The streaming era is a brave new world, but it’s also a tough one.
At some point, all of the major networks came to realize that while live television still had its uses -- last Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast for instance -- the industry was increasingly shifting to a streaming model and it didn’t make sense to allow Netflix to keep using the various media companies’ back catalog of films and television shows to become one of their chief rivals.
So one by one, all of the major television networks have introduced their own streaming services, or in the case of Disney’s (DIS) ABC, it has begun placing its content on the streaming services the parent company already owns, Hulu and Disney+.
At the moment (and to be honest, probably for the near future) the streaming world is dominated by three main players.
Netflix (NFLX) is the king of the hill with 222 million subscribers, and even if last quarter's growth is smaller than expected due to a slowdown in subscribers (and widespread speculation that the company may have hit its natural ceiling), the company still dominated the field, proving that there’s an advantage to being the first streaming service.
From there, Disney dominates (as it usually does these days) with a reported 118.1 million subscribers according to its fourth-quarter earnings report, as well as 45.3 million for Hulu. Coming in at number three is HBO Max, which reported 73.8 million global subscribers as of the end of 2021.
Down on the lower end, there’s Comcast’s (CMCSA) Peacock, the streaming home of NBC and Universal, and Paramount+, the streaming service of the company now formerly known as ViacomCBS (VIAB).
In its fourth-quarter earnings call, Comcast said that Peacock has 24.5 million monthly active accounts, so there’s room to grow. But doing a little bit better is Paramount+ with 32.8 million.
But in its fourth-quarter call, Paramount Global (which is what ViacomCBS has recently rebranded itself as, though apparently its also fine with just Paramount) seemed bullish about the future, telling investors that it was raising its global streaming subscriber goal from 65 million to 75 million by 2024, to more than 100 million by the end of that year, with plans to spend $6 billion on content, it announced at a recent virtual investors day event.
Paramount
Will A Showtime Bundle Give Paramount+ A Boost?
While Paramount has big plans for the future of Paramount+, for now, its immediate gambit is to launch a program where subscribers can access content from Showtime through the Paramount+ app for an additional charge.
Paramount+ is available in an ad-supported tier called ”Essential” for $4.99 a month and an add-free “Premium” tier for $9.99. Starting at an unknown date this summer, for $11.99 per month you will be able to get the ad-supported Paramount+ “Essential” plan and Showtime; and for $14.99 you get Showtime and the ad-free Paramount+. The cost of a regular Showtime subscription is $10.99 a month, so this does seem like both a bargain for the consumer and a bit of a loss-leader for Paramount to get people to try its streaming service.
Starting last year, the then-ViacomCBS was offering a bundled subscription plan o $11.99 for Showtime and “Essential” plan and $14.99 and Showtime and the ad-free Paramount+, but maybe putting it all on one streaming service will be easier and more attractive to the consumer.
Though perhaps it would be even easier if Paramount followed AT&T’s (T) lead with HBOMax and made Showtime the one-stop clearinghouse for all content, the way you could get material from The Cartoon Network, TBS, and, for a while, CNN all through HBOMax.
Paramount+ Still Has A Few Cards To Play
As we previously noted, the four “Star Trek” TV shows Paramount+ offers have done so-so with fans and haven’t exactly been putting up numbers to compete with Disney's “The Mandalorian.”
It’s arguable that Paramount may have missed its window with the Showtime gambit, as the recent miniseries “Dexter: New Blood” was the most-watched series in Showtime's history, averaging more than 8 million viewers a week across its ten-episode run.
The series was a return to a (once) beloved franchise with a built-in audience, and its return was a big deal, and it seems like the kind of thing you could use to launch or relaunch a new streaming service with, one would think. (And without spoiling anything, let’s just say it doesn’t look like there will be a second season.)
That said, Showtime is still an attractive prospect to viewers, as “Billions,” which recently began its sixth season, remains popular, and its series “Yellowjackets” became the most talked-about series on Twitter (and in many people’s holiday gatherings) last December.
Beyond Showtime, Paramount+ has a few more irons in the fire. In 2024, it will become the exclusive home for all Paramount Pictures movies, but again, this seems like a missed opportunity, as Paramount’s recent films “Jackass Forever” and the “Scream” reboot both topped the box office (and both were based on the sort of familiar IP Hollywood loves). Both will hit Paramount Plus in March.
But would they have done better for the company if they had debuted on both the streaming service and in theaters? It's a strategy that HBOMax had with “Dune” and “The Matrix: Resurrections,” and Peacock used for the Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson rom-com “Marry Me,” which debuted on Valentine’s Day weekend to social media dominance.
One of Paramount+ biggest assets is the ultra-popular television drama “Yellowstone.” Though Paramount+ shares the series with Peacock (where you can also watch episodes) due to licensing deals, the Kevin Costner-staring series, which has been confirmed for a fifth season after its fourth season finale drew in 9.3 million viewers, has become one of the jewels of Paramount’s empire. In fact, you could even say that Paramount+ is unofficially becoming the Yellowstone Network. It already has the prequel series “1883” and another prequel series “1932" is on the way, along with the spin-off "6666."
Additionally, "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan is producing even more shows for the network, including "Land Man" starring Billy Bob Thornton and "Tulsa King" with Sylvester Stallone.
With Paramount eager to build its subscriber base as much as possible, you can look for even more “Yellowstone” spin-offs in the future, and if we’ve already hit the maximum amount of prequels, then might we suggest “Yellowstone: The Next Generation,” perhaps?
Rising interest rates, inflation, and market volatility are on the horizon. You don’t want to miss out on this exclusive opportunity to unlock Action Alerts PLUS at our lowest price of the year.
