O&O channels and provide services for those interested in getting into or wanting to better capitalize on the FAST opportunity.

To be clear VideoElephant is not a tech vendor, so doesn’t compete with the Amagi, Frequency or Wurl’s of the world. Instead, it considers itself tech agnostic (where tech vendors are partners) but offers to handle various aspects of FAST programming, distribution and monetization. And while citing a desire for more O&O channels, Cullinane noted fast-growing demand for its FAST managed services business.

FAST curious

The commercial chief described two categories of the types of clients it’s seeing in the market – particularly from legacy publisher customers – those that are “FAST curious” and those that are FAST concerned.

On the one hand there are traditional tier one digital web publishers, which may have launched FAST channels in the early days but are underperforming.

“It’s resource intensive, they’re barely making any money…in many cases they’re not making any money at all,” he said, noting additional payroll and headcount costs involved.

On the other it’s seeing publishers or media companies that want to get into the FAST space but don’t want to pursue the undertaking of striking individual platform deals and hiring personnel for facets like scheduling, programming or distribution (hence one of the catalysts for VideoElephant getting into the managed services business).

At the core of its business is the VideoElephant video library. For content it counts a rights-cleared library alongside a dedicated team in Dublin taking to content owners daily, according to Cullinane, as well as New York and LA-based operations in constant discussions with streaming platforms about what they’re looking for and where there might be gaps.

“A combination of all those factors makes us decide which channel might we want to launch next,” he said

On the content front for both O&O channels and others, it’s looking to fill gaps where services may have a weakness in certain genres or audiences that would be a fit for niche content. In addition to the newly launched true crime channel on TCL+ Cullinane cited plans for a war and military genre O&O channel.

The volume of content needed to keep a FAST channel fresh is another area where VideoElephant’s library comes into play.

Per Cullinane, the rule of thumb for keeping content new on a FAST channel (assuming it’s not single-series IP that just runs episodes of a single, long-running series or franchise) is 20% refresh rate per month.

“That’s a big issue for companies,” he said.

Distribution, monetization

Aggregation and distribution are also key aspects for VideoElephant.

In the FAST space there are services from smart TV OEMs and platform players (such as TCLtv+, Vizio’s WatchFree+, Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel), media-owned FASTs (like Pluto TV, Tubi, Xumo Play), and others like Plex, Freevee, and Sling FreeStream, to name a few.

For smaller content owners, getting content to various end points can be a difficult, time-consuming and potentially expensive process. And with fragmentation of platforms, which all may have their own requirements and audience, standardization is lacking and it can be a challenge to manage a variety of relationships.

For example, Cullinane described a recent deal with an unnamed company that had around 60 direct content partnerships which it wanted to consolidate through VideoElephant.

“It was just too wieldy for them to manage all these different partners, different commercial terms, different reporting requirements, different renewal dates,” and so on, he said. “So they’re just doing it all through us…aggregation piece is a huge part.”

So is easing the burden of distribution.

“If you’re a small content owner, knocking on the doors of all these streaming platforms all day every day is incredibly time consuming and expensive, and increasingly incredibly difficult to get carriage,” Cullinane said. “So we just saw there was an opportunity and simultaneously it allows us to scale.” 

In turn, when VideoElephant brings proper channels to platforms, it increases the vendor’s standing with distribution points like the Roku, Samsung and Vizio’s of the world.

Monetization is also part of the picture, where the vendor serves content owners that might not have their own in-house mechanisms.

Given its legacy business, content licensing was VideoElephant’s sole source of revenue until about 18 months or so ago, at which point its entry into the FAST space drove the creation of its ads business. Cullinane noted it was an opportunity to monetize through an inventory split on inventory the vendor created itself, rather than doing a revenue share with a streaming platform after FAST channels are created and delivered.

FAST 2.0

Playing into the challenge for smaller content owners is that FAST, as mentioned, has grown up a little, which the CCO equated to FAST 2.0.

Essentially, it’s the next phase of maturity for the ecosystem. One where FAST platforms and services are less hesitant to shed underperforming channels as they learn what works amid plenty of options – on one hand making it harder to stand out and succeed but where Cullinane sees opportunity for niche genres.

Illustrating the proliferation of FAST channels, Gavin Bridge in a May State of FAST report noted that amid a maturing industry the growth in available FAST channels continues month-to-month but is starting to slow “as the market approaches 2,000” channels across 18 tracked services. For comparison, there were 624 more FAST channels in May 2024 than in May 2022, reflecting about a 47% increase over the two-year period.

And with bigger names like NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery and others getting in on FAST channels, platforms appear to be raising their bar for quality and engagement.

“[Big streamers are] deprecating a lot of channels and non-performing channels that are kind of sitting on the shelf and nobody’s buying so they’re taking up shelf space,” Cullinane.

Within a crowded space, for those that aren’t major content companies with big-name IP, it’s all about finding those niche genres that resonate and the audience a channel can bring, the executive noted. And that involves tailoring to the platform and its audience, where some content channels might be better suited to certain services.

“The quality of FAST channels is improving enormously,” he said in terms of trends in the market. And the trend for smaller independent vendors like VideoElephant is “to find more niche specialist” content in interesting categories and verticals.

To that end, he sees opportunities for hyper niche content owners in genres that pique viewer interest and can bring in a new audience.

“I think the streamers are very interested if you can bring in a unique audience,” Cullinane commented. “What they’re all looking for is net new viewers, and so that’s hyper niche content.”

While these might represent smaller volumes of audience compared to blockbuster FAST channels they reflect “very loyal” viewers who can drive “enormous session times”, which VideoElephant has seen play out on social campaigns for its own channels, according to the CCO, who cited sessions for niche content on platforms like Facebook in the 70-90-minute range.

Cullinane believes there are around 10-15 streaming platforms a FAST channel needs to be on in the U.S. to be viable. Aside from content wants, he noted requirements by platforms for video playout distribution are limited to few top tier vendors, where VideoElephant also brings partner connections to the table.

So as FAST channel options abound and platforms continue to optimize for higher performance, the FAST space seems to be getting a little harder to break into but still provides opportunity for those that can bring something unique.

“The barrier to entry for content owners is just getting higher and higher in that sense,” Cullinane said. “But it’s also getting lower and lower in the sense that smaller content owners and libraries of content are getting opportunities to get their content onto TV screens” that wouldn’t have been able to do so in the days of cable and broadcast TV. 

Article updated in sixth paragraph to correct information about VideoElephant’s O&O FAST channels. A previous version stated Crime Files as a separate channel, but has been corrected to reflect that channel morphed into the newly launched Real Crime Uncovered channel. Also updated to add info on VIDAA and Freecast distribution and remove refence of distribution of Beyond Paranormal and Travel Escapes on The Grio, as those channels were removed from the platform when it ceased operations.