As sports brands seek to deepen the connections with their fans, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is creating its own streaming hub to create a closer connection with its fans and grow engagement..
While AEW shows run weekly on national broadcasters and streamers, the new FAST channel and MyAEW hub build a close, branded link between content and fans that can be accessed globally.
“For us, MyAEW isn't just a streaming platform, it's the first time AEW has had a direct line to its fans anywhere in the world,” said Shane Emerson, VP of global programming and partnerships at AEW. “And the long-term vision is simple—we want MyAEW to become the global destination for professional wrestling fans.”
AEW's direct method of content distribution with WatchAEW shows how publishers and content creators can build awareness while gaining more control over audience data and ad revenue.
The wrestling promotion, founded in 2019 by Tony Khan, presents more than 100 live events per year along with weekly shows on TNT and TBS that also stream on HBO Max. For them, having an ever growing amount of content necessitated a unifying experience that could give fans a centralized location to watch, share, and engage with the brand.
“Direct-to-consumer FAST is just another opportunity to help content owners centralize and connect more directly,” said Jake Nishimura, vice president of marketing at Kiswe, the technology company that helped AEW launch its channel. “FAST continues to monetize the long tail for content creators who have stockpiles of content.”
The direct distribution places AEW content within a fully-branded environment, giving AEW more control in a fragmented streaming environment.
Current pay-per-view partners for AEW’s highest-profile events include (in addition to HBO Max) YouTube, Amazon’s Prime Video, PPV.com, and traditional cable and satellite partners, the company stated.
“Right now, our priority is access,” said Emerson. “The more places fans can find AEW content, the better. WatchAEW and MyAEW are additive to that ecosystem, not a replacement for it. And the WatchAEW FAST channel is about reaching the fan who hasn't found us yet.”
Free ad-supported streaming TV comes in two basic flavors, FAST and ad-supported video on-demand (AVOD). FAST draws on a similar store of content and runs each episode or piece of content as a string of discrete shows viewers watch passively.
AEW’s model is unique because when AEW fans access the WatchAEW FAST channel, the channel isn’t bundled with other FAST channels in a streaming service. Instead, users are logging into myAEW and accessing the channel directly. MyAEW also offers on-demand shows in its portal, including events by a separate wrestling promotion company Kahn acquired in 2022, Ring of Honor. The result is a tightly branded experience with logged-in data from users.
The FAST channel opens up the content in AEW’s library to high viewer demand in the FAST space, where audiences are outpacing advertisers, leading to low ad rates, according to a Wurl study reported by EMARKETER.
Nishimura sees potential in direct FAST channels to help creators and music artists distribute content. Kiswe has worked with world famous bands like BTS and Black Sabbath for digital content from concerts.
“Creators in the last year or so have come out with their own FAST channels through other partners,” said Nishimura. “Especially for some of the large ones who have been around, they’re sitting on a gold mine of content.”
FAST channels can help influencers grow audiences and revenue outside of tech giants like YouTube, where they originally gained prominence. For instance, the influencer Unspeakable, known for Minecraft videos on YouTube, launched a FAST channel in 2024 in partnership with content studio FilmRise and OTT distributor Future Today, Tubefilter reported. This partnership gives Unspeakable more control over the content business model, with less dependence on YouTube’s metrics and ad revenue split.
AEW’s direct distribution to fans dovetails with the way sports coverage and the creator ecosystem have merged. Sports fans look to creators to provide another dimension to the story around key sports events, while athletes themselves engage with fans over social media. AEW plans to offer behind-the-scenes content on MyAEW later this year, Emerson said.
Sports and creator content merged around the Olympics following this model, where NBCUniversal’s Creator Collective initiative provides podcast and mobile documentary formats to Olympics coverage, EMARKETER reported.
Major US sports leagues like the NBA and NFL have also launched their own fan portals, or apps, where sports fans can subscribe to game coverage and access related content. MyAEW offers premium event coverage to international fans by annual subscription, according to Emerson.
If AEW’s fans follow these sports trends, they will seek out content proactively, which makes the direct-distribution model viable for growing the audience.
“Since launching MyAEW in March, the signup numbers have been well above industry benchmarks for a platform of this age,” said Emerson. “The WatchAEW FAST channel has shown exceptional growth as well. Viewership is tracking significantly above standard FAST channel performance curves for a new launch, and what's most encouraging is that we're seeing consistent, returning viewers, not just one-time samplers.”
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