Here’s everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, February 2nd, 2026:
IT'S NOW TIME TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE GLOBAL TV TITLES
I have been talking about the 2nd Annual Global TV Awards for a few weeks, and this morning the dedicated web site GlobalTVAwards.com launched, with a list of eligible titles and links to voting.
When I soft launched the awards last year, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I did it in large part to help boost content discovery for non-English language global television that is released in the United States. And also because I really enjoy the programming and want to help boost the signal of as many TV shows and movies as I can.
The awards ended up attracting more than 60,000 individual people to cast their vote, so this year's effort is a step-up. There is a separate website and I have tried to provide more information on individual shows to make voting easier.
There have been some glitches along the way, including the fact that the company I paid to launch the website screwed it up so badly that I had to end up doing it myself. So even this morning, I was tweaking little things on the site.
But I am proud of the final results and I look forward to having the opportunity to highlight the wide range of global programming available in the United States.
Please go vote for your favorites and pass along the website to as many people as possible. I am just a solo independent journalist trying to bootstrap an idea that incredibly complicated. I don't have a PR firm or money for a big marketing spend. So I am depending on all of you to help me with this project.
And if you work at one of the big streamers and handle global projects, I would especially appreciate your help. I can always use more information and I am already looking at next year's awards. So please reach out and let's work together.
As a reminder, the eligibility guidelines for the awards are straight forward:
* A show, movie, documentary or special must have been originally produced outside the United States and in a language other than English.
* The title must have premiered in the United States sometime in the 2025 calendar year. It must have premiered in its original territory no earlier than 1/1/2024.
*It has to be available on a legitimate commercial SVOD or AVOD. Not YouTube, not someone's private server.
A PRIMER ON FAST CHANNELS AND AD LOAD
One of the subjects I am most interested in right now is the world of FAST channels. There is a lot to learn about advertising loads, a glut of FAST channels and the metrics that determine whether or not a FAST channel is a success.
One of the most helpful sources for FAST channel context is the Gavin Bridge newsletter The FASTMaster and his most recent look at FAST channel audience size and advertising load is filled with useful information:
Why do advertisers refuse to buy the long tail of FAST channels? Because the math reveals they are effectively empty rooms. Let’s break down a channel with 100,000 Monthly Hours—a common size for smaller FAST channels used to pad overall channel counts.
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Monthly Hours: 100,000
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Average Minute Audience (AMA): 138 Viewers (Nationwide)
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Primetime Audience (Peak, assuming ~80% of daily audience): ~777 Viewers
In reality, a channel of this scale is unsellable, even in a bundle. You would reach more people with an ad on a wall in a New York City coffee shop. The rush for platform scale dilutes advertising value and creates zombie channels.
His argument is that FAST Platforms would be better off offering fewer channels and many of the channels that are out there are essentially not driving any substantial revenue. But on the flipside, some of the larger, more successful FAST channels are attracting an audience as big as some of the smaller linear cable TV channels:
The data and analysis proves that the volume strategy for FAST channels is mathematically flawed. To restore pricing power, platforms must pivot to scarcity. This means hard-capping ad loads at 6 minutes per hour and aggressively delisting zombie channels. If a channel cannot sustain a 70% organic fill rate year-round at a $10 CPM floor, it is not a viable business asset—it is merely ghost inventory diluting the value of the entire platform. I wrote in January that ~400 channels was a sustainable goal for a FAST service to offer; now here’s the math to help show why.
ODDS AND SODS
* Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association, a four-part docuseries about the rise and fall of the American Basketball Association, premieres Thursday, February 12th on Prime Video.
* Apple TV has ordered a third season of the Jon Hamm series Your Friends & Neighbors.
* Data from Ampere Analysis shows that Prime Video is set to replace DAZN as streaming’s largest investor in sports rights. The global platform will account for 27% of the total $14.2 billion worth of streaming spending on sports rights in 2026.
* The disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s mother is being investigated as a crime. Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her home in Tucson, Ariz., at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.
* This is a bit niche, but Danny Benair has been posting clips of songs on his Instagram from tunes that were submitted but rejected for the movie That Thing You Do. Interesting stuff, although it's easy to see why some of them didn't make the cut.
* And for any of you reading this in the Twin Cities, on February 6th, you can attend a drag-centric Heated Rivalry event, featuring an evening of hockey, boys, and dancing. Also, some hockey go-go dancers.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND TOMORROW
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND:
* Below Deck Down Under Season Premiere (Bravo)
* Madam Beja (HBO)
* Super Bowl Greatest Commercials: Hall Of Fame Countdown (CBS)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD:
* Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History (PBS)
* Even If This Love Disappears Tonight (Netflix)
* Father Brown (BritBox)
* Grace (BritBox)
* MLK, Jr Beloved Community Awards (BET)
* Mo Gilligan: In The Moment (Netflix)
* Summer House Season Premiere (Bravo)
* The Turpins: A New House Of Horror (ABC)
SEE YOU THIS TUESDAY!