Paramount Plus, the streaming service launched by ViacomCBS, has entered the global streaming market with a strong reliance on pre-existing content. In summer 2022, Paramount Plus launched in South Korea on TVING, South Korea's #1 K-content platform. Paramount is also prioritizing making titles such as Halo, Yellow Jackets, Mayor of Kingstown, and 1883 available to Korean viewers for the first time as well as creating original content that puts a microphone on the audience they are expanding their service to.
The launch of Paramount+ in Korea with TVING marks a pivotal moment in the expansion of the streaming service, as it seeks to introduce its premium streaming service to Asia. Paramount+ is also set to launch in Italy in September 2022 and in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in December 2022. The service's expansion into India is set for 2023. Paramount+ is using a differentiated launch strategy that involves partnerships with distributors such as Sky in the UK, allowing customers to access Paramount+ if they are subscribed to Sky Cinema.
Providing customers choice and leveraging relationships with distributors is also important for the U.K. rollout, according to Marco Nobili, Executive Vice President and International General Manager of Paramount+. Finally, the monthly subscription price of 6.99 pounds a month ($8.55), or 69 pounds ($84.47) a year, is “a huge value for our customers,” Nobili argued.
Additionally, Paramount+ plans to have 150 international originals by 2025, with more than a dozen studios in over 20 countries feeding its content ecosystem. The service is already one of the top producers of Spanish language content, allowing it to attract an international streaming audience by developing local hits with global appeal. It produces more than 5,000 hours of Spanish content a year. Its established global production capabilities make it possible to produce 150 titles in the next three years in a market that is highly competitive.
Overall what we are seeing from Paramount+ is a commitment to creating localized content with global appeal, as well as enticing new people to their platform using a wide variety of tactics. What makes the Paramount brand so appealing is that it has a lot of brand recognition and high affinity in major markets around the world, according to branding research conducted before the US launch of Paramount+. The brand has intrinsic value that comes from its legacy as a blockbuster movie studio, says Nobili. In 2021, Paramount+ was the #1 fastest-growing brand among all adults overall, and for Gen Z and millennials as well, according to Morning Consult’s Fastest Growing Brand report.
By creating an ecosystem that creates content globally, as well as simultaneously entering new markets, Paramount is leveraging themselves as a streamer to watch out for because not only are they creating new content, but unlike when Netflix was starting out, Paramount+ already has adored content and IP including Yellowstone, Spongebob Squarepants, Criminal Minds, Star Trek, and more! Not only is Paramount+ going to be able to make originals that attract new subscribers, but they will be able to leverage content from Comedy Central, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Showtime (as an add-on), and the Smithsonian Channel.
Additionally, Paramount is already using a AVOD, SVOD, and FAST model. Viacom's acquisition of Pluto TV, the leading free service in the U.S., marks a significant moment in Viacom's evolution. At $340 million, it is the company's largest acquisition to date. By acquiring Pluto it gives Paramount an edge when entering the Free Ad-Supported Television space.
What's so interesting about this, is that FAST streaming is only a growing market, and where as other streamers are trying to set up FAST and AVOD systems, ViacomCBS already has these systems set up and attracting new subscribers daily. Not only does ViacomCBS have an aggressive global campaign to make Paramount+ a leading streaming service, but they also have a plan to not only leverage their current content library, but create new content for regions worldwide, and create an international reach. In addition to their content diversification, they are also diversifying the ways they get people to view their content whether it be Pluto, Paramount+, Showtime, or any of their linear TV programming. What ViacomCBS highlights is that there is going to be a need to differentiate themselves in order to stay ahead in a crowded marketplace.
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