Why Future Today’s Fawesome Excels at Family-Friendly Unscripted Content
Future Today has been providing people with premium, unscripted content—for free—while major players such as Netflix are still exploring the viability of live music specials and celebrity-driven contests.
This puts Future Today ahead of the curve as large streamers remain slower to venture into live and interactive programming. Future Today’s FAST platform Fawesome provides family-friendly competition shows, including the original competition series Southern Food Truck Wars and the Fawesome Family Game Show. These shows provide advertisers with unique brand-safe pathways such as product placement, sponsored challenges, and brand integration.
In this Q&A, Vikrant Mathur, Co-Founder of Future Today, outlines the specifics of these benefits for advertisers, and he discusses the reasons that platforms such as Fawesome possess unique agilities to experiment with interactive content compared to bigger outlets such as Netflix.
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Vikrant Mathur, Co-founder, Future Today
What are some unique opportunities for advertisers with competition series such as the two Fawesome Originals, Southern Food Truck Wars and the Fawesome Family Game Show, compared to scripted programming?
Competition and game show formats offer advertisers a rare combination of high engagement and brand-safe environments. These series create moments that families watch together, making them ideal for co-viewing experiences where ads are more likely to be seen and discussed. Because they aren’t bound by a single narrative arc, they offer multiple, natural breaks for contextual integrations—whether that’s showcasing culinary products during Southern Food Truck Wars or family-friendly consumer goods in Fawesome Family Game Show. There's also room for creative partnerships, such as branded challenges or viewer participation elements, that simply aren’t possible in traditional scripted storytelling.
How are families also uniquely engaged by these shows, especially in ways that enhance their engagement with the Fawesome platform?
We’ve seen that families are craving content they can enjoy together—and that’s exactly what we deliver with these originals. Whether it's rooting for a regional food truck or playing along with the game show questions at home, these series naturally invite interactivity. That translates to more time spent on the platform, more return visits and deeper affinity for Fawesome as a trusted entertainment destination. Our programming strategy is designed to create these communal moments, which is a key differentiator in a fragmented streaming landscape.
Why do you think it has taken major streamers longer to venture into live and interactive content? Does a platform like Fawesome have more agility in trying out these different formats?
Larger platforms often face more hurdles when experimenting with new formats—whether due to scale, risk aversion or infrastructure. At Fawesome, our independence and focus on FAST allow us to move faster and take creative swings. That’s what enabled us to develop and launch two original competition series in quick succession. We’re constantly looking for ways to surprise and delight viewers, and having the flexibility to test and learn quickly is a big part of our advantage.
What are some unique elements of Southern Food Truck Wars that make it stand out from other culinary shows, in the sense of highlighting regional culinary innovation and raising the profile of the food truck industry as trendsetters in the culinary world?
Southern Food Truck Wars goes beyond the traditional cooking show by spotlighting regional flavor, culture and competition. Each episode is a culinary road trip, bringing local food trucks into the national spotlight and giving them a platform to showcase their creativity. These aren’t just meals—they’re innovations on wheels, often representing the next big culinary trend before it hits brick-and-mortar. The show celebrates community and entrepreneurship, two values that resonate deeply with our viewers.
There is currently a nostalgic trend for classic game shows. What are some elements of the Fawesome Family Game Show that directly tap into this nostalgia (such as incorporating classic family board or card games)?
We intentionally leaned into nostalgia with Fawesome Family Game Show. The format borrows from the feel-good structure of classic game shows, incorporating familiar board games, family trivia and physical challenges that evoke memories of game night at home. It’s designed to be timeless and multi-generational—something that feels fresh for kids but instantly familiar for parents. That balance of comfort and novelty is part of the show’s charm and broader appeal.
What kinds of data has Future Today garnered that shows why families are shifting dramatically to streaming, especially FAST channels such as Fawesome?
We’ve consistently seen growth in family co-viewing on Fawesome and across our broader network, particularly in the evening and weekend time slots. FAST channels cater to that behavior by offering linear-style experiences with the ease of on-demand streaming. Families appreciate the ability to turn on high-quality, safe and free content without having to scroll endlessly or worry about subscriptions. Our data shows that families are looking for accessible, communal entertainment—and that’s exactly what FAST delivers.
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