9 Story Media Group is moving FAST with its digital growth plan. The Canadian prodco has teamed up with LA’s Cineverse to launch a branded FAST channel globally in 2024.
It will feature around 1,400 animated and live-action half hours culled from 9 Story’s own library and also from series the company sells on behalf of third-party partners. Featured titles include Angelina Ballerina, Barney and Friends, Garfield and Friends, Let’s Game, Challenge Dan and Guess How Much I Love You.
According to Cineverse’s EVP of partnerships, Marc Rashba, there’s good demand in the FAST channel market right now for family-friendly IPs because older viewers are going there to rediscover popular characters and shows they used to watch as kids.
Cineverse, which distributes FAST channels along with individual shows and movies on its same-name streaming platform, is available globally online and via connected TV platforms such as Roku, Amazon FireTV, Android and Google TV. Its offering for kids already includes Nihon Ad Systems’ Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Werner Film Productions’ Dance Academy and WildBrain’s Spider Riders.
The market for kids FAST channels is still developing, and so are its business models. Revenue margins aren’t huge for children’s content in this space yet, but companies such as WildBrain, VOD365 and eOne have already launched channels and are bullish about their potential. FAST is an “important part” of 9 Story’s growth plan, says digital and distribution VP Elianne Friend, and the aim with this first channel is to expand its audience and offer another way to access its catalogue of programming.