Orlando, Florida-based digital distribution company FreeCast is launching Test Drive Live, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel that is also shoppable. The idea is to offer telecoms and ISPs the ability to offer “monetizable video” without requiring substantive infrastructure and hardware investments, FreeCast explains. Test Drive Live will be offered via FreeCast’s own streaming platform and through Roku. The company says that through FreeCast, Test Drive Live will be immediately available on Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Apple TV, Xbox, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac “and most streaming devices.”

“Test Drive Live features products that are popular on social media and retail platforms,” writes Chain Store Age. “Its shopping TV experience starts with ‘unboxing’ videos that show consumers exactly what they get with each product, followed by a live and unfiltered demo, and then an expert review that is promised to be unbiased.”

FreeCast CEO William Mobley describes the company’s next-gen shopping platform as “shopper-centric and designed to inform ready-to-buy viewers on the products they’re considering” in an announcement in which he summarizes “this isn’t your parents’ cable shopping channels.”

“Unboxing lets you see exactly what you’re getting, demos let you see the product in action, and an honest and straightforward review helps you decide,” notes the release. “Those are the experiences people actively seek out via Google or YouTube, and that’s very different from the infomercial-style programming you’ll see on traditional shopping channels.”

TheDesk reports FreeFast’s new platform aims to bridge e-commerce with streaming in a new, modernized format that also utilizes live demos and expert reviews. What’s more, “the platform leverages direct partnerships with manufacturers and sellers, often offering products below retail price.”

Last month, FreeCast debuted its Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) software platform, designed to offer “monetizable video product without costly infrastructure and hardware investments,” according to the announcement, which says the product is being offered globally.

To do this, the company says it uses a technology that converts OTA broadcast signals to HTTPS (also known as HLS) streaming feeds, and then integrates “them with streaming FAST channels within a single app, available on all Internet connected devices, including TV hardware, smartphones, and other devices consumers across the globe already own and use.”

Related:
FreeCast Debuts Broadcast-Enabled Streaming Television for a New Media Era, Business Wire, 6/26/25
Parks Associates: Shoppable TV Growing in Popularity, TheDesk, 6/26/25
Roku Study Shows Consumers More Open to Shoppable TV, NewscastStudio, 6/11/25
How Consumers Are Driving the Next Wave of Shoppable TV Innovation, Business Wire, 3/11/25