According to a new report from Horowitz Research, the increasing use of FAST is causing some consumers to spend less on SVOD and MVPD, while also contributing to the ecosystem’s discoverability issues.

According to Horowitz Research’s latest annual report State of Media, Entertainment and Technology: Viewing Behavior 202466 percent of U.S. content viewers use FAST platforms in a typical month. Leading services include Tubi, Pluto TV, Freevee, YouTube and Roku.

According to the study, 53 percent of FAST users have reduced their spending on streaming subscriptions since using FAST. However, 43 percent have subscribed to a paid service to continue watching something they discovered on FAST. Additionally, with the rush to on-demand, consumers have missed the relaxing experience of channel surfing; 73 percent of FAST users agree that watching TV is more fun now that they can turn on these free services and watch whatever is on. Among cable TV rejecters, 58 percent say free services are like cable TV.

“As the FAST space matures, it actually feels like a corrective to many of the problems that on-demand streaming has created for consumers and the industry,” notes Adriana Waterston, executive VP and insights and strategy lead at Horowitz Research. “On the consumer side, FAST helps mitigate the challenges of on-demand TV, where consumers had to work pretty hard to find content to watch every time they sat down in front of the TV – not exactly the most relaxing viewing experience. It also creates opportunities to generate advertising revenue and syndication revenue, which will help rebalance the business model.”

The Horowitz survey was conducted from March to April of this year and tracked usage trends among 2,008 television viewers over the age of 18.