Tony Robbins wears many hats on a typical day: bestseller author, psychiatrist, motivating speaker, business strategist and coach of life skills. Being a TV star was not on his personal task list that he received a cold phone call from Dan Cohen a few months ago.
Cohen, Chief Content Licensing Officer for Paramount Global, had an intriguing field for Robbins: what about working with the studio in the launch of a fast channel?
Fast channels (the acronym stands for “free advertising supported television”) are a hybrid of linear and streaming TV. They are available on streaming platforms such as Roku, Pluto TV and Amazon Prime channels and SMART TVs made by Samsung, LG and Sony. But instead of offering programs to view on request, à la Netflix, fast channels look like a traditional linear channel with a schedule of programs that are performed 24/7.
Cohen’s Raison d’être at Paramount Global is to find ways for the studio to earn more money with the TV shows and films it produces. He has also been active in recruiting third-party distribution deals, ie working with independent producers to give a small player the benefit of the sales and marketing infrastructure of a large studio. Robbins stood out as an important target for a fast channel because the self -help master is a brand name for himself after decades in public interest. He is known to fill sports arenas with his motivating speaking trips. He has been organizing for almost 50 years over different seminars on various personal subjects. Robbins has thousands of hours of video in his vault – most of which are rarely or never seen on traditional TV.
Tony Robbins with Paramount Global’s Dan Cohen
Thanks to Paramount Global
“You have at least a few hundred hours of content available to launch a fast channel because it has to be renewed,” says Cohen Variety. “There are many great personalities, but they have no content. Tony has both. And he has a global supporters, so we soon realized that this channel could have a global distribution. “
Fast channel owners earn money by receiving a predetermined percentage of advertising sales generated by the channel. Robbins will possess the channel; Paramount receives a distribution costs from him for processing distribution, marketing and technical support. Advertising sale is handled by the individual streaming platforms. This is a departure for a large studio like Paramount – one that reflects the wild and woolly new world order of TV.
Launch partners for the Robbins channel include Roku, Pluto TV (part of Paramount Global), Prime Video and Comcast’s Plex. From owning his video downright a global following to tackle topics with a broad attraction, Robbins is just as perfect for the rapid treatment as it becomes. The channel focuses on a summer launch.
“I don’t want us to do 50 fast channels. I want us to do a small number of really good channels that we think they can cut, “says Cohen. “This channel will be one profitable in the year.”