Will A New Ad Tier Mean New Heights For Paramount+?

Author

Michael Beach
June 10, 2021

Big news: Paramount+ is (re)joining the ad-supported fray.

Monthly pricing tiers for Paramount+:
1) Ad-free – $10
2) Ad-supported – $5 (50% discount)

Big question: How does this differ from other ad-supported offerings such as HBO Max?

Quick answer: ViacomCBS is ahead of the curve with experience in ad-supported streaming through both CBS All Access (launched in 2014) and PlutoTV.

Quote from Tom Ryan – President & CEO of Streaming @ ViacomCBS:

“The power of contrarian insights is equally applicable to businesses that are being launched by larger companies. With Pluto, we were linear in the age of on-demand, free in the age of paid subscription, and supported by ads when folks said that ads were going away.”

ViacomCBS streaming revenue (YoY growth):
1) 2019-Q1 – $312M
2) 2020-Q1 – $494M (↑ 58%)
3) 2021-Q1 – $816M (↑ 65%)

ViacomCBS Total Streaming Revenues

Quote from Bob Bakish – CEO @ ViacomCBS:
“By the end of 2024, we aim to reach 65-75 million global streaming subscribers across our services, 100-120 million global Pluto TV monthly average users and more than $7 billion in global streaming revenue, which we believe will unlock significant stockholder value. And it’s clear our unique streaming strategy is working.”

Average number of other streaming subscriptions customers have according to Antenna:
1) Netflix – 0.74
2) Hulu – 0.74
3) HBO Max – 1.12
4) Discovery+ – 1.22
5) Disney+ – 1.23
6) Starz – 1.24
7) Apple TV+ – 1.27
8) Paramount+ – 1.29
9) Showtime – 1.62

Why this matters: Paramount+ may need an-supported (lower price) offering more than its competition since customers need to subscribe to more services to meet their content needs.

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