Amagi reports 55% YoY growth in FAST viewing hours
Amagi Media Labs Limited released its June 2026 AIRTIME Report, detailing a 55% year-over-year increase in global FAST viewing hours and a 53% rise in ad impressions. The U.S. and Canada remain the top markets, while LATAM and the Kids genre showed the highest growth rates. The report highlights metadata management as a key operational challenge, with a survey of 28 practitioners indicating significant revenue losses due to poor data.
*this image is generated using AI for illustrative purposes only.
Amagi Media Labs Limited reported a 55% year-over-year increase in global Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) viewing hours for the period April 1 – June 15, 2026, according to its June 2026 AIRTIME Report. The data, drawn from approximately 6,500 FAST channel deliveries distributed via the company's Amagi THUNDERSTORM platform, also showed a 53% rise in ad impressions compared to the same period in 2025. The report underscores the sector's robust expansion and identifies metadata management as a critical operational bottleneck affecting revenue and discovery.
The U.S. and Canada remained the largest monetization markets, accounting for 54% of global viewing hours and 74% of global ad impressions. However, LATAM recorded the strongest regional growth, with viewing hours up 190% and ad impressions up 124%, supported by the addition of new high-viewership channels and portfolio expansion. Entertainment maintained its position as the leading global genre, contributing 41% of classified viewing hours and 40% of ad impressions, while News accounted for 27% of viewing hours but delivered 33% of ad impressions.
The Kids genre emerged as the highest-growth category globally, with viewing hours surging 191% and ad impressions increasing 118% year-over-year. The report also highlights a significant industry focus on the operational costs associated with poor metadata, which is impacting discovery and revenue generation across the FAST value chain.
Metadata challenges and survey findings
The June 2026 report features a pulse survey of 28 senior practitioners, including content owners, channel operators, and technology vendors. The survey reveals that 86% of respondents identify reformatting metadata to meet different platform requirements as their single biggest operational drag. Additionally, 86% indicated that poor metadata is actively costing them money through lost ad revenue, weaker discovery, or content deprioritization by platforms.
Other key findings indicate that 71% of respondents find metadata arriving from content owners is often incomplete, missing genres, ratings, imagery, or episode data. Looking ahead, 57% believe AI can already generate synopses, tags, and genres reliably enough that human review only needs to be a spot-check. Furthermore, 68% expect AI to handle most metadata generation with minimal human oversight within three years, and an equal percentage anticipate major streaming platforms will dictate metadata standards in the same timeframe.
Investment priorities and industry outlook
When asked about investment plans to improve metadata over the next 12 months, 32% of respondents cited better AI tooling as their primary focus, followed by 25% who plan to build in-house metadata capability. Gavin Bridge, Chief Analyst at FASTMaster, contributed an analysis to the report, identifying three structural tensions shaping the metadata challenge, including the format delivery "tax" and the increasing dependence of discovery layers on AI agents.
Srinivasan KA, Co-founder and President - Global Business at Amagi, commented on the findings, stating that FAST has secured its place at the center of the modern media stack. He noted that the next competitive edge lies in operational precision rather than reach, emphasizing that metadata is where discovery, ad revenue, and audience intelligence converge. The full report is available on the company's investor relations website.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Global Viewing Hours Growth | 55% |
| Global Ad Impressions Growth | 53% |
| LATAM Viewing Hours Growth | 190% |
| LATAM Ad Impressions Growth | 124% |
| Kids Genre Viewing Hours Growth | 191% |
| Kids Genre Ad Impressions Growth | 118% |
Historical Stock Returns for Amagi Media Labs
| 1 Day | 5 Days | 1 Month | 6 Months | 1 Year | 5 Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1.28% | +3.61% | +25.16% | +52.94% | +52.94% | +52.94% |
How will the anticipated shift toward AI-generated metadata impact the workforce structure within FAST channel operations over the next three years?
As major streaming platforms prepare to dictate metadata standards, what compliance challenges will smaller content owners face?
Can the 190% surge in LATAM viewing hours be sustained, or is this growth primarily attributed to a short-term market expansion effect?
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