At the recent Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) conference in Los Angeles, one statistic stood out among industry leaders: Americans between 50 and 64 years old are now the most avid viewers of free ad-supported streaming television (FAST).
According to Nielsen’s Brian Fuhrer, this age group watches more FAST content than any other — and as of spring 2024, viewers 50 and older now spend more time on FAST platforms than on Netflix, a trend that has held steady ever since. “We don’t see any slowdown in the future as more and more people have adopted this,” Fuhrer said during his presentation.
FAST Is Gaining Attention — Literally
The appeal of FAST services such as The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, and Tubi is no longer just about free access to content. They’re also proving to be a powerful platform for advertisers.
New research from Roku, MAGNA, and TVision found that ads on free streaming services receive nearly the same amount of attention as those on subscription-based platforms.
- The viewability rate for ads on FAST services was 74 %, just one point below that of paid streamers.
- Both categories recorded a visual attention rate of 50 %, based on TVision’s 2024 study of 15,000 opt-in participants using vision tracking while watching TV.
This parity in attention matters: it gets closer to measuring return on investment (ROI) for advertisers. “If you really start to look at attention, which gets closer to ROI, then [FAST] can be a great buying point,” said Angelina Marmorato, VP of data and platform sales at TVision. With CPMs averaging around $10, compared to roughly $30 for major subscription services, FAST offers brands an impressive value-to-attention ratio.
Performance That Rivals Paid Streamers
FAST’s top performers are now surpassing major subscription platforms in audience share.
According to Nielsen,
- The Roku Channel holds 2.8 % of total U.S. viewership,
- Tubi sits at 2.1 %,
- both outperforming Paramount+ (2.0 %), Peacock (1.4 %), and HBO Max (1.3 %).
Zoe Zirlin, Ad Research Manager at Roku, noted that “with the rise of premium content on free streaming has come the equalization in attention paid between free and paid streaming TV.”
FAST even had its Super Bowl moment this year when Tubi streamed the game to 13.6 million viewers — the most streamed Super Bowl in history. CEO Anjali Sud called it “a watershed moment for Tubi and a big milestone for live sports and free ad-supported streaming.”
A Rapidly Expanding Universe
The growth is staggering. Comscore reports a 43 % year-over-year increase in total hours watched on FAST platforms in 2025 compared with 2024. Meanwhile, Gracenote estimates there are now over 1,600 FAST channels, a 42 % increase from 2023.
The challenge? Measuring all that viewership. NBCUniversal’s Brian West described it as “a huge challenge” due to fragmentation across both content and distribution. Still, as metrics evolve and audience behavior stabilizes, advertisers are finding new ways to measure and optimize performance in this fast-moving space.
What It Means for Marketers
For brands and agencies, FAST represents an expanding frontier — combining the reach of traditional TV, the targeting of digital media, and the cost-efficiency advertisers crave. With attention metrics approaching parity with subscription platforms and CPMs one-third the price, FAST is no longer an experimental buy — it’s a mainstream opportunity.
At Abbey Mecca & Company, we help clients navigate this evolving media landscape with smart, data-driven strategies that connect brands to audiences where they’re watching now — and where they’ll be watching next. Got questions? Let’s talk.
Sources: Nielsen (CIMM Conference, 2025); Roku, MAGNA & TVision Research (2024); The Current Media; Comscore (2025); Gracenote (2024)
