FAST stands for free ad-supported streaming TV: linear channels delivered over the internet, with a schedule and ad breaks, the way broadcast TV works. The viewer does not pick an episode. They pick a channel, and the channel plays. In Southeast Asia and the Gulf, most of that viewing happens inside the TV itself, in the channel guides that smart TV makers build into their home screens, with a growing number of channels also carried in broadcaster and telco apps.
For a buyer, that detail matters more than the acronym. FAST inventory belongs to whoever owns the screen or the channel, and how you reach it depends on which of the 2 you deal with.
What FAST is, and what it is not
FAST is different from AVOD, where the viewer chooses a title on demand and ads run around it, and from subscription services with an ad tier. The schedule is fixed, so a FAST channel behaves like a small TV network: breaks at set points, the same channel running all evening, a set left on in the background while someone cooks.
The TV makers are the reason the format grew so quickly. Omdia's analysts describe smart TVs as becoming ad-based aggregators: every major brand now puts ad-funded content on the screen that boots up first, and some charge content owners for a prominent spot on it. Omdia's Advertising Intelligence put FAST at USD 8 billion of a USD 377 billion global TV and video ad market in 2024. That is small next to linear TV. It is also new money, and a good share of it goes to the companies that build the sets.
What is on it in Southeast Asia
Lineups in the region lean on content with an audience already attached: Korean drama, local-language entertainment, news and sport, and single-title channels that run one series back to back. Those single-title channels work because FAST viewing is lean-back. Someone who has watched 3 episodes in a row will often watch a 4th without touching the remote, and every episode carries breaks.
The audience is real but uneven from market to market. In eMarketer's Global Media Intelligence 2024 report, based on GWI polling in the first half of 2024, smart TV ownership averaged 41% across the South and Southeast Asian markets surveyed, with Indonesia at 36.4%. Where the connected TV is in the home, it gets used. The e-Conomy SEA 2025 report notes that logged-in viewers in Indonesia and Vietnam spend over 4 hours a day watching YouTube on TV screens, in a region still described as mobile-first. The habit of streaming on the big screen is forming, and FAST channels sit one click away from it.
What is on it in the Middle East
The Gulf is at an earlier stage. Households skew affluent and connected TVs are common, but the number of FAST channels is smaller and lineups are still being built. One rule holds everywhere in the region: Arabic-language channels carry the audience. A plan built only on English-language channels buys a fraction of the viewing, however good the CPM looks.
Sport and news channels are where most buyers start. The schedules are predictable, the content is easy to clear for brand safety, and a live match gives you a known moment to be in the break.
Why it matters to buyers
Price is the first reason. FAST usually costs less than premium on-demand inventory. In the US, where the market is most developed, eMarketer figures put the average FAST CPM at USD 17 against USD 37 for Netflix. Rates in Southeast Asia and the Gulf vary widely by market, channel and buying route, so treat any regional rate card as the start of a conversation, not a benchmark.
Reach is the second. FAST viewers include households that never paid for TV and households that stopped. For a brand whose TV plan rests on broadcast, FAST adds people the broadcast buy misses, on the same screen.
The format is the third. Ads run in breaks, full screen, usually with sound on and no skip button. That is close to the environment your TV creative was made for.
The caveat is quality. Not every app that calls itself a TV channel has people watching it. Ad fraud researchers have pointed out for years that CTV bid requests are easy to fabricate, and the long tail of small streaming apps is where fake inventory hides. Whatever route you buy through, ask for delivery reported by channel and by app, and question anything that only comes back as "CTV".
How FAST is bought
Direct. TV makers and the larger channel owners sell through their own ad sales teams, or through appointed resellers in markets where they have no local team. You sign an insertion order with named channels or channel packages, a fixed CPM, an impression goal and a flight. This is the route for buyers who want to know exactly where the ads ran and what happens if a line falls short.
Programmatic. Much FAST inventory is also available through private marketplace deals and programmatic guaranteed deals in a buying platform, and some on the open exchange. The open exchange is the cheapest and the hardest to verify. If you buy programmatically, ask for a deal tied to named channels rather than a generic CTV package.
Aggregators. Regional companies bundle channels from several owners and sell them as one package across markets. This helps where no single channel owner has scale on its own. Ask what is in the bundle, channel by channel, and how delivery is reported back to you.
How to start
Pick 1 market where you already run TV or online video, so you have something to compare against. Choose 1 or 2 channel groups that fit the audience, and run a short flight, say 4 weeks. Agree with the seller before the flight what you will read at the end: completion rate, unique reach, frequency, and delivery against booked impressions for each channel. If a line falls behind, you want to hear it in week 2, not when the invoice arrives. Then decide whether the next step is a second market or a bigger share of the first.
Where agents fit
A lot of FAST supply in this region sits with channel owners too small to staff a sales team in every market, and the buyers who want it want named channels, not an auction. That gap is where agents work: a buying agent such as Skopa sends one brief to every matching selling agent, the plans come back side by side, and a person confirms the plan before anything runs. For how the routes compare, see direct, programmatic and agentic buying.