The Graham Norton Show channel took “seven-figure investment” to launch, reveals ITV exec

The Graham Norton Show FAST channel launch marks ITV Studios and Samsung TV Plus’ biggest FAST project yet, which took a “seven-figure investment” to get it off the ground, reveals Graham Haigh, EVP of global digital partnerships at ITV.

ITV Studios debuted The Graham Norton channel across Samsung TV Plus in February, with the single IP channel available in the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and soon Germany.

Commenting on the progress of the FAST market over the recent years, Haigh said the quality of the FAST channels and programming has significantly improved.

“It’s a lot more premium, he said. “The way channels look, and feel has evolved.”

Haigan said the company now has a clearer strategy and approach when exploiting content rights and channel brands within the FAST market, with the company seeking out content that was easy to repackage into the FAST model.

“We’re now thinking more proactively about what we want to put into the FAST market, he said. “We have to consider FAST channel or versus potentially licensing that content and in certain markets FAST can potentially be a better route or can be complimentary route to our licensing business”.

He added when taking the FAST route instead of licensing content the company has the benefit of leveraging valuable data insights that can be feed back to producers about what type of content is resonating with audiences.

“Maybe we can kickstart a recommission conversation with a producer for a show that is being commissioned anymore” he said.

“Content is so much stronger today than it was then,” added Jennifer Batty at Samsung TV plus. “Two years ago I don’t think we would have something like The Graham Norton channel.”

But Batty highlighted discoverability is another factor which has evolved in FAST, with content easier to find on the home page, providing a more seamless experience for users.

Looking ahead in the next couple of years, Batty said she expects we will see more commissioning in FAST and see the model become a more normalised way of viewing content.