Frantic Films is looking to break into the burgeoning FAST channel market with the launch of its finance-focused channel.

The My Money channel, which focuses on ways that everyday people can improve their financial situations, contains 150 hours of content from Winnipeg and Toronto-based Frantic Films’ library. Programming includes Til Debt Do Us Part (pictured), its successor Princess, House Poor, Rich Bride, Poor Bride and What’s for Sale, among others.

My Money had a rolling launch across North America on platforms including TCL, Anoki, Freecast, RewardedTV and Zone TV beginning in September. In 2025, it will launch on Distro TV.

To create the FAST channel, Frantic partnered up with L.A.-based MuxIP, a tech company that develops software to facilitate ad-supported streaming. MuxIP handles the backend and ad sales while Frantic handles the content and scheduling. MuxIP’s software enables programmatic advertising, allowing ads to be targeted to the viewer based on demographics and other data signals.

Frantic Films president Stephanie Fast tells Playback Daily the idea to create a FAST channel began in 2023 with a push from Frantic CEO Jamie Brown.

“We’d all been noticing a lot trending in FAST and it was intriguing to Jamie, particularly because we have a large library,” says Fast. “He had been thinking about Til Debt Do Us Part … that felt like a natural angle for a FAST channel.”

Building out from the popular nine-season series and other like-minded programs, Frantic began canvassing its library for lifestyle and money-focused content. Fast says the series are timely for today’s audience following a spike in inflation and rising debt over the last two years.

A FAST channel is an appealing venture for Frantic, says Fast, and small production companies as a whole, as it allows the company to receive a significant portion of the revenue from the channel and be in control of the channel’s direction.

“We do sell a lot of these shows in the AVOD and SVOD space through a distributor, and they do well,” says Fast. “But, if something really picks up on FAST, and you’ve built the channel, you have the opportunity to do well over time.

“It’s a very difficult time right now to make and sell shows,” she adds. “So, the idea of having something that is operating for you in the background to help support … your small production company is the dream.”

Creating a successful FAST channel requires adding more content to the service via acquisitions to keep audiences engaged.

“You can’t run the same 150 hours for a year,” says Fast. “So, we also evaluated the space and distribution. How many shows are out there that we could acquire or do a revenue share on and add to My Money over time?”

Fast says that Frantic has a sense of what shows it can acquire or revenue share with throughout Canada and the U.S., but before anything, Frantic wants to see how the channel lands on its platforms.

According to Fast, the main goal for My Money in 2025 is to grow the channel and bring it to the top FAST platforms such as Roku, Pluto TV, Samsung and LG.

Image courtesy of Frantic Films