The most important metric for a FAST channel operator is revenue per hour (RPH) — how much your channel earns for every hour of viewing it generates. RPH synthesises ad load, fill rate, and CPM into one number. If RPH is improving, your channel is becoming more valuable. If it is declining, something — fill, CPM, or session length — is going wrong. Everything else supports your understanding of RPH.
The second tier of metrics you need to track covers audience behaviour and ad performance. For audience: average concurrent viewers (ACV) tells you how many people are watching at any given time; average view time (AVT) tells you how long they stay. For ads: fill rate (what percentage of your ad inventory is sold), ad completion rate (what percentage of served ads are watched to completion), and effective CPM (eCPM — total revenue divided by total impressions, which accounts for fill). These metrics, tracked daily and weekly, give you the information you need to make decisions about ad load, floor pricing, content scheduling, and demand partner relationships.
FAST analytics dashboard: minimum viable metrics
- Revenue per hour (RPH): Your headline number. Track daily.
- Total viewing hours: ACV x hours of operation. Shows audience momentum.
- Average view time (AVT): Session length per viewer. Signals content engagement and ad load tolerance.
- Fill rate: By hour and by daypart. Reveals where demand is strong and where it is thin.
- Ad completion rate: Quality signal. Low completion = ad pod too long or viewer frustration.
- eCPM: True revenue efficiency. Accounts for fill, not just gross CPM.
- Total revenue: RPH x total viewing hours. The bottom line.
Where to find this data
Ad metrics come from your SSAI vendor (fill rate, completion rate, latency) and your SSP dashboards (CPMs, revenue by buyer). Audience metrics come from your distribution platform's analytics portal (Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels) or your video analytics platform (Conviva, Mux). India-specific challenge: these data sources are fragmented and require manual reconciliation in the early stages. Start with a simple spreadsheet pulling daily exports from each system, and invest in automation once revenue justifies it.
Full guide
For a complete explanation, read: FAST channel analytics and revenue reporting: what to track and how