Google TV Hits the FAST 100 Club 

Google TV is now in the 100 club. The addition of 24 channels this week pushed America’s newest major FAST platform to 104 channels, meaning only Peacock and STIRR now offer fewer than 100. 

To avoid confusion, the channels included are those available within the native Google TV app and are a constant presence. As VIP+ has previously covered, Google TV also has partnerships with services Pluto TV, Tubi, Haystack News and Plex, which makes their channels available within the channel guide once they are installed.  

The new channels mostly fall under general entertainment (TV shows), boosting the share of these channels from 47% of all offerings to over half, with 57%. 

Notably, almost half of the new additions were single-IP channels, such as "Murder She Wrote” and "Anger Management.” As noted in our recent "Life in the FAST Lane" special report, single-IP channels are seeing tremendous success with viewers across the world, so adding more prominent examples of these to the lineup will only be a boon for Google.  

The vast majority of the added channels come from established media and entertainment companies — almost as if Google TV execs read our recent analysis on the brandification of FAST and took it to heart! For consumers, this means more brands they recognize and more options to scroll through, thus boosting viewing time and the all-important ad revenue.  

Of the newly added channels, BBC Studios provided the most, with eight. Other companies providing multiple channels to Google TV include Fremantle (4), FilmRise (6), Scripps Networks (5) and NBCUniversal (15), with corporate Comcast sibling Xumo providing an additional 3 branded channels. (Xumo's Enterprise business provides Google TV's native channels through its channel creation and management side.) 

It's VIP+'s view that while late to entering the FAST space, Google TV will ultimately be one of the key players in the space. As such, expect plenty more expansions like this over the next 18 months. 

Now dig into the data-fueled VIP+ subscriber report ...