Paramount+ Adds 6.8 Million Subscribers, Nearing 40 Million

Earlier this year, the company formerly known as ViacomCBS bet big on Paramount+—and it’s already paying off. Paramount’s flagship streaming service Paramount+ added 6.8 million subscribers in the first quarter of the year, bringing the streamer to nearly 40 million. That’s a slight decline from the 7.3 million gain it reported to end the year. The company attributed domestic growth to its robust content slate, citing titles like Halo, 1883, Star Trek: Picard, live events and the NFL. Halo became the most-streamed original series for Paramount+ in its first week of release, president and CEO Bob Bakish said during the company’s earnings call Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Yellowstone spinoff 1883 was a “juggernaut” for the company, holding the top stop for acquisition and the No. 1 streaming original ever for the service in terms of new domestic subscribers and engagement. Internationally, Acapulco Shore was a strong acquisition for the streamer. The company said that average titles consumed and hours per active sub improved quarter-over-quarter across all demos. Paramount grew its total global streaming subscribers to 62.4 million, adding 6.3 million globally. That gain was led primarily by Paramount+, with other direct-to-consumer services declining by 500,000. The “other” category, which includes Showtime, Noggin, BET+ and others, gained 5 million subscribers total last year. Paramount pointed to timing of new programming for the subscriber dips among its other streamers. “That was a factor, but big picture, we view a combination of a broad service, in this case Paramount+, plus specific services which target specific consumer segments, as additive to going after the largest [total addressable market],” said Bakish. He pointed to specific decisions such as moving Halo to Paramount+ from Showtime, and Man Who Fell to Earth in the other direction as evidence of the company’s specific programming strategies. “We think about these things, but we really look at the constellation on services,” he said. “We are on a path to integrate these much more. Sure, we do a commercial bundle today with Paramount+ and Showtime. But as we've said in the summer, you're going to be able to get Showtime within Paramount+ as an additional option, and that'll set us up because we have the opportunity to do that with other brands as well.” In February, Paramount announced that it expects its streaming portfolio will reach its initial 2024 subscriber goal of 65 to 75 million subscribers—set in 2020— by the end of 2022. Paramount raised that goal to 100 million DTC subscribers by the end of 2024, a number doesn’t include subscribers from the company’s SkyShowtime joint streaming venture with Comcast. Streaming revenue grew 82% year-over-year to hit $1.1 billion, led by a 95% gain in subscription revenue. Total revenue decreased by 1%, which the company said included a 6% impact from CBS’ Super Bowl 50 broadcast a year ago. Paramount’s AVOD service Pluto TV added 3.1 million users in the quarter, growing its monthly active users to nearly 68 million after ending 2021 with more than 64 million. The company said total global viewing hours jumped by double digits year-over-year. Strong theatrical slate Beginning with the company’s 2024 releases, Paramount+ will be the streaming home of every Paramount Pictures title following their theatrical releases, the company previously announced. That’s likely to continue driving growth for the streamer. In the quarter, Paramount Pictures opened four No. 1 films in a row: Scream, Jackass Forever, The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Next up for the company is Top Gun Maverick, which comes out later this month. “Paramount movies are a powerful driver for Paramount+,” said Bakish. “Films were the No. 2 content vertical in driving new subscribers, and we saw triple digit lifts in number of households viewing and hours streamed year-over-year.” Paramount is also building on the success of Jackass Forever, working with creators to bring a new series straight to Paramount+. International expansion looming Bakish said last quarter that Paramount saw a “huge global opportunity” in streaming, and now the company is taking advantage of it. In 2021 Paramount launched the streamer in 25 markets across Latin America, Canada and Australia. Paramount+ is coming to the U.K. and South Korea in June, with more European markets coming in the second half of the year. Today, the company said that Paramount+ will launch in India in 2023 via its joint venture Viacom18. “That’s a fundamentally attractive market,” said Bakish. “It’s a market that’s already at scale and has a tremendous future ahead of it in the context of media.” It will begin to roll out SkyShowtime, its joint venture with Comcast, primarily in Eastern Europe. By the end of the year, the combined SVOD offerings will be available in more than 60 markets. Additionally, Paramount is launching a new version of Pluto in the Nordics in partnership with broadcaster NENT. “We believe this will be a compelling growth model, and we see more like this to come as we work with local broadcasters in markets where we don’t have a broadcast presence,” said Bakish. Getting ready for upfront Paramount is also busy gearing up for its upfront presentation, taking place May 18 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. “We’ll showcase the power of Paramount, we’ll show our full range of demographics, the combination of our linear and digital platforms, including of EyeQ,” said Bakish, referencing the company’s connected video advertising platform. “We’ll show you advanced advertising solutions, including the use of three alternate measurement currencies to get some optionality in the marketplace,” he added. “Obviously we’ll bring our best in class ad creative and integration and it's built off just a truly incredible content lineup.” Paramount ad sales chief Jo Ann Ross previewed her upfront strategy at last week's Adweek Convergent TV Summit.

Streaming & OTT

Paramount+ Adds 6.8 Million Subscribers, Reaching Nearly 40 Million Total

The company's overall global streaming subscribers broke 60 million

Mollie Cahillane

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Mollie Cahillane