As 2023 wound down, the trade press was abuzz with news that Shari Redstone, heiress to Sumner Redstone’s National Amusements and the Paramount Global media empire, was entertaining various M&A proposals.

Paramount has long been seen as an M&A target destined to be gobbled up, or even broken up, by the larger players in the market. While some potential suitors might see the company’s Paramount Plus streaming platform as well as it’s popular FAST service Pluto TV as the crown jewels, others are eyeing some of the conglomerate’s TV assets, or its production studios and storied library.

The rumors turned out to be true. In April 2024, Paramount entered exclusive M&A talks with longtime Paramount Pictures partner David Ellison and his Skydance Media. As these talks advanced, Paramount's longtime CEO, Bob Bakish, was jettisoned, with the board replacing him with three executives: George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins, who now comprise what is called "The Office of the CEO." (Yeah, weird.)

Paramount's wild first week of May was capped by a rival M&A bid coming from Sony and private equity firm Apollo valued at $26 billion. 

So how'd we get here?

In early December 2023, news that Skydance Media and RedBird Capital Partners have been kicking the tires on Paramount Global drove the company’s stock up 12%.

Analysts love a good M&A rumor, and they turned out in force in the run-up to Christmas to speculate on what a deal might look like. 

Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall speculated that Skydance or RedBird might try to sell off Pluto TV, which could fetch $1.7 billion, or the company’s linear networks, worth about $16 billion, in order to focus on the company’s movie and TV studio business. 

Then, just before Christmas, Axios broke the news that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had an extended meeting with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish at Paramount’s New York headquarters to discuss a possible merger.

Warner Bros. Discovery might be looking at Paramount’s streaming assets to buttress its own Max streaming service. And because WBD does not own a broadcast network or television stations, there is some speculation that the deal might be able to pass FCC regulatory reviews, which undoubtedly pose a problem if Comcast NBCUniversal were to enter a bid since Paramount owns broadcast network CBS and some 28 TV stations, both CBS affiliates and independents, through its CBS Stations unit. 

On the other hand, both WBD and Paramount are saddled with debt and struggling to keep up with the leaders in the streaming race. Plus, Zaslav’s hands are tied until at least April because of a reverse Morris trust set up to reduce taxes when Discovery acquired WarnerMedia from AT&T in 2022.

Meanwhile, media mogul Byron Allen has made a $3.5 billion offer to buy Paramount Global’s BET division, and BET’s management have been in talks for a management buyout. 

Paramount indicated that it was willing to sell a stake in BET in early 2023, drawing interest from Allen, along with Tyler Perry and Sean (Diddy) Combs, but eventually called off the divesture after the bids fell short of the $3 billion the company was reported seeking for the unit at the time. 

There’s no doubt others will be circling Paramount in the coming weeks -- sizing up its various components and figuring out how to carve it up. And the future of Paramount Plus very much hangs in the balance. 

It’s unclear what other players could eventually emerge, but Variety recently noted that Redstone is hoping for other offers and “hopes to sell the company as a unit and not broken up in pieces.”

It’s not clear if that’s in the cards, but given Paramount Global’s corporate structure, any deal is bound to be a bit complicated. 

In addition to the Paramount Pictures film and television studio and the CBS Entertainment Group, the company also owns several cable channels, including BET, VH1, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, CMT, Paramount Network and Showtime. Internationally, the company owns Argentina's Telefe, Chile's Chilevisión, India's Colors, the United Kingdom's Channel 5 and Australia's Network 10.

Meanwhile, Shari Redstone’s National Amusements owns a 9.7% equity stake in Paramount Global, but it controls roughly 79% of the group’s voting shares, meaning that easiest and cheapest way to get control of the group is through National Amusements – a theater chain founded by Shari’s grandfather Michael Redstone in 1936. 

Streaming struggles

With 63 million subscribers (and growing) at the end of Q3 2023, Paramount Plus is well ahead of Peacock with roughly 30 million paid subscribers, but also well behind the much bigger streamers like Netflix with almost 250 million or Max with 95 million or Disney with 225 million DTC subscribers spread over Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus. 

But it’s been a struggle getting this far. In its 2022 Q4 earnings report released in early 2023, Paramount Global reported that losses on its direct-to-consumer business rose 15% to $575 million all but wiping out Paramount’s profits, which were down 99% from the previous year. 

The company stressed that it added 10 million streaming subscribers globally in the quarter, but by that point Wall Street had already grown tiered of watching subscriber numbers swell while losses mount and wanted to see a path to profitability.

In July, the company raised prices, and by Q3, Paramount Global had staunched the bleeding, reporting a third-quarter profit of $295 million, with the media conglomerate expanding its direct-to-consumer revenue by 38% and closing DTC losses for the year by more than 30%.

Paramount Plus gained 2.7 million subscribers in Q3 to reach 63 million. Revenue expanded by 61%, driven partly by the July $1-per-month price increase. Paramount Plus global ARPU expanded 16% year over year.

DTC ad sales also thrived in Q3 on Paramount Plus and FAST platform Pluto TV, up 18% to $430 million. In fact, the company predicted that it would hit streaming profitability in 2024.

On the company’s third-quarter earnings call, CEO Bob Bakish said that the company was also exploring the prospect of selling wholesale “hard bundles” of Paramount Plus on top of legacy linear network carriage deals. 

A landmark distribution deal between Disney and Charter Communications in September saw Charter score wholesale pricing of Disney Plus and ESPN Plus in order to bundle it with customers' programming packages. The deal broke the traditional mold for such carriage deals at a point where Charter seemed prepared to walk away from the table if Disney wouldn’t cut it some slack. 

Evidently, Bakish is keen to follow in those footsteps. Not only does such bundling reduce customer acquisition cost to next to nothing, Bakish said, it grows customer ranks and reduces subscriber churn.

But MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman was skeptical of the strategy as it pertains to Paramount Plus, questioning whether Paramount Plus offers the same kind of "incremental value" to a standard pay TV package that Disney Plus does. 

Integrating Showtime

Announced in January 2023, one of the company’s key initiatives over the past year has been combining it’s Paramount Plus streaming platform with Showtime and rebranding the two as “Paramount Plus with Showtime” in an effort to broaden its streaming offering and compete for scale.

Paramount Global CFO Naveen Chopra reported early in 2023 that combining Paramount Plus with Showtime is expected to save the company $700 million annually.

The Paramount Plus with Showtime streaming bundle officially launched in June for $11.99 per month, replacing the $9.99 per month Paramount Plus premium tier. Meanwhile, the monthly price for the sans-Showtime Paramount Plus Essential plan rose by $1 to $5.99. 

The initiative culminated in January 2023 with the rebranding of Showtime’s linear cable channel as Paramount Plus with Showtime. The linear channel combines Showtime titles and select Paramount Plus original series.

Programming

During the prolonged dual strikes of 2023 that left streamers, cable channels and broadcast nets with a dearth of scripted content for the fall season, CBS was able to tap Paramount Plus originals to fill some of its primetime slots, which is also a great way to introduce viewers to the streaming platform -- “If you want more, check out Paramount Plus.” 

While it was more of a case of “making the best of a bad situation” rather than a “win-win” scenario, it will be interesting to see if this kind of cross-pollination and cross-promotion becomes the new normal, or if we see a return to more strict exclusivity.

For example, in October, Paramount Plus bowed a reboot of the popular comedy series Frasier. Five days later, the first two episodes aired on CBS. Similarly, CBS picked up the first two episodes of Taylor Sheridan’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves about a week after its streaming premier in November.

Prolific show-runner and producer Sheridan has emerged as one of Paramount’s star heavy hitters. The producer has delivered such hits as Yellowstone and its prequels 1883 and 1923, which stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.

In March, news broke that Sheridan reportedly commands a cumulative annual production budget of $500 million at Paramount Global as part of his overall deal there. 

In November the company revealed that Sheridan is working on two more Yellowstone spinoffs with the working titles 1944 and 2024, the latter of which has been widely rumored to star Matthew McConaughey. 

Yellowstone first premiered in 2018 on Paramount’s linear cable network, Paramount Network and in 2020 NBCUniversal’s rival steaming platform, Peacock, snapped up the rights to the series. This leads to the awkward situation where subscribers can gorge themselves on the Paramount Plus spinoffs, 1883 and 1923, but to watch the original Yellowstone series, they’ll have to subscribe to a rival platform. 

Sheridan is also behind the Sylvester Stalone-starring mob drama Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner.

And in July, Paramount Plus bowed Sheridan’s Special Ops: Lioness starring Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman. The series, inspired by an actual U.S. military program, stars Saldaña as a CIA agent attempting to balance her personal and professional life. 

Another crown jewel for Paramount Plus is the Star Trek franchise, which has spawned a slew of original spinoffs for the streamer, including Star Trek: Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy and Strange New Worlds. The platform also serves as a hub for all of the classic series, including The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise. 

Paramount Plus's sports offerings are based on the live games that air on CBS and CBS Sports Network, as well as a few exclusives, meaning that the streamer is able to offer NFL and college football, major soccer leagues, PGA Tour and college basketball, including the annual NCAA men's March Madness tournament.

Overall, a recent Reelgood audit found that, in its ongoing efforts to rein in costs, the streamer had trimmed its movie catalog back by 64% over the past year to roughly 830 movie titles. Meanwhile, Paramount Plus' TV show catalog was up 3% year over year to 752 series. 

In August, Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra said that the company aims to plan the Paramount Plus slate more "efficiently," getting away from what he called a "volume focused game."

Chopra added, “Our programming slate is designed to ensure that each key audience segment has compelling content to enjoy throughout the year. Not too little, but also not too much.”

However, a recent Ampere Analysis study found that Paramount Plus lags well behind frontrunners Disney Plus/Hulu, Netflix and Max in terms of hosting the most popular content.

Availability 

Paramount Plus is available on just about every device, including computers, Apple (TV, iPhone and iPad), Android (TV, phone and tablet), Google TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, Roku, Samsung TV, LG TV, Vizio TV, Xfinity and Xumo and Cox Contour, as well as PlayStation and Xbox.

Internationally, the service is available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Europe, Latin America and Australia.

In December 2023, Paramount Plus finally rolled out in Japan through a partnership with local cable TV and broadband provider J:COM, as well as Japanese premium cable channel provider Wowow Inc., both of which offer the streaming service to their subscribers at no additional cost. 

The move came about 15 months after launching in South Korea, its only other Asian market. 

Promotional Offers

Paramount Plus has a long-standing marketing partnership with Walmart giving Walmart Plus subscribers a break on the price.  

Last March, the company partnered with Verizon to launch its streaming platform on Verizon’s Plus Play wholesale app market. 

In November, alongside an aggressive three-month Black Friday promo, the streamer also rolled out a special 10% discount for AARP members. 

The Paramount upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall largely focused on its new streaming platform, but it was a broadcast staple that offered the event its theme. 60 Minutes, currently in its 54th season, provided the presentation’s framework.

“You may ask, why make 60 Minutes the theme for this year’s upfront?” asked JoAnn Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer. “60 Minutes has informed America with bravery, style and sophistication” for a long, long time.

Upfront presentations tend to last a long, long time, but Ross promised an hour.

“Let’s start the clock,” she said, and 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley came out with the clock ticking.

Pelley spoke about how the company has deftly adapted to reach viewers, and users, wherever they may be. He then introduced late-night host Stephen Colbert. When Colbert was asked to present, he said, “I leapt at the chance…to read my contract and find out I had to.”

He spoke about the company name changes during his time on The Late Show, from CBS to ViacomCBS to Paramount, and “next week, whatever Elon Musk renames us.” 

Wayne Brady came out to host the game show Climb That Mountain!, with Tony Dokoupil, Nate Burleson and Nicole Byer as the contestants. Trivia questions about various Paramount components, be it Pluto TV and EyeQ, were asked. 

Upfronts 2022: Complete Coverage

60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl followed the game show, and spoke about reality TV, including The Real World, Survivor and RuPaul’s Drag Race. Paramount has “a portfolio of reality programs like no other on television,” said Stahl.  

Anchor Norah O’Donnell offered an interview on video with Tyler Perry, who has eight shows in the works at Paramount. “The relationship with Paramount has been incredible,” he said, noting the “immediate give-and-take in the relationship.”

Thirteen years after Perry was interviewed on 60 Minutes, “the reach of Tyler Perry’s work is larger than ever,” said O’Donnell. 

The cast of CBS comedy Ghosts came out for a little song and dance, with Ross turning up, in costume, a little too late for the number. 

James Brown spoke on video about live sports, with Tony Romo and Burleson weighing in as well, and Burleson teasing the next NFL game on Nickelodeon, Broncos versus Rams on Christmas. 

Jim Nantz popped up in Tulsa, where he’s covering the PGA Championship. “CBS Sports is synonymous with golf coverage,” he said. 

Gayle King of CBS Mornings introduced Kevin Costner and Kelly Reilly from Yellowstone. George and Tammy, about George Jones and Tammy Wynette, got a tease from Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon, and Sylvester Stallone spoke about Tulsa King, his project with Taylor Sheridan. “I love every day on the set,” he said. 

60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker spoke with BET CEO Scott Mills about the Content for Change initiative that began at BET, and expanded companywide. Content for Change pushes for more and better Black representation in television. Mills mentioned “the impact of media on our aspirations, our beliefs, our values,” and how the initiative can improve quality of life for many in America and beyond. 

Sir Patrick Stewart was next, speaking of his mission “to create innovative, diverse and engaging entertainment,” as a bevy of new programs rolled across the screen, including CBS newbies Fire Country and So Help Me Todd. 

ParamountUpfront.com offers a better peek at shows, Stewart shared. 

Vanessa Lachey of NCIS: Hawai’i shared the 2022-2023 schedule on CBS, and James Corden, who is departing The Late Late Show in 2023, came out to say goodbye. “It’s ten past 5,” he said, “so the 60 minutes thing didn’t work out, did it?”

Like his late-night colleague, he took a shot at the various corporate names during his time on CBS. “Whatever name they give us next week, I will absolutely love it,” Corden promised. 

Drew Barrymore then saluted Corden. “You burst onto your show like a comet and you lit up the world,” she said. 

LeAnn Rimes and Mickey Guyton performed a musical number, and Ross returned, apologizing for the presentation going long, and saying that any complaints can be emailed to James Corden. 

“Thank you for your partnership,” she said to the marketers in the room. ■

The media company now known as Paramount Global fired off a battery of news announcements Tuesday, earnestly and near-endlessly making the case that it plans to extract every cent of value it can from every corner of its operations, all to the benefit of its streaming future. 

It marks the most concerted declaration yet of streaming love by any major media company (short of, of course, Netflix itself). 

Also read: ViacomCBS Adds 9.4 Million Streaming Subscribers in 4Q

“This is a time characterized by great momentum and tremendous go-forward opportunity,” CEO Bob Bakish said during a nearly two-hour-long investor presentation, followed by 30 minutes of analyst Q&A on Tuesday afternoon. “Our momentum is building and as it grows, as we take Paramount Plus and our other streaming businesses to the next level, the size of the opportunity we see ahead is matched only by the scale of our ambition to seize it.”

The long-in-coming streaming embrace for a company that’s finally moved beyond years of corporate chaos couldn’t come soon enough. The fact is, even after Viacom and CBS merged, and finally launched a revivified successor to CBS All Access last March, it still can’t afford to be sloppy.

Netflix is still spending billions more on programming, without any legacy overhead or distractions. Apple and Amazon both are building highly attractive platforms with their trillion-dollar valuations, and Disney has righted its listing ship with an emphatic uptick last quarter. 

Paramount Global’s future looks brighter today than, say, six months ago, when it was still ViacomCBS and Paramount Plus was around seventh on the list of must-have streaming services. 

But Paramount Global still must maximize value extraction for its TV shows, movies, news, sports, and other content at every turn, and plow that into its streaming initiatives repeatedly over the next few years to make sure it can build a sturdy and sustainable base of users/subscribers. 

Thankfully, that’s exactly what was promised Tuesday by Bakish, company chair Shari Redstone, a herd of other executives, and high-level talent partners such as Tom Cruise, John Krasinski, JJ Abrams, and Taylor Sheridan. 

“We are very early in the Paramount Plus subscriber journey,” Bakish said. “It didn't exist a year ago. We’ve seen it build. Really, the fourth quarter was the first time we had anything approaching scale.”

The company said it will put all of its movies on Paramount Plus, either on initial release or in the Pay One window after a theatrical run, by 2024. That’s a big shift from years of arms-merchant licensing of its movies and TV shows to just about anyone else. 

It’s also pulling back the episodic content it has licensed widely over the years to competitors, funneling all that into Paramount Plus and Pluto.TV.

Ending those lucrative deals will take years to play out, which means, for instance, that more than 300 episodes of South Park will remain on competitor HBO Max until 2024 (speaking of which, can a post-merger rebrand to Warner Max be coming?). 

All Paramount movies will head to Paramount Plus, either directly or in the Pay One window after a theatrical release, matching similar decisions by WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal to keep the crown jewels in hand. 

Even the farmed-out franchises will get new programming spinoffs that Paramount can keep to itself. 

With South Park, that means two feature-length movies a year headed straight to Paramount Plus for the next six years. As well, the service will whatever else warped geniuses Trey Parker and Matt Stone come up with in their spare time. 

For franchises such as Transformers and Sonic the Hedgehog, it means not only another movie, but an episodic series soon after. The company also announced numerous other spinoffs, reboots, sequels, new seasons, and more. 

Chopra said the company’s “incredible” array of licensed (and unavailable) content holds much promise when it’s repatriated to owned-and-operated platforms. In the meantime, “Rather than just forego that opportunity, we got into spinoffs. That's working very well for us.”

The company is pushing international expansion hard after debuting Paramount Plus and/or Pluto in 25 territories last year. This year, the streaming services will add 60 more territories, still far behind Netflix’s 192 or so, but a big bump up. 

And the company plans to partner widely overseas, especially with the big broadcasting outlets it already owns in countries such as Australia, Chile and Argentina. 

The company is also pursuing other kinds of partnerships, announcing a “hard bundle” partnership in France, with Canal+, which dominates there. 

Though such bundles don’t provide all the customer data and other benefits of a standalone launch, company executives said they also don’t require the same marketing, technical, billing and other expenses, while providing instant access to a large installed local base. 

All of it is designed to funnel more value into Paramount Plus and Pluto.TV, then to cross-promote between them so audiences will stick around and stay engaged.  

Paramount executives also made a solid case that Paramount Plus is already finding some traction in the market less than a year after its launch (apparently operating CBS All-Access for most of decade doesn’t count).  

Most notably, the company’s streaming outlets (which include BET Plus, Noggin, and Showtime OTT) are on target to hit 2024 audience targets by the end of this year. Accordingly, Paramount bumped up its 2024 goal by about half to 100 million. 

And that doesn’t even include the “many millions” of new subscribers that Bakish said are expected to flow into the SkyShowtime joint venture with Comcast that launches in Europe later this year. 

The company is also making more money from each streaming subscriber, CFO Naveen Chopra said. Average revenue per user, or ARPU, hit $9 a month in the last quarter for subscribers to the two tiers of Paramount Plus. 

Pluto’s ad-only viewers generate far less revenue each, but also saw a substantial jump in ARPU last quarter. The company previously announced Pluto revenues topped $1 billion last year.

“We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing in ARPU,” Chopra told analysts. “We see continued upside in domestic ARPU” growth, thanks to “very healthy trial-to-pay conversions” between Paramount Plus’ two tiers, and “continued monetization” on the ad-supported lower tier. 

The company goals to grow subscriber/MAU numbers and  ARPU should be helped by the presentation’s bigger message: lots of desirable new content from lots of different directions. All of it will make the service more attractive, and more sustainable in the middle to longer term. 

Another overdue move will create an $11.99/$14.99 bundle of Paramount Plus’ two tiers with the streaming version of premium channel Showtime. In a blow for simplicity in subscribers’ lives, Showtime programs will be integrated in the Paramount Plus interface, with a single sign-on. 

To the company’s credit, it’s also taking a step toward more transparency in reporting its numbers, promising to disclose Paramount Plus subscriber ads and Pluto MAUs, along with ARPU and other key data. 

Such transparency is a rare thing in the streaming business, despite frequent calls for it from investors, journalists, and analysts. 

To that end, the company even detailed its streaming losses, using a new process that allocates costs by each project’s relative value to the various platforms. 

Under that approach, Paramount streaming lost $2.2 billion in 2021, and $1 billion in 2020. It should continue to lose money this year, but expects free cash flow and other key numbers to remain sturdy, Chopra said, thanks in part to an aggressive effort to reduce debt and sell off non-core assets. 

All these moves are welcome. They suggest that Paramount executives understand the existential challenge they face as long as Redstone remains committed to remaining independent. 

Paramount doesn't have a lot of room for error, but it’s clear Bakish and his team are focused in the right direction, and committed to more transparency and clarity along the way, and why. For that, they deserve a big pat on the back.

ViacomCBS said its direct-to-consumer business lost about $1 billion in 2021, and the company expects losses to grow by another $500 million in 2022.

During the company’s presentation to analysts Tuesday, CFO Naveen Chopra said the company expects DTC content expenses to grow to more than $6 billion in 2023 from $2.2 billion last year. 

“Given these Investments. We forecast D-to-C OIBITA [operating income before interest, taxes and amortization] losses will be greatest in 2023, but will improve in 2024 when our Global D-to-C businesses will start to see the benefits of our full content slate  including Paramount, pay one movies,” he said.

Also: ViacomCBS Changing Company Name to Paramount

“And longer-term our model suggests that the D to C segment will approach margins similar to our current TV media business,” he added.

The company said it expects to have $9 billion in streaming revenue by 2024, up from its previous forecast of $7 billion, which included $1 billion in digital advertising that moves to the company’s TV media segment. The increase will be fed by increased prices for subscribers and growth in advertising, Chopra said.

Streaming has been a big bet for ViacomCBS and other media companies as technology evolves and consumers cut the cable cord. Chopra said it is crucial for ViacomCBS to pivot to streaming because the company’s pay TV footprint represents 300 million households, while streaming will help the company’s potential reach more than double to more than 600 million broadband homes. The company is also looking to create plans for mobile-only customers, unlocking an even larger market.

Content spending helps build the business. Over the past three quarters, as content selection expanded on Paramount Plus, domestic subscribers spent more time with the service, and as they spent more time with the service, retention increased. “So does the lifetime value of a Paramount Plus subscriber,” he said.

In the fourth quarter, ViacomCBS added 9.4 million streaming subscribers. The vast majority of new subscribers were for Paramount Plus, but Showtime OTT also had record additions in the quarter, he said.

By the end of 2021, Paramount Plus had 32.8 million global streaming subscribers. The streaming service generated $1.3 billion in revenue in 2021, up 115% from the previous year. 

Global streaming revenue was up 50% to $1.3 billion in the quarter, with subscription growth up 84%.

ViacomCBS’s fourth-quarter net earnings were $2.06 billion, or $3.11 a share, compared to $$810 million, or $1.31 a share, a year ago. The earnings include $2.223 billion in net gains from asset sales.

Revenue rose 16% to $8 billion.

Ad revenue was up 1% to $2.6 billion and affiliate revenue rose 2% to 2.1 billion. ■

ViacomCBS is planning to return to New York’s fabled Carnegie Hall for its upfront presentation on May 18.

CBS had held its upfront at the venerable venue for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced ViacomCBS, like other media companies, to make virtual presentations in 2020 and 2021.

“We’re thrilled to return to the iconic stage at Carnegie Hall this year and spotlight the power of ViacomCBS in what will surely be a show-stopping event,” said Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer for ViacomCBS Domestic Advertising Sales. “We look forward to delivering an entertaining and informative presentation that addresses the dynamic needs of our clients, which is absolutely critical as the marketplace continues to transform at a rapid pace.”

The ViacomCBS presentation will also be streamed for people who choose not to attend in person.

Earlier this week NBCUniversal announced that it would be again holding its upfront at Radio City Music Hall, a familiar location before the pandemic.

Last week, Fox said it was reimagining its upfront presentation plans, including a May 16 event. Instead of holding that event in a theater, Fox will stage it at at the Skylight on Vesey in New York, a venue recently used for a Van Gogh exhibition.

In December, the IAB announced that it plans to hold the 2022 NewFronts in person during the week of May 2. All five days of NewFront presentations will be streamed for remote viewers.

Disney Ad Sales also plans an in-person event this year. Disney said its event won’t be held in a large theater, but that it plans to find a space to create a more interactive experience for advertisers and media buyers. ■ 

Nexstar Media Group said it reached multiyear agreements with ViacomCBS to renew the CBS Television Network affiliations in 39 markets.

The stations reach 17.4 million television households, or about 14% of the U.S. audience.

Nexstar renewed the CBS affiliations at three stations last year. Now all of Nexstar‘s CBS affiliates have long-term deals in place. 

Also: WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS Reportedly Talking About Sale of The CW Network

Financial terms were not disclosed but all of the Nexstar CBS affiliates will continue to be available locally to subscribers of Paramount Plus and most virtual multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) as part of the deal. Generally stations pay the networks “reverse comp” to air network programming and the stations get part of the fees the networks get from distributors like the MVPDs.

“We are extremely pleased to once again extend our partnership with ViacomCBS and the CBS Television Network on a long-term basis,” Nexstar president and chief operating officer Tom Carter said. “These new agreements recognize the value of the network's news, sports, and entertainment programming, and reflect the importance of our stations to CBS and to the viewers of the local communities we serve. Together, Nexstar and CBS deliver a great value proposition for our viewers and an excellent advertising platform for our local and national clients.“ 

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Nexstar that includes several early renewals of our CBS network affiliations," added Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. "This deal demonstrates the power of our collective partnership and our commitment to maintaining strong relationships in order to best serve audiences across the country with leading content."

The agreement includes renewals for the following CBS affiliates: KTAB in Abilene, TX; KRQE in Albuquerque, NM; WIAT in Birmingham, AL; WVNS in Bluefield-Beckley, WV; WIVB in Buffalo, NY; WCIA in Champaign, IL; WRBL in Columbus, GA; KGPE in Fresno, CA; WANE in Ft. Wayne, IN; KREX in Grand Junction, CO; WFRV in Green Bay, WI; WNCT in Greenville, NC; WSPA in Greenville, SC; KVEO in Harlingen, TX; WHLT in Hattiesburg, MS; WHNT in Huntsville, AL; WTTV in Indianapolis, IN; WJTV in Jackson, MS; WTAJ in Johnstown, PA; KLFY in Lafayette, LA; WLNS in Lansing, MI; KLAS in Las Vegas, NV; KLBK in Lubbock, TX; WREG in Memphis, TN; KXMC in Minot, ND; WKRG in Mobile, AL; WBTW in Myrtle Beach, SC; WMBD in Peoria, IL; KOIN in Portland, OR; WPRI in Providence, RI; WNCN in Raleigh, NC; KCLO in Rapid City, SD; WROC in Rochester, NY; KLST in San Angelo, TX; KELO in Sioux Falls, SD; WJHL in Tri-Cities, TN-VA; and WKBN in Youngstown, OH. The deal also includes two stations owned by Mission Broadcasting, Inc. and operated by Nexstar, KOLR in Springfield, MO and WYOU in Wilkes Barre, PA. ■

Comcast and ViacomCBS reached a new carriage deal that gives Comcast expanded rights to include BET Plus among the services it offers subscribers.

The deal renews carriage of the CBS Television Network, cable channels BET,  CBS Sports Network, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel and Showtime, and streaming services Paramount Plus, Showtime OTT and Pluto TV.

Comcast and ViacomCBS last year announced a deal to get together to build SkyShowtime, a streaming service in Europe. This week, the companies named Monty Sarhan as CEO of the venture.

Also: Comcast To Carry CNN Plus in New Deal with WarnerMedia

“We are pleased to have reached new agreements that strengthen our long-valued partnership with Comcast,” said Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. networks distribution, ViacomCBS. “ViacomCBS is a cornerstone content provider, and we look forward to serving millions of Xfinity customers with greater access to their favorite channels and programming from our leading brands.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“ViacomCBS continues to be a great partner, and we are very pleased to provide our Xfinity customers with access to their content across our industry-leading platforms,” said Rebecca Heap, senior VP, consumer products & propositions, Comcast Cable. ■

Comcast and ViacomCBS have appointed Comcast Cable executive Monty Sarhan CEO of their new joint European streaming venture, SkyShowtime.

Sarhan has served as senior VP of content acquisition for Comcast Cable since 2019. He previously headed MGM's Epix premium cable operation. 

Also read: Comcast, ViacomCBS Get Together For SkyShowtime Streaming Service in Europe

Sarhan will now lead the Comcast-ViacomCBS joint venture when it launches in 20 European markets later this year. He'll be based in London and report directly to the as-of-yet-unnamed SkyShowtime board of directors. Sarhan will start his new job later this month.

“Monty’s career at the forefront of both content and technology, his ability to scale businesses and his knowledge of both joint venture partners make him the perfect leader for the business as we bring the very best entertainment, movies and original series from the ViacomCBS, Sky and NBCUniversal portfolio of brands to SkyShowtime,” said Raffaele Annecchino, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Networks International, in a statement obtained by the Hollywood Reporter.

Announced in August, SkyShowtime will feature programming from the NBCUniversal, Sky and ViacomCBS portfolio of brands, including titles from Showtime, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Plus Originals, Sky Studios, Universal Pictures and Peacock.

“This year, ViacomCBS will continue the acceleration of our global streaming expansion as we embrace a truly differentiated strategy across every segment of the streaming universe and capitalize on our robust global content pipeline,” he wrote. “As we continue to prioritize the global rollout of Paramount Plus and the expansion of Pluto TV, we are also preparing to launch the premium streaming service SkyShowtime, a joint venture with Comcast, which will be available in more than 20 European markets beginning in 2022,” Annecchino added. 

AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit and ViacomCBS are discussing all or part of The CW Network, a joint venture between the two companies, according to published reports.

Nexstar Media Group, a large owner of CW affiliates, was mentioned as a potential buyer of the networks.

The CW is not profitable on its own, but it is a valuable outlet for programming produced by the parent companies, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Also: ‘The Flash’, ‘Riverdale’ Start New Seasons on The CW

Nexstar became a big The CW affiliate when it bought the Tribune Media stations in 2019. Since then it has taken Tribune’s WGN America cable network and turned it into NewsNation, a low-rated news network.

The companies signed a new affiliation agreement last May. 

Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Stephen Cahall said acquiring The CW could be a “very logical deployment of strategic capital” for Nexstar in a note Thursday morning (January 6).

“We think Nexstar is looking to balance returning free cash flow to shareholders while also pivoting the company gradually away from dependence on Big Four retrans cash flows via digital, political and national networks,” said Cahall. 

The strategy would involve a greater focus on content creation and digital acquisitions, Cahall noted.

“At issue will be whether Nexstar investors like the heavier M&A strategy vs, giving all cash back,” Cahall said. “We think the relatively recent addition of Lee Ann Gliha as CFO has signaled a more acquisitive stance, and thus the deal should not come as a major surprise.” 

AT&T is in the process of undoing its expensive foray into the media world by spinning off WarnerMedia and selling it to Discovery. ■

ViacomCBS said that 1883, the Yellowstone prequel from Taylor Sheridan, has become Paramount Plus’ most-watched original series ever.

Paramount Plus did not disclose specific viewing metrics, but said its audience was double the previous record on owned and operated platforms. Other viewing is expected once data from third-party reporting checks in.

ViacomCBS let viewers sample 1883 on its Paramount Network cable channel and it drew 4.9 million total viewers leading out of Yellowstone, becoming the biggest new series premiere on cable since 2015.

Also: Younger Viewers Are Riding With New-Look Westerns

“The results of 1883’s debut are truly phenomenal,” said Tanya Giles, chief programming officer, ViacomCBS Streaming. “The day one streaming numbers coupled with the results of the linear sampling effort, and social response from our audience show the tremendous promise for this series. We look forward to continuing on this epic journey with our subscribers.”

Ultimately the most important metric will be whether or not 1883 is able to bring new subscribers to Paramount Plus.

Other numbers are encouraging. ViacomCBS said that 1883 is tracing ahead of the season one premiere of Yellowstone by 125% among people 18-49 and 135% among 25 to 54.

“The success of Taylor Sheridan’s 1883 is another proof point of our unique model to leverage our linear platforms and franchise our biggest hits to supercharge Paramount Plus. We went big with 1883 -- the Yellowstone prequel -- and it delivered big and shattered all records,” Chris McCarthy, president and CEO ViacomCBS Media Networks, said in a release. “Given the tremendous viewership on Paramount Network, I’m confident our strategy of sampling on the Paramount Network will drive awareness and viewers to Paramount Plus.”

Paramount Plus also launched another Taylor Sheridan series, Mayor of Kingstown, on November 14. That show, too, outperformed Yellowstone's series premiere, the network said in declaring Kingstown the streaming service's top original scripted drama to date.

Created by Academy Award Nominee Taylor Sheridan and produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, 1883 is the prequel to the Emmy nominated series Yellowstone. The original series stars Academy Award nominee Sam Elliott, Grammy Winner Tim McGraw, Grammy Winner Faith Hill, Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton, Isabel May and LaMonica Garrett, Audie Rick, Marc Rissmann, Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert. 

1883 is executive produced by Sheridan, John Linson, Art Linson, David Glasser, Ron Burkle and Bob Yari. ■

ViacomCBS and media buyer Dentsu said they have gotten together to launch advanced advertising campaigns in the first quarter that use data from VideoAmp as currency, rather than the traditional Nielsen demographic numbers.

ViacomCBS announced in September that it would use VideoAmp as currency when selling certain national ad inventory. The move comes as Nielsen faces new challenges. Nielsen undercounted TV viewership during the pandemic and its national ratings service lost it Media Rating Council accreditation, encouraging networks to seek measurement alternatives and opening the door for competitors.

“Measurement is no longer a monopoly business,” John Halley, chief operating officer of advertising revenue at ViacomCBS, told Broadcasting+Cable. “We’re democratizing the use of data in the guarantee and optimization of media campaigns.”

ViacomCBS and Dentsu are a good match. Viacom’s Vantage targeted advertising product is powered by VideoAmp, as is Dentsu’s DELTA (Data Enable Linear TV Activation) advanced advertising platform.

The advanced advertising campaigns go through OpenAP, using its Open ID to identify targeted consumers. OpenAP recently launched XPm, which lets advertisers  get cross-platform metrics from several measurement companies including relative upstarts VideoAmp, iSpot and 605. 

“Nielsen and Comscore are still involved in OpenAP, but essentially this is bringing another measurement approach into the space in terms of cross-platform specifically, and that’s somewhere that we need to move as an industry,” said Cara Lewis, head of U.S. investment at Dentsu.

Halley said that for a media company, using the data used to plan a campaign as the currency to transact “aligns our incentives.” ViacomCBS will be able to optimize campaigns to deliver viewers in the advertisers advanced target, rather than working to meet the guaranteed number of viewers in a broader demographic like women 25 to 54.

“We think that will ultimately result in much more effective campaign activations,” he said.

One impediment to data targeted advanced advertising campaigns is that they seem to have higher prices on a cost-per-thousand viewer basis compared to traditional campaigns.

“I don’t truly believe you can compare a CPM from a strategic audience to a demo guarantee,” said Lewis. “They will look more expensive, but essentially they’re more effective.”

Advanced advertising campaigns are also different because they are often designed to deliver targeted viewers, whether they’re watching a primetime show on CBS or up late at night streaming on Pluto TV.

In some cases, “ViacomCBS offer unified CPMs across platforms. In other cases it depends on the advertisers’ needs or requests,” Halley said.

It’s important for advertisers to know where their ads run, Lewis said, but “if we’re seeing that we’re finding our audiences in hovering and we’re seeing the in daytime and maybe it’s not 60% prime, that alright. We want to reach the audience.”

Lewis said that at first, only a couple of Dentsu clients in a couple of categories will be using the VideoAmp as currency. 

“We continue to talk about measurement with our clients, which we’ve been doing for the past year,” she said. “I would say we probably have a long journey ahead of us. This is just one step in the right direction.”

Halley said that ViacomCBS has been laying the groundwork for using multiple currency. “We are putting pipes in place on both the buy side and the sell side so that it’s going to be as easy to transact with custom data sets as it is to transact on Nielsen demography,” he said.

Lewis said that ViacomCBS was among the first to transact on advanced audiences. “I think it’s unique right now. We’re talking to other vendors about it. I think this is the way of the future. If they’re leading, then that’s amazing to be the ones that are leading,” she said. ■

It’s not quite Man Bites Dog, the quintessential definition of a big news story, but Paramount Plus’ move to create 18 linear channels for its on-demand subscription service merits notice as the streaming sector continues to evolve. 

With the move, Paramount Plus commandeers old-school approaches to inexpensively expand its next-gen SVOD service, providing yet another way to leverage its big franchises and deep well of old shows while the mid-sized media company tries to keep up with giant competitors.  

Themed live and linear programming has been a crucial part of corporate cousin Pluto for quite a while, and underpins all of ViacomCBS’ many legacy broadband and cable networks. Still, it’s striking to see the streaming “Mountain of Entertainment” partially shift its programming strategy to something right out of the parent company’s 1990s cable heyday. 

Live Channels, as it’s being called, launched Thursday, featuring all-day linear streams of some of ViacomCBS’ most successful franchises, including Star Trek (of course), Survivor, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Paw Patrol. 

Other linear channels are themed around comedy, adult animation, reality competitions, children’s programming, vintage TV “classics,” and what I like to call the Dostoevsky beat, crime and punishment. Coming soon are channels built on RuPaul’s Drag Race and movies. 

Add in the existing live sports and local news (available only for the ad-free top subscription tier), and maybe Paramount Plus should just rename itself Pay-TV Plus. 

But the throwback approach does two important things: 1) taps into decades-old low-intensity viewing habits; and 2) inexpensively provides quick, no-brainer 24-hour access to the Mountain’s deep library of old shows in a usefully themed way.

“Even in the era of on-demand, there is clearly a strong consumer appetite for reimagined linear channels that provide effortless, lean-back entertainment,” said Tom Ryan, ViacomCBS’ streaming chief in announcing the new channels. “Inspired and informed by the winning model Pluto TV pioneered and popularized, these highly curated channels underscore the power of our unified streaming organization and serve as a product differentiator in the SVOD space, by offering subscribers yet another way to experience and discover programming on Paramount Plus.”

The live, linear channels make the Mountain look bigger, at a time when ViacomCBS still isn’t pumping out original programming at a competitive rate. It taps into all the company’s library, as far back as 1950s stalwart I Love Lucy for the comedy channel, and fills the needs of a subset of consumers who aren’t watching that closely.

Netflix fills this need in a different way with its “play something” button, which serves up a show you might want to watch when you just want something playing on screen. 

Eventually, the new channels will become yet another place to sell ads, at least for subscribers to the ad-supported tier of Paramount Plus. That will be increasingly lucrative as brands further migrate their money to connected-TV ads. 

I expect other streamers will copy this approach soon enough, as they try to keep up with the billions that Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are spending on originals by better leveraging their deep libraries. That will be important as some other expansion tactics look less viable. 

For one thing, companies probably won’t be able to buy their way to scale. PwC’s Media and Telecommunications Deals 2022 Outlook counts more than 800 mergers & acquisitions over the past 12 months, up 27% from 2020. Big deals such as the WarnerMedia/Discovery tie-up and the Amazon purchase of MGM dominated the year’s totals, but hundreds of smaller deals filled out the list.

Though that deal velocity may continue in 2022, it’s becoming less likely, the report suggests. Growing economic headwinds and the Biden Administration’s increasingly assertive antitrust hawks both may make it more difficult for  big companies to acquire, well, much of anything. Hollywood and tech giants shouldn’t count on buying their way to scale anytime soon. 

So tactics like Paramount’ Plus’ FAST service In SVOD clothing could become the look of the year in 2022, as all the services adapt to new consumer expectations. It likely won’t bring in many new subscribers, but in a year that will feature bottomless churn, keeping the ones you have satisfied and subscribing may be enough.

AVOD platform Pluto TV is profitable in the U.S. "at margins approaching broadcast," ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said at a Tuesday morning appearance at the UBS Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.

ViacomCBS said during its third quarter earnings call back on Nov. 4 that Pluto TV is on the way to generating more than $1 billion in revenue in 2021, less than three years after the media conglomerate purchased the startup for $340 million. 

The free-to-consumer Pluto TV service is currently in expansion mode internationally, having recently deployed in Italy.

Since ViacomCBS reports broadcast and streaming revenue in one big lump it calls "TV Entertainment," it's hard to discern just what Bakish might mean when he equivocates Pluto's U.S. margins to those of "broadcast." 

Revenue for the conglomerate's TV Entertainment sector spiked 24% in the third quarter, driven largely by the addition of Paramount Plus. 

Bakish conveyed bullishness regarding ViacomCBS' entire direct-to-consumer portfolio, noting that the conglomerate is pacing to collect $5 billion in revenue from DTC platforms in 2021. 

But Paramount Plus, he said, “will take a couple of years, as it has for everyone, to get to profitability."

Not progressing as smoothly is ViacomCBS's proposed $2.175 billion sale of publisher Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House owner Bertelsmann. The Justice Department has sued to stop the deal, which it feels is uncompetitive. 

“We look forward to resolving this as soon as possible," Bakish said. ■ 

ViacomCBS said it made a deal with CJ ENM of South Korean that will lead to Paramount Plus being launched next year in its first Asian market as part of an exclusive bundle with CJ ENM’s streaming service TVing.

The partnership includes co-productions for original series and films, content licensing and distribution across the streaming services run by both ViacomCBS and CJ ENM.

Also: ViacomCBS Makes Deal With NENT To Launch Pluto TV in The Nordics

“Korean entertainment has become a cultural juggernaut with unprecedented demand and CJ ENM is behind some of the biggest international hits that transcend borders, including Academy Award-winning film Parasite," said Dan Cohen, president, global distribution group, ViacomCBS. "We are excited to partner with CJ ENM to deliver world-class content that will captivate our collective audiences, expand our intercontinental footprint and accelerate the growth of our streaming services with this powerful collaboration."

Details of the deal include ViacomCBS’s Paramount Television Studios and CJ ENM’s Studio Dragon co-developing and co-producing English language scripted series based on Studio Dragon title for exhibition on Paramount Plus, the companies co-developing and co-financing movies for theatrical and streaming release, the company co-financing a new Korean series for Paramount Plus and Paramount Plus licensing Korean-language series for global distribution on Paramount Plus.

ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV will also be launching a CJ ENM branded channel featuring Korean content for U.S. audiences.

Also: ViacomCBS Buys Majority Interest in Fox TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico

"CJ ENM is growing into a global leading entertainment company in accordance with Chairman Lee Jay-Hyun's vision of expanding CJ's presence on a global level," said Kang Ho-Sung, CEO, CJ ENM. "CJ ENM's vast library of original IP will create synergy with ViacomCBS' production capabilities and distribution channels to develop into global smash-hit content." ■

Kelly Day is leaving her post as president of ViacomCBS' international streaming operation to lead the foreign streaming interests of Amazon Prime Video. 

Day will assume the newly created position of VP of Prime Video International in January and report to Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios. 

Day's purview will include all international territories and span SVOD, TVOD and the Prime Video Channels business, according to an internal Amazon memo sent by Hopkins and released to the media. 

"As I’ve said before, global expansion is a key driver of [Prime Video] growth and essential to the success of our business," Hopkins said in the memo. "I couldn’t be prouder of all we’ve accomplished in building and scaling PV globally. I look forward to the opportunities that Kelly’s leadership will bring.  Her insights and expertise on the future of television, the evolution of online business models and the disruption of traditional businesses through emerging technology will help us to be the number one entertainment hub for our customers. "

Also read: ViacomCBS's Kelly Day on Going Global with Pluto, Paramount Plus … and SkyShowtime

Day's career switch follows ViacomCBS' announcement back in August that it's combining its subscription streaming forces with Comcast to expand its direct-to-consumer business into Europe under the brand "SkyShowtime." 

At ViacomCBS, the former Awesomeness executive had been the conglomerate's top international streaming executive, leading foreign expansion plans not just for Paramount Plus, but for the ads-supported Pluto TV, as well. ■

ViacomCBS on Tuesday said it agreed to sell the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles and its operating businesses for $1.85 billion to a partnership formed by Hackman Capital Partners LLC and Square Mile Capital Management LLC.

Some of the proceeds from the sale will go to help fund ViacomCBS’s streaming businesses.

The CBS Studio Center sits on a 55-acre site in Studio City, California, and has more than 1 million square feet of space, with 22 stages, production offices, support buildings, tenant offices, a broadcast center and backlot locations for filming.

Also: CBS Selling Television City Complex for $750 Million

CBS Broadcasting will enter into a long-term lease-back of the Broadcast Center, which is home to L.A. television stations KCBS and KCAL. ViacomCBS will continue to occupy stages and produce content on the lot, as well as enter into a short-term lease-back of certain portions of the property in order to manage the transition of ViacomCBS employees to other locations.

“This sale is part of an ongoing optimization of ViacomCBS‘s real estate and operations portfolio and will allow the company to redeploy capital to strategic growth priorities, including streaming,” Naveen Chopra, executive VP and chief financial officer, ViacomCBS, said.

The transaction is expected to close in 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

”We‘re honored to have been selected as the new stewards of CBS Studio Center, one of the most celebrated and successful studios in Los Angeles,” said Michael Hackman founder and CEO of Hackman Capital Partners. “The studio has been a hit-maker from the days of Gunsmoke, Mary Tyler Moore and Seinfeld, and we’re thrilled to continue our ongoing relationship with ViacomCBS to service its many successful shows currently filmed on the lot.”

“CBS Studio Center is an iconic property that has been home to many of television's legendary programs over the years,” added Square Mile Capital CEO Craig Solomon. “With ViacomCBS maintaining an important presence at the property, we anticipate a smooth ownership transition and many more great years ahead.” ■

ViacomCBS said it made a deal to launch Pluto TV in Nordic countries combined with NENT Group’s ad-supported VOD platform Viafree.

The service will launch in 2022 in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, with NENT Group leading the advertising sales efforts in the region.

Also: ViacomCBS Buys Majority Interest in Fox TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico

“The combination of our global content pipeline and Pluto TV's best-in-class tech global platform, with NENT Group's ad sales scale and powerful local Viafree content, will position Pluto TV as the leading player in the growing FAST/AVOD space," said Raffaele Annecchino, president and CEO of VCNI. "Overall, this transformational partnership will boost Pluto TV's growth internationally, and we expect to replicate this strategic model across key international markets."

Viewers will see Pluto TV channels such as Pluto TV Movie, Pluto TV Crime, Pluto TV History, and Pluto TV Comedy and ViacomCBS library content including The Hills, Awkward, MTV Unplugged and Catfish, along with Viafree shows like Luxury Trap and Familien fra Bryggen.

Following the launch of Pluto TV, Viafree will be phased out as a stand-alone platform.

Also: ViacomCBS Reports 4.3 Million More Streaming Subs in 3Q

"We are happy to have found a new and stronger way forward for Viafree through this innovative partnership that creates significant value for all parties,” said Anders Jensen, NENT Group president and CEO. “Viewers can enjoy Viafree's most loved formats as part of Pluto TV's broad FAST and AVOD offering, while we are able to offer advertisers an even more attractive proposition. With this, we are taking an important further step to sharpen our focus on our fast-growing Viaplay SVOD service, which we expect to have at least twelve million subscribers in 2025."

Pluto TV is available in 26 markets globally, including the US, Latin America and Europe. ■

ViacomCBS said Tuesday its international networks division completed the acquisition of  majority interest in Spanish-language producer TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico from The Walt Disney Co.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal expanded ViacomCBS’s the amount of original Spanish language content it can produces for its streaming platforms Paramount Plus and Pluto TV, as well as its global collection of linear networks.

ViacomCBS said it will operate Fox-TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico as a “collaborative partnership” with its founding family. Samuel Duque Duque will head the business and it will report into Juan “JC” Acosta, president of ViacomCBS International Studios and Networks Americas. ■

ViacomCBS said it promoted Scott Mills to CEO of its BET unit, which provides content for African-American viewers.

Mills had been president and has been running BET since Debra Lee stepped down as chairman and CEO in 2018.

“Under Scott's leadership, BET has reached new heights with continued commercial success and profound cultural impact during a period of immense industry and social change," ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said in a statement. "Scott has been instrumental in the expansion of the BET brand as the premier destination for Black entertainment and top talent, and he has spearheaded transformative initiatives that not only give back to the community but also play a critical role in representation in front of and behind the camera. BET is a source of inspiration and pride across the company, and I'm excited for BET's strong future ahead with Scott at the helm.”

Mills helped expand BET from its cable channel legacy to a multi-platform programmer with subscription streaming service BET Plus and BET Studios. 

"BET is uniquely positioned to thrive at the intersection of content, community, and culture," said Mills. "Through the power of the BET brand, our incredible team and great partners, we've established leading business franchises across linear, streaming, digital, and most recently, content development and distribution. It is an extraordinary privilege to steward such a culturally significant brand with an enormous legacy as a catalyst for change. As CEO, I look forward to working with my immensely talented BET colleagues and our great partners to ensure that BET continues to thrive and remains ideally positioned to succeed in the ever-changing media landscape."

Also: BET's Scott Mills on Providing a Platform For Change 

Million joined BET in 1997 as senior VP of business development. He held a number of more senior positions before becoming executive VP and chief administrative officer at Viacom. He returned to BET as president, overseeing its day-to-day operations including programming, ad sales and digital. 

Everyone is 'Stone'd at ViacomCBS headquarters in West Hollywood today, and they're loving every minute of it. 

Yellowstone, the steadily growing Paramount Network series starring Kevin Costner as a wealthy but embattled Montana ranch owner, has exploded into a rare water-cooler linear TV hit, with ViacomCBS announcing Friday that the show's Season 4 premiere drew a linear TV audience of 14.3 million viewers in its first three days (aka "L+3"), according to Nielsen. 

Not for nothing, but in its press note today, ViacomCBS said that Yellowstone is on a "trajectory higher" than HBO's mega-popular Game of Thrones, which had a 8.1 million L+3 viewers in for its fourth season debut in HBO's premium cable universe back in April 2014. 

OK, as Vincent Vega might say, that's a bold statement. GOT ended its eight-season run in 2019 with a Live+Same Day audience of 19.3 million viewers. 

But ViacomCBS isn't wrong to get excited about a series that has seen audience growth of 135%, higher than any other top 15 scripted show over the last five years. The Yellowstone Season 4 premiere, which was simulcasts across ViacomCBS channels Paramount Network, CMT, Pop and TV Land,  bested the L+3 debut of Season 3 (9.3 million viewers) by 58%. 

Yellowstone debuted to a Live+Same Day audience of 8.3 million viewers, making it the second most watched show on broadcast, basic cable and premium cable so far in the 2021-22 TV season. The L+3 audience was the biggest performance in basic cable since AMC's premiere of The Walking Dead in 2017. 

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has already been given green lights by ViacomCBS for two new shows, Mayor of Kingstown and Yellowstone spinoff series 1883.

“Over 14 million viewers tuned in for our Yellowstone premiere which will now serve as massive launch pad as we sneak episodes of Taylor Sheridan’s new series Mayor of Kingstown, whose full season will be rolling out exclusively on Paramount Plus starting Sunday,” said Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of MTV Entertainment Group. “Taylor has created a cinematic experience that our remarkable cast led by Kevin Costner brings to life in a way audiences can’t get enough of and we are excited to deepen our relationship with him and capitalize on this tremendous momentum by building out the Yellowstone franchise together.”

ViacomCBS and Twitter reached a new global multiyear agreement that will deliver content from ViacomCBS’s programming and events via the social media platform.

As part of the deal, ViacomCBS’s streaming service Paramount Plus will host three Twitter Watch Parties to build communities around select original series.

Content from ViacomCBS brands including BET, CBS, CBS News, CBS Sports, Channel 5, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Network 10, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network and Telefe will all get tweeted.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Twitter is the digital water cooler for trending topics and fandom worldwide, and we’re excited to provide front-row access to innovative digital content experiences and culture-defining moments across the best of entertainment, news and sports for Twitter users everywhere,” said Andrea Wolinetz, senior VP, distribution & business development-streaming at ViacomCBS.

ViacomCBS programs will be eligible for Twitter marketing support and brand sponsorship sales via Twitter’s Amplify. Amplify marries ViacomCBS premium video with Twitter’s paid reach and targeting. ViacomCBS can also tap into other Twitter marketing features, from live video to Twitter Moments.

"We're excited to take our strong partnership to a new level, offering premium content across entertainment, news and sports and giving brands the opportunity to align with ViacomCBS' entire portfolio on a global scale," said Jennifer Prince, head of global content partnerships for Twitter. "Through highlights, Twitter Moments, innovative formats and Paramount Plus watch parties, Twitter will put users at the center of the biggest moments happening around the world."

ViacomCBS and Twitter recently worked together on the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards and the BET Awards. Content from the shows appeared on Twitter and the BET red carpet was live streamed on Twitter, hosted by DJ Envy.

ViacomCBS and Gray Television said they reached a multi-year agreement renewing the CBS affiliation for 47 local television stations run by Gray.

Gray’s CBS affiliates will continue to be available to subscribers to ViacomCBS’ Paramount Plus and on certain virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs).

“ViacomCBS is an important partner, and we are pleased to have reached an agreement that builds upon our longstanding relationship,” said Pat LaPlatney, co-CEO of Gray Television. “We look forward to better serving our audiences by combining our valuable local content with CBS’ premium programming across entertainment, news and sports in the years to come.” 

Gray’s CBS affiliate reaches about 13 million households, or 11% of the U.S. After it acquires Meredith’s local stations, it will be the largest operator of CBS affiliates, with stations in 55 markets covering 18% of the country.

“We are happy to have renewed these important license agreements with Gray Television to continue to inform and entertain audiences across the country with CBS’ leading programming,” said Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. “This deal underscores our longstanding commitment to building successful affiliate partnerships that create shared and enduring value.” 

ViacomCBS said it added 4.3 million global streaming subscribers in the third quarter, bringing its total to nearly 47 million.

Streaming revenue topped $1 billion for the first time, increasing 62% from a year ago. Streaming advertising revenue was up 48% and streaming subscription revenue was up 79%.

Also read: T-Mobile Customers To Get Paramount Plus Free for 1 Year 

The company also said its Pluto TV free streaming platform grew its monthly active users to more than 54 million and its revenue increased 99%.

Growing the streaming business is expensive. ViacomCBS’s net income fell to $538 million, or 80 cents a share, from $615 million, or $1 a share, a year ago.

Total revenue rose 13%, to $6.6 billion.

Advertising revenue was up 1%, to $1.86 billion, and affiliate revenue rose 2%, to $2.1 billion.

Also read: ViacomCBS Carriage Deal With Altice Covers Streaming Services

“ViacomCBS continued to show tremendous momentum across the business as we executed against our strategy,” CEO Bob Bakish said. “We added 4.3 million global streaming subscribers, raising our total to nearly 47 million, driven by the scaling of the diverse content offering on Paramount Plus. Looking forward, we’re thrilled about the fresh array of content coming to Paramount Plus in the next few months and can’t wait to share it with our global audience. Our strategy is clearly working and we’ll continue to use the power of global content, distribution and market expansion to drive scale.”

ViacomCBS’s TV Entertainment unit, including CBS, had adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization of $271 million, down 21% from a year ago. 

Television revenue went up 24% to $2.9 billion. Ad revenue — excluding streaming — was down 2%, to $943 million. Streaming revenue went up 81% to $390 million. Affiliate revenue rose 4% to $698 million. 

Cable network OIBDA rose 5% to $906 million as revenue rose 13% to $3.5 billion. Advertising revenue — excluding streaming — was up 6%, to $917 million. Streaming revenue was up 53% to $689 million. Affiliate revenue rose 1% to $1.4 billion. 

T-Mobile and ViacomCBS on Thursday announced that new and existing T-Mobile and Sprint customers can get a full year of Paramount Plus Essential for free.

"At T-Mobile, everyone means everyone. And now, every one of our postpaid consumers can get a mountain of awesome entertainment with Paramount Plus Essential on us for a full year. That’s true whether you have a consumer or a home internet plan and whether you have a new Magenta Max plan or are on a plan from 10 years ago,” said Jon Freier, consumer group president at T-Mobile. “With Paramount Plus, in addition to all our other streaming benefits, customers can truly watch virtually anywhere, anytime, on any smartphone and all at no extra cost with T-Mobile.” 

Customers can go to a T-Mobile website to sign up for the free year of the ad-supported version of Paramount Plus. After 12 months, the subscription will renew for $4.99, or the current price.

“The partnership with T-Mobile is a key part to our growth strategy as we continue to scale Paramount Plus to become a global leader in streaming,” said Jeff Shultz, chief strategy officer and chief business development officer, ViacomCBS Streaming. “This incredible offer is available to T-Mobile’s full suite of postpaid consumers, exposing Paramount Plus to a massive new and diverse audience that will have the opportunity to experience the service’s unmatched content portfolio and unique value proposition as a total household product.” 

In a signal that the Justice Department is serious about enforcing its antitrust laws against potential large mergers, DOJ has sued to block a deal for ViacomCBS to sell assets to a direct competitor, but in this case it is the entertainment giant's Simon & Schuster book publishing subsidiary.

Penguin Random House had struck a deal to buy Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion, but DOJ said that would create a "behemoth" that would harm authors and consumers.

Penguin Random House is the world's largest publisher.

Also: AG Garland Pledges Strong Antitrust Enforcement

DOJ said that such a horizontal merger--between direct competitors--would decrease the competition for content, resulting in lower prices paid to content producers and less choice for consumers, in this case manuscripts but the same argument DOJ has made against mergers of other content distributors.

“In stopping Penguin Random House from extending its control of the U.S. publishing market, this lawsuit will prevent further consolidation in an industry that has a history of collusion,” said acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers. “I want to thank the Attorney General and senior leadership of the department for their support of antitrust enforcement.”

CTAM, the cable industry marketing and communications association, has elected a new chair and board officers.

Deena Demasi, executive VP of U.S. networks distribution marketing for ViacomCBS,  has been elected chair. Jason Wicht, SVP of growth operations for Comcast was tapped as vice chair.

Demasi oversees strategic communications across ViacomCBS's media networks, including various diversity initiatives.

Wicht heads up national acquisition and customer marketing for Comcast.

"Deena is an innovative, forward-thinking leader with the vision needed to guide CTAM in cultivating new opportunities,” CTAM president Vicki Lins said. “Deena and Jason will be important assets in helping to deliver on CTAM’s promise to create tremendous value through collective impact.”

ViacomCBS and Altice USA said they reached a new carriage deal that includes the media company’s streaming services as well as its broadcast stations and cable networks.

“We are pleased to have reached a new multi-year agreement with our partners at Altice USA that underscores the strength of ViacomCBS’s brands and streaming services,” said Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. “Altice USA through its Optimum and Suddenlink brands is an important partner and we look forward to continuously serving subscribers with our outstanding collection of content.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

As programmers emphasize streaming, moving assets from their more traditional TV channels, some friction has been expected with cable operators and satellite distributors. But ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish has emphasized efforts to work with distributors as customers cut the cord and go over the top.

Altice cable customers will continue to get programming from CBS stations and cable networks including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Paramount Network and BET. Altice also has rights to the ViacomCBS streaming services: Paramount Plus, Showtime OTT, Pluto TV, BET Plus and Noggin.

ViacomCBS and Altice USA will continue to collaborate on addressable media and advanced advertising capabilities.

“As Altice USA continues to focus on providing our Optimum and Suddenlink customers with a robust array of content to meet their evolving entertainment needs, we are pleased to reach a new agreement with ViacomCBS that ensures the continued delivery of their networks plus added rights to the ViacomCBS streaming services portfolio,“ said Yossi Benchetrit, Altice USA’s chief programming and procurement officer.

ViacomCBS said it is moving into the non-fungible token business with Recur, building a platform where fans can buy, collect and trade digital collectibles based on  the company‘s consumer brands.

The platform is expected to launch in 2022. The collectibles would be based on brands including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount Pictures, Showtime and, of course, Nickelodeon.

“Fueled by beloved characters and iconic properties with multigenerational appeal, we are thrilled to accelerate our consumer products presence even further into the growing metaverse,” said Pam Kaufman, president, ViacomCBS consumer products. “In teaming up with Recur to create an NFT platform dedicated to ViacomCBS IP, voracious collectors and first-time NFT buyers alike will find unique opportunities to own a piece of their favorite franchises.”

All purchases on the platform will accept most U.S. digital payments via credit card and debit cards, Recur said.

“ViacomCBS is one of the first major media and entertainment companies to enter the metaverse in a significant way. We are so excited to welcome them into the ecosystem with this partnership. Our chain agnostic approach will provide fans the widest range of utility as well as unprecedented access to their favorite shows and franchises,” Recur co-CEOs Trevor George and Zach Bruch said.

In August, Fox said it made an investment in NFT company Eluvio, which will provide a platform to create collectibles based on content created by Fox Entertainment and its Bento Box animation unit. Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon is making a new animated comedy for Fox called Krapopolis that will be based on NFTs and blockchain technology.

Digital distributor Cinedigm said it would sell NFTs based on some of the classic films from its Fandor subscription service.

In a sign that the television measurement world is changing, ViacomCBS said it will be using an alternative currency from VideoAmp to plan, transact and measure  national media campaigns, a role for years monopolized by Nielsen.

ViacomCBS said the move was part of its multi-currency strategy, adding that it was also part of an industry-wide move to get more measurement options at a time when video consumption is shifting to streaming platforms from traditional linear TV.

VideoAmp is in talks with other media companies about providing media buying currencies. It is conducting pilot programs with six major media buying holding companies — including Omnicom Media Group, Havas, Dentsu, GroupM and Horizon — aiming at developing alternative currencies.

Also Read: Ad Industry Seeks Alternatives After Nielsen Loses Seal of Approval

Adopting a new currency is a blow to Nielsen, which has been under fire this year since the networks trade group — the VAB — claimed Nielsen undercounted viewership during the pandemic. The Media Rating Council, the industry watchdog, confirmed the undercount and suspended the accreditation of Nielsen’s national TV measurement service. Nielsen is in the process of creating Nielsen One, a new system for counting viewers on multiple platforms in a consistent and comparable way.

The VAB, the Association of National Advertisers and NBCUniversal have all initiated processes aimed at creating new measurement options. Companies including VideoAmp, Comscore and iSpot.TV are developing metrics for impressions (who saw a commercial) and outcomes (what did people who saw an ad do) that could be used as currency for buying and selling ads.

Also Read: Nielsen’s David Kenny Fights Back After Accreditation Loss

ViacomCBS’s deal with VideoAmp is “an important part of this broader narrative that starts with Nielsen’s struggles,” John Halley, chief operating officer of advertising revenue at ViacomCBS, told B+C. 

“Just to be clear, we’ve been engaged with VideoAmp for a while,” Halley said. “This would have happened whether [Nielsen] lost their accreditation or not. We’re not saying that we’re replacing Nielsen. What we’re saying is that the measurement marketplace needs diversification and that innovators like VideoAmp can accelerate us into that future.”

Many media companies like ViacomCBS and media buyers already use big data from VideoAmp and other measurement companies to plan campaigns and identify and target audiences most likely to be receptive to an ad message.

Up until now, data from VideoAmp and other data and measurement companies have mostly been used in television advertising to plan campaigns and to allocate linear investment. Agencies would then negotiate guarantees using Nielsen metrics.

“What we have here is the opportunity to align the planning KPIs [key performance indicators, or a campaign’s goals] with the guarantee KPIs to create more transparency and efficiency in the marketplace,” Halley said. “We think that is an opportunity for real market transformation.”

VideoAmp will be creating currencies for both the kinds of advanced audience segments its Vantage platform uses, Halley said, as well as the traditional age-sex demo still used by most advertisers.

At first, deals using VideoAmp as currency will be a fraction of ViacomCBS’s overall business, Halley said. “But I think it will fast grow into something material.”

Those deals will use VideoAmp as the sole currency, rather than incorporating Nielsen and using VideoAmp as a secondary or shadow guarantee, he said.

As ViacomCBS uses Nielsen as currency for fewer deals, Halley said he would expect the company to be willing to pay less to Nielsen. “If you look at the dollars that have been guaranteed by Nielsen over the course of the last few years, obviously it goes down as the linear marketplace shrinks,“ he said. ”As this business moves to streaming, Nielsen no longer has the data advantage.”

Ross McCray, CEO and co-founder of VideoAmp said his company has been preparing for this deal since it was founded seven years ago.

“Our philosophy on the currency side is that it’s not a zero-sum game,” McCray said. Using VideoAmp’s commingled TV viewership dataset will let buyers and sellers look at more precise audiences and allow them to figure out which impressions and spots are going to be the most valuable in a particular campaign.

“We’re hoping to demonstrate in these currency pilots that it creates a higher return on ad spend for the advertisers while creating more yield for the sell side because there’s waste that’s being eliminated,” he said.

VideoAmp’s big data set can also be used for attribution metrics, which can also be used as a guarantee in ad sales deals.

The data is also rich enough to do the kind of predictive analytics advertisers are starting to use to forecast viewership patterns.

ViacomCBS’s Halley said his company has used VideoAmp’s data as a basis for prediction, and that it worked successfully.

In addition to ViacomCBS, VideoAmp is talking to many other programmers, said McCray, who expects VideoAmp’s currency to be among those used across the industry.

VideoAmp has been active with groups that have been looking to reimagine the measurement business and develop standards.

“We believe that as long as we continue to develop against the standards of OpenAP, OpenID, the VAB, the ANA, there will be broad adoption on this,” McCray said. “I think that’s something that we’ll see over the next couple of months or quarters.”

“Measurement is an industry initiative it is a team sport. We’re going to move collectively together to define its future,” Halley said. “Ultimately that future is going to involve multiple currency options based on the advertisers’ and agencies’ preference. It's up to us as sellers to support all those options.”

As for Nielsen? “Nielsen is not going to be the monopoly provider anymore,“ Halley said. ”They're going to be one of several and they're going to have to compete for the advertisers and publishers business. The question is, can a historical monopoly provider of legacy service rapidly develop a product roadmap that meets the needs of advertisers in the current day.”

ViacomCBS’s Nickelodeon kids channel has ordered an addition 20 episodes of Ryan’s Mystery Playdate, expanding its season four pickup to 30-half hour shows.

The new season four episodes will start to air Sept. 27. 

In the premiere, Ryan’s Fizzy Playdate/Ryan’s Artistic Playdate, Ryan and his family are joined by Onyx Family of YouTube as he collects hints through a series of challenges.

Future episodes of the pre-school series show Ryan in live action with guests including WWE’s The Miz, the GEM Sisters, a sneaker designer and a piano prodigy.

Full episodes of Ryan’s Mystery Playdate are available to stream on Paramount Plus, Nick Jr. On Demand and download-to-own services, as well as NickJr.com and the Nick Jr. App, which also features short-form content.

ViacomCBS has rolled out a promotional bundle rate for Paramount Plus and Showtime, discounting the monthly price by 38%. 

New signups can get a bundle featuring the partially ad-supported Paramount Plus Essentials (regularly $4.99 a month) and Showtime (which goes for $10.99 a month) for $9.99 a month. 

Prospective subscribers can also choose to bundle the ad-free Paramount Plus Premium ($9.99) with Showtime for $12.99. 

Both discounts amount to 38% off the regular monthly rate for the two SVOD platforms. 

ViacomCBS, which said it added 6.5 million subscription streaming customers in the second quarter, also said the promotion is good through Oct. 20.

Seinfeld is coming to Comedy Central, with MTV Entertainment picking up the off-network sitcom in a new linear deal with Sony Picture Television.

Seinfeld’s full library of 180 episodes are leaving the show's longtime home of TBS as of Oct. 1 and will start airing exclusively on Comedy Central on Monday, Oct. 11. Comedy Central will prep fans for the move with a countdown stunt of favorite episodes on Saturday, Oct. 9. 

ViacomCBS acquired the show away from WarnerMedia in September 2019. At the time, ViacomCBS had planned to air it across its cable networks -- including Paramount Network, TV Land and Pop -- but with management changes across both the parent corporation and at the four cable networks, those plans have changed. 

Seinfeld also is moving its streaming home and will be available to stream on Netflix starting Oct. 1. Previously, it streamed on Hulu but it left that platform in June.

In the week ended Sept. 5, Seinfeld averaged a 0.7 live plus same day household rating in syndication, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Also Read: Survey: Reruns Are Big Draw for Streaming Subs

Seinfeld, which debuted on NBC in July 1989 and ran until May 1998, has aired in broadcast syndication since 1995 when it was distributed by Columbia TriStar Television, which was later absorbed into Sony Pictures Television. 

The show stars Jerry Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Jerry’s ex-girlfriend and current platonic pal, Elaine Benes; Michael Richards as Jerry’s eccentric neighbor, Kramer; and Jason Alexander as George Costanza, Jerry’s neurotic hard-luck best friend.

Seinfeld is a West/Shapiro Production in association with Castle Rock Entertainment. Seinfeld was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and executive produced by Larry David, George Shapiro and Howard West. Seinfeld is distributed by Sony Pictures Television.

BET will look to create premium television series and films as part of BET Studios, a new studio production company offering equity ownership for Black content creators, the network said Wednesday.

The studio venture will be headed by former Warner Bros. Television executive Aisha Summers-Burke, who will report to BET president Scott Mills and will be responsible for working collaboratively with the studio’s creative partners and key internal constituencies. Principal partners in the venture include content producers Kenya Barris, Rashida Jones and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas.  

BET Studios will look to develop content for BET and sister streaming service BET Plus as well as other ViacomCBS-owned networks including Paramount Plus, Showtime, CBS and Nickelodeon, according to the company. The service will also select third-party platforms that seek content from rising Black creatives. 

“The demand for premium content from Black creators has accelerated dramatically as a result of both the rapidly changing media and social landscapes,” Mills said in a statement. “BET, with our 40-year legacy of celebrating Black culture and the full power of the ViacomCBS ecosystem, is uniquely positioned to service this demand. As a company with its origin in Black entrepreneurship, we are incredibly excited to create the first major studio to provide Black creators with ownership, creative freedom and the unparalleled partnership and support of BET. I am thrilled to have Aisha at the helm of this venture, and I look forward to our collaboration with our amazing creative partners in BET Studios.” 

Added David Nevins, chief content officer, scripted originals for Paramount Plus and chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks: “BET Studios is an exciting and novel extension of the storied BET brand, and we have a structure well-suited to our times to bring top talent into this production company with real ownership. Scott Mills deserves tremendous credit for driving this innovative new business from idea to reality – and Kenya, Rashida and Aaron, could not be a more talented or in-demand group to lead this venture along with Aisha Summers.” 

Also Read: Showtime Head David Nevins Put in Charge of Paramount TV Studios

Burke, who most recently served as VP of scripted television for the cable and streaming division of Warner Horizon before it merged with Warner Bros. TV in 2020, said that the venture will continue to build on BET's legacy of offering quality programming to the Black community. 

“With the launch of BET Studios, we are excited to introduce a new model that opens the aperture to a broad array of platforms and supports the full range of content from Black creators,” she said. “This entrepreneurial environment offers creatives the opportunity to produce diverse high-end content reflecting all aspects of entertainment.”

ViacomCBS, shifting management to build a more reliable content pipeline for its streaming service Paramount Plus, said that NIckelodeon head Brian Robbins was named president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and that Paramount Television Studios will become part of the company’s premium television group under Showtime Networks CEO David Nevins.

As reported last week, Robbins will continue to head ViacomCBS’s kids and family entertainment business and Jim Gianopulos, who had been CEO of Paramount Pictures will serve in an advisory role at Paramount through the end of the year.

Nicole Clemens will continue as president of Paramount Television Studios, reporting to Nevins, who is also chief content officer for the company's CBS brands.

Paramount is one of ViacomCBS’s crown jewels, delivering some of the most iconic moments in entertainment for more than a century. The moves we’re making today will build on Paramount’s strong momentum, ensuring it continues to engage audiences at scale while embracing viewers’ evolving tastes and habits,” said Bob Bakish, President and CEO of ViacomCBS.

“A passionate storyteller who takes a holistic view of the entertainment ecosystem, Brian is an expert at building powerhouse global franchises by leaning into the unique strengths of new and established platforms – including theatrical releases, streaming, linear, consumer products and more,” Bakish said. “With Brian drawing on his extensive experiences across animation and live action, and David overseeing Paramount Television Studios, we will build on Paramount’s incredible legacy and chart a new path for the studio.

In June, ViacomCBS announced a restructuring of its content executives designed to give each of its content leaders responsibility for providing content for Paramount Plus and Pluto TV. 

At that time Nevins was named chief content officer for scripted originals for streaming. 

Nevins joined Showtime in 2010 and was in charge when it launched its stand-along streaming service Showtime OTT.

Before joining Showtime Networks, Nevins was an Emmy Award-winning producer and network programming executive. He served as President of Imagine Television from 2002-2010, and executive VP at Fox Broadcasting. 

Nevins was inducted into the Broadcasting + Cable Hall of Fame in 2019.

Brian Robbins, who heads Nickelodeon as president, kids & family entertainment at ViacomCBS, is expected to be named head of Paramount Pictures as ViacomCBS gears up to create more content for Paramount Plus.

Robbins would replace Jim Gianopulos, now chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, and retain his oversight of the kids business, according to a source, confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal.

An official announcement was said to be imminent, but officials had no comment.

Robbins joined Nickelodeon as president in 2018. Before he started the multiplatform media company Awesomeness, which was purchased by Viacom in 2018. Before that he was an actor, writer and producer of movies and television shows.

When ViacomCBS announced a new streaming content leadership structure in June, Robbins was tapped as chief content officer, kids and family for Paramount Plus. In July Robbins was tapped for global responsibilities for the company's kids businesses.

There have been questions about whether ViacomCBS was big enough to generate enough content to compete in the streaming wars. One of Paramount Plus’ strengths was its Nickelodeon kids franchises and the company appears to be counting on Robbins to deliver more content that will appeal to younger audiences.

CBS is seeing a surge in advertiser demand for commercials in its NFL games as the league gets set to kick off a new season with increased interest in legal sports betting.

The network has a double-digit revenue gain on the scoreboard compared to last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic delayed advertising commitments to NFL games and to TV overall.

“It’s definitely a different landscape than it was a year ago,” said Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer for ViacomCBS Domestic Advertising Sales. “People moved a lot earlier than they did last year, because there is pent-up demand.”

That pent-up demand drove TV’s overall upfront advertising market. A year ago, deals for the 2020-21 TV season didn’t close until around Labor Day because advertisers were uncertain about the economy. This year’s upfront moved quickly, with deals happening around Memorial Day.

Price increases in this year's upfront were the highest in years, with broadcast primetime up 19% to 22% on a cost-per-thousand viewers basis. Prices for NFL spots didn’t rise quite as much, but hikes were still in the teens. 

During last year’s regular season, CBS rang up ad sales of $609 million, according to Standard Media Index. Advertisers paid an average of about $377,420 for a 30-second spot during CBS’s regular season NFL telecasts. CBS tacked on another $400.7 million in revenue for its Super Bowl broadcast.

John Bogusz, executive VP for sports sales & marketing at CBS Sports said that the key ad categories responsible for the increased spending are led by the insurance companies, followed by telecom, the FAANG technology companies (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) and sports books.

“The gaming category being introduce this year really acted as a catalyst for the marketplace,” said Tony Taranto, senior VP sports sales, for CBS Sports. “It’s probably the most significant new category in a generation.”

Unlike the fantasy football category, which spent hundreds of million before flaming out, Taranto expects gaming to stay big for many years to come. And because NFL rules allow it to only sell a limited number of commercials to league recognized sports books, the category’s ad dollars are spilling over into other dayparts.

NFL advertisers will benefit from games streaming to cord-cutters via Paramount Plus. And another game will be simulcast this season on Nickelodeon. Only a handful of advertisers with products inappropriate for young viewers won’t appear on both the CBS and Nick telecasts, Bogusz said.

ViacomCBS is looking to build its streaming business through a "super funnel" strategy that uses its TV efforts to drive viewers of the company’s other assets to subscribe to Paramount Plus.

During a ViacomCBS executives presentation at the virtual TCA Summer 2021 press tour Tuesday, Tom Ryan, president & CEO of ViacomCBS Streaming, said the company's streaming assets are lining up much as its linear assets did.

There's a free service in Pluto TV, a broad pay service in Paramount Plus and a premium pay service in Showtime OTT. And they work together.

"We've created a linked ecosystem with differentiated offerings that we refer to as the super funnel, where each service feeds into the other, introducing and enticing consumers through promotions and bundling, to drive subscriber acquisition, retention and lifetime value across our streaming universe," Ryan said. 

Ryan said that users that come to Paramount Plus from other ViacomCBS sources convert at a higher rate. They also generate "significantly" more streaming hours watched than the average viewers.

ViacomCBS's TV assets work together to drive subscriptions to Paramount Plus and Showtime, he said.

Tanya Giles, chief programming officer for ViacomCBS Streaming, said that Paramount Plus' upcoming series Mayor of Kingstown and 1883 will also have simulcast events following new episodes of Yellowstone on ViacomCBS's The Paramount Network on their premiere dates.

"This sampling effort on linear is a great opportunity for us to introduce existing Taylor Sheridan fans to the new series in his universe,” she said.

Similarly, before SEAL Team moves to Paramount Plus this season, CBS will air the first four episodes. This will raise awareness among the show's established broadcast audience on the move to streaming, Giles said.

Ryan added that sampling shows on Pluto TV has been more effective than sampling them on YouTube.

ViacomCBS's streaming content strategy is also working, Ryan said. He said that one in three new subscribers said they subscribed because they were interested in an original or exclusive program and that 70% of Paramount Plus subscribers have watched at least one Paramount Plus original. 

The average age of the Paramount Plus audience has dropped 2 years to 35 since last quarter.

The streaming services will be bulking up its kids and young adult content and ride new and old franchises including Star Trek, Halo and South Park.

Paramount Plus is also using data about its subscribers' habits to personalize their experience. Ryan said personalizing the Paramount Plus home page has increased viewership of its content catalog by 70%.

The latest figures on ViacomCBS streaming services are that Pluto TV has 52 million active users and Paramount Plus has more than 42 million global subscribers, with a 50% growth in subscribers and viewership since being rebranded from CBS All Access.

Now that all the big media companies have launched at least one streaming service into the overcrowded U.S. market, it’s time to look everywhere else for more customers. For latecomers, overseas growth is the biggest opportunity to grab more market share. And that’s where media executives such as Kelly Day come in. 

Day, a long-time digital-media veteran, is president of international streaming services for ViacomCBS. She’s charged with the task of debuting ad-supported service Pluto and subscription service Paramount Plus into dozens of countries by the end of 2022.  

And unlike Netflix, which in 2016 tripled its global reach by essentially hitting an “on” button in 130 countries simultaneously, Day and ViacomCBS face more of a ground-and-pound war, adding territories and countries piece by piece. 

“The ultimate vision is we want to operate a leading global streaming service, in pretty much every country in the world,” Day said. “But it’s not quite as simple as flipping the switch and being in 188 countries.”

That said, the company is planning some big moves, most notably this week’s confirmation of a collaboration with Comcast-owned satcaster Sky. Together, the companies said Wednesday they would co-launch streaming service “SkyShowtime” in more than 20 European countries beginning next year. The companies had previously announced a Europe-wide deal designed to adjust licensing arrangements for some ViacomCBS content among other provisions. 

The partnership will allow both companies to leverage their distribution and content in a way less likely to fuel growing antitrust concerns in the United States and Europe, while giving the resulting entity a chance to better compete against the Big Four: Amazon, Netflix, Disney, and the announced merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery.  

In the meantime, ViacomCBS’ latest Paramount Plus rollout came last week, in Australia. The country is “not a huge market, but it’s not a small market either,” Day said. “It's a piece in the overall puzzle.”

Part of Australia’s appeal is its highly productive local film and TV industry, which includes ViacomCBS's own pay TV and broadcast operations there. The island nation’s aggressive response to COVID also meant local creatives could be leveraged even as the pandemic raged elsewhere. 

“We've actually managed to scale up some local productions that we're really excited about,” said Day, spotlighting “raunchy comedy” Spreadsheet. “COVID has been challenging on production across the board, but we have several (originals ready), with more coming for 2022.”

That local programming is important. Audiences tend to prefer at least some programming with a local tie. Just watching more Hollywood shows with local dubs has limits to its appeal for overseas audiences. And increasingly, carrying local content is legally required in Europe and other territories. 

As much as creating local shows matters, so too does figuring out what else is available in a territory from all parts of ViacomCBS's “mountain of entertainment.” CBS, Showtime, Paramount, and all the Viacom cable networks have been pumping out programming for decades, and much of it is tied up in one place or another. 

“The first gating factor, the first consideration is to really look at is how much content do we have available in a given market,” Day said. “We've been operating a scaled content business. We own a number of successful studios. We’ve been running those businesses a long, long time. Previously a lot of that content had been licensed out to partners.” 

For instance, when ViacomCBS began producing the Star Trek: Discovery series, it partnered with Netflix in exchange for giving the streamer international rights to the latest edition of the company’s most iconic franchise.

And you won’t find South Park, another of the company’s most successful franchises and one of TV's longest-running comedy series, on Paramount Plus. In the United States and several other countries, the show’s 24 seasons and pandemic-era specials are only available on HBO Max. 

“Ultimately, we'd love to have all of our biggest franchises, as much or all of that content as possible, and have it on Paramount Plus,” Day said. “That's something to aspire to. Sometimes the path can be somewhat complicated. We'll see where things go with some of our key franchises.

This month’s announcement of a mammoth $900 million deal with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone was designed to address part of that issue earlier than later. Parker and Stone will make 14 South Park features expressly for Paramount Plus, continue making the Comedy Central mothership for five more seasons, and also somehow create non-South Park programming. 

Day also oversees Pluto’s international expansion, which is proceeding at its own cadence, and not always in the same countries at the same time. The service is very much its own thing, and finding lots of fans as the entire AVOD sector continues to boom. 

“There is an audience that genuinely loves the value proposition: It’s free, widely distributed, doesn't require registration, you can turn it on and leave it on,” Day said of Pluto. “There is a real uniqueness, I’ll say even quirkiness, to the service that people really appreciate that is different from what the expectation is of a premium SVOD service that’s driven by big-budget premium content.”

Pluto and Paramount Plus overlap and cross-promote heavily where they share markets. Importantly, Pluto’s promotional power and channels dedicated to ViacomCBS programming have been helpful in growing interest in Paramount Plus before launches, Day said. Pluto is already running across Latin America, as well as several European countries, with 25 more to be added by the end of 2022. 

Pluto is also making a dent on the business side, as brands increasingly shift ad dollars to connected TVs showing what feels a lot like traditional basic cable. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish, who made his managerial reputation reshaping Viacom’s European operations, recently announced that Pluto is on track to generate more than $1 billion in ad revenue this year. 

Figuring out the audience expectations, local programming requirements, legacy partners such as local MVPDs carrying Viacom networks, technical delivery needs for each distribution platform of the apps, and other issues makes for a complicated and lengthy set of hurdles to overcome, Day said. But the payoff for companies that can figure out the secret sauce of overseas distribution can be huge.

“The economics of running a streaming service very much drive wanting to build a scaled global business,” Day said. “That’s why we want to be in pretty much every market in the world.”

Comcast Corp. and ViacomCBS announced that they have formed a partnership to launch a subscription video on demand service in Europe that it’s calling SkyShowtime.

SkyShowtime is expected to launch in 2022. It will be available in 20 European territories covering 90 million homes. The service will feature programming from the NBCUniversal, Sky and ViacomCBS portfolio of brands, including titles from Showtime, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Plus Originals, Sky Studios, Universal Pictures and Peacock.

Comcast and ViacomCBS have been the subject of reports of potential merger activity because both are trailing Netflix and The Walt Disney Co. in the streaming race. Both companies said they had sufficient scale to compete and didn’t think mergers were necessary.

Comcast's main streaming entry is Peacock. ViacomCBS has the subscription services Paramount Plus and Showtime OTT, plus the ad-supported Pluto TV.

Also Read: NBCU Profits Up Despite $363 Million Loss for Peacock

“With the launch of SkyShowtime we are well positioned to utilize our global content engine to create a compelling streaming offering, quickly and at scale, with a smart strategic phased investment,” said Raffaele Annecchino, CEO of ViacomCBS Networks International. “As a complement to our recently announced Paramount Plus partnership with Sky in the UK, Italy, and Germany, SkyShowtime represents a huge opportunity to accelerate our market expansion and build a leadership position in SVOD in Europe.”

The partnership will be structured as a joint venture, with equal investment and joint control by ViacomCBS and Comcast. Further detail on the SkyShowtime service offering, including subscription price, will be announced at a later date.

“Our new streaming service, SkyShowtime, will combine the best of the US and Europe with iconic brands and world-class entertainment for millions of consumers in more than 20 new markets in Europe,” said Dana Strong, group chief executive at Comcast’s Sky. “On the heels of Peacock coming to Sky, this partnership provides an innovative approach to quickly scale internationally and monetize content across Europe. Drawing on the strength of the incredible programming from NBCUniversal, Sky, and ViacomCBS, and powered by Peacock’s platform technology, SkyShowtime will provide a truly compelling lineup for the whole family and strong brand recognition across these regions.”

ViacomCBS, continuing to sell off non-core assets, said it reached an agreement to sell Black Rock, CBS's famous midtown Manhattan headquarters, for $760 million.

The buyer is Harbor Group International, a privately owned international real estate and management firm. 

Following the transaction, the company will lease back the space it still occupies in the building, at 51 West 52nd Street, on a short-term basis. 

ViacomCBS's headquarters is at One Astor Plaza, which was Viacom's headquarters before it merged with CBS.

ViacomCBS said it will use the proceeds from this transaction to invest in strategic growth priorities, including its streaming initiatives.

ViacomCBS has been selling off what it considers non-core assets including publisher Simon & Schuster and CNET.

Time was, say more than a week ago, when you thought about Paramount Plus—presuming you actually thought about Paramount Plus —you thought of the streaming service’s approximately 437 Star Trek series and movies. 

Star Trek: Picard, featuring Patrick Stewart, is actually quite entertaining, even for us non-specialists in all things Federation. But if you’re not jazzed about watching the world’s first octogenarian action hero (hope for Liam Neeson’s late, late, late career!), there’s plenty more where it came from, all on Paramount Plus, which gives its nine Star Trek episodic series their own category. 

Also read: ‘South Park’ Movies Coming to Paramount Plus Under New $900 Million Deal

But of a sudden, Paramount Plus has a chance to be more than just Star Trek, thanks to a mammoth deal announced this week. It’s about time. 

Paramount Plus was leaning toward also-ran status, just months after it had finally revamped an underfed predecessor that had been around most of a decade. Now, it looks like that “mountain of entertainment” promised endlessly in the site’s ads might actually include some interesting originals. 

True, if you’re a left-leaning adult female of a certain age, you might already love Paramount Plus’ The Good Fight. The increasingly wacky but still entertaining spinoff of one of CBS’ last buzz-generating shows, The Good Fight that has been around for five seasons.

But the list of other Must Watch programming on Paramount Plus is awkwardly brief. It’s true the company has gotten a tiny bit of critical attention with Evil, where a psychologist, a carpenter and a priest walk into a bar and … actually, that’s not a setup for a joke, but it sure could be. It’s also the setup for what has been a critically well received show, created by Robert and Michelle King, producers of The Good Wife and The Good Fight. =

Evil bears the logo “Paramount Plus Original,” and it certainly counts as that, exploring its namesake in a maybe-supernatural and wholly philosophical take on CBS’ bread and butter programming, crime and punishment. 

In terms of originality, one can’t say much about most originals on the service, which lineup includes a reboot (iCarly), a reunion (The Real World Homecoming New York), and spinoffs of SpongeBob SquarePants and RuPaul’s Drag Race. At least there’s a warm and cuddly show about unhappy postwar housewives called Why Women Kill, a feature-length Mark Wahlberg thriller, Infinite, and later this month, a feature-length Paw Patrol.

But mostly the service has functioned as something like Hulu for all of ViacomCBS’ legacy outlets, a place to catch up on what you missed while watching old-school “TV.”

That’s been modestly successful for Paramount Plus. Analytics consultant Antenna Inc. says Paramount Plus was fifth—ahead of Starz, Showtime, Discovery Plus, Peacock and Apple TV Plus—in its share of subscriptions among the top 10 general-interest services.

But it’s also worth noting that Paramount Plus’ current share, 8% of a fast-growing sector, is not much bigger than the share that predecessor CBS All Access claimed two years ago, when there were just six streaming majors. 

Which is why the programming announcement made during ViacomCBS’ earnings call on Thursday was so much bigger than just its gigantic price tag, though that was big too, a $900 million deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. 

The announcement came just in time to extend Parker and Stone’s durable animated comedy South Park for five more years, ahead of its 25th season, a record for animated longevity outstripped only by The Simpsons.

The deal provides far more than just half-hour show after half-hour show about four potty-mouthed pre-pubescents skewering American pop culture. 

It includes 14 movies, starting with a two-parter, in a production slate plan rivaled perhaps only by Marvel. All 14 will debut exclusively on Paramount Plus, significantly enhancing what has been an anemic slate.  

The deal also calls for Parker and Stone to somehow find time to develop non-South Park programming. All this can’t come soon enough. The show’s production has been on hold for a year, and all the back episodes are still sitting on HBO Max for now.

The puckish pair issued a statement saying they were “really happy (ViacomCBS) made a commitment to us for the next 75 years,” and they were looking forward to continue experimenting with new formats, like the hour-long specials they’ve made during the pandemic so far. 

ViacomCBS is hardly the first company to splash the cash for streaming talent. Netflix was there first, wooing Disney stalwart Shonda Rhimes with $100 million to her Thursday night ABC programming block. That deal is so old, Rhimes just re-upped after Bridgerton proved one of the past year’s biggest hits. Now Rhimes will be making movies, merchandise, and even virtual-reality experiences as part of Big Red’s new gaming initiative.

It was vital for ViacomCBS to lock up, for “75 years” even, one of the most talented producer teams in their stable. More importantly, it was vital to get Stone and Parker thinking beyond the thing they’ve done for a quarter century on an aging distribution platform. In that, transition to the future, they should just look at Rhimes’ expanding remit at Netflix to see wha might be possible. This could get interesting. 

The erstwhile Viacom paid $340 million to buy Pluto TV in January 2019, just before reuniting with CBS Corp.

After Rupert Murdoch sold his movie studio and a bunch of his cable TV networks to Disney, Fox paid $440 million in March of 2020 for Tubi. 

During their respective Q2 earnings calls this week, both conglomerates continued to sell equity analysts on the wisdom of these respective AVOD purchases. But the numbers keep selling themselves. 

ViacomCBS CEO said Thursday that Pluto TV will "comfortably" hit the $1 billion mark in ad sales revenue in fiscal 2021. 

The free-to-consumer, advertising-supported streaming platform is now distributed in 25 counties and has 52 million active users, ViacomCBS said.

“The power of Pluto TV is unquestionable,” Bakish added. 

Meanwhile, Fox expects Tubi revenue to more than double in the current fiscal year, exceeding $300 million. 

"We envision Tubi becoming a $1 billion business and a core pillar of Fox,' said Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp., during the conglomerate's Q2 call Wednesday. "We have mobilized the entire FOX portfolio to support and supercharge Tubi." 

Wells Fargo Research analyst Steven Cahall's most recent assessments of Fox and of ViacomCBS value Tubi at about $3.4 billion and Pluto TV at around $6.6 billion. The appreciation beyond their purchase price is mainly because of the purchasing companies' investments, in content that could have been monetized elsewhere and on subscriber acquisition costs, Cahall told NextTV.

ViacomCBS said it added 6.5 million global streaming subscribers to reach more than 42 million in the quarter.

More than 6 million of the new subscriptions were to Paramount Plus, the company said.

The company also announced a new deal with Sky that will expand Paramount Plus’ footprint in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Global streaming revenue rose 92% to $983 million, with ad revenue up 102%, pushed by Pluto TV to $502 million and subscription revenue up 82% to $481 million, helped by growth at Paramount Plus.

Overall the company’s revenue was up 8% to $6.564 billion, with advertising revenue up 24% and affiliate revenue gaining 9%. 

Net earnings were $1.036 billion, or $1.56 a share, $481 million, or 78 cent a share.

ViacomCBS’s TV Entertainment segment, contributed adjusted OIBDA of $216 million, down 45% from a year ago, reflecting the company’s investment in Paramount Plus. 

Excluding streaming, ad revenue was up 24% to $2.097 billion and affiliate revenue up 9% to $2.107 billion. 

The company’s cable network contributed $1.125 billion in adjusted OIBDA, down 12%. Revenue was up 8% to $3.475 billion, with advertising excluding streaming up 24% to $1.011 billion and affiliate revenue up 9% to $1.416 billion.

Revenue for filmed entertainment was down 38% to $72 million. Revenue was up 3% to $667 million. 

“In a quarter of strong business performance, including growth in advertising and affiliate, streaming was a standout,” said CEO Bob Bakish.

“Paramount Plus fueled more than 6 million additional to our global streaming subscription base, which now reaches over 42 million,” he said. “This growth was driven by the power of the service’s differentiated content strategy and expanding content slate. Looking ahead, we’re excited about our opportunity to build on this momentum as we scale Paramount Plus’ content offering across genres and expand our reach with global audiences.”

ViacomCBS said it reach a new multi-year distribution agreement with Cox Communication that includes improved access to ViacomCBS’s streaming services, including Paramount Plus, Showtime OTT and Pluto TV.

In a separate agreement Cox agreed to distribute Discovery’s Discovery Plus streaming service.

The deal with ViacomCBS also covers retransmission of CBS’s TV stations in Los Angeles and carriage of the ViacomCBS cable networks.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to have reached significant agreements with Cox that offer our best-in-class entertainment across broadcast, cable and streaming on behalf of subscribers,” said Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. “Cox has been a valued partner for years and we look forward to working together to continuously serve millions of households through our long-standing partnership.”

Charter Communications chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge told analysts Friday that the cable company’s recent deal with ViacomCBS, especially its streaming component, was a "modern agreement" that reflects the changing video landscape, hinting that similar deals could be reached in the future. 

Charter said it reached a multi-year carriage deal with ViacomCBS on July 15, and though terms were not disclosed both companies said it included the ability for Charter to license ViacomCBS’ suite of streaming services, including Paramount Plus, Pluto TV, BET Plus and Noggin, for future distribution to Spectrum customers. 

“[I]t was a modern agreement, a new agreement and recognized that the video business is changing,” Rutledge said on a conference call to discuss Charter’s Q2 results.  “And it addressed our legacy relationship and addressed our new direct-to-consumer relationship with Viacom.”

ViacomCBS launched Paramount Plus in March and like other programmers, has looked to streaming services as the future of distribution. Viacom CBS said it had about 36 million subscribers to its streaming services at the end of the first quarter. 

The Charter deal seems to be in line with the general consensus that cable distributors, who now count on broadband service to drive most of their profit, want a deeper relationship with streaming services. Most already integrate apps from SVOD pioneers like Netflix, Hulu and  Amazon Prime into their set-top boxes. As more and more customers opt for broadband-only service -- Charter said its single play service penetration rose nearly two percentage points in Q2 to 45.7% from 44% in Q2 2020 -- operators are looking for additional content options to drive growth. 

Also Read: Streaming: It's Not a War, It's a Revolution

Rutledge said the streaming component to the  Viacom CBS deal was “integral to the discussion and consistent with our view that we'd like to be part of the marketplace and to enhance our video and customer relationship with customers through managing transactions for them.”

ViacomCBS has been working hard to improve the footprint of its streaming services. Reports surfaced earlier this month that chairman Shari Redstone and CEO Bob Bakish had informal meetings with Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts about a possible partnership  involving international streaming. During Comcast’s Q2 results conference call July 29, Roberts didn’t confirm those meetings, but said he would be open to partnerships that promoted international streaming. Comcast’s NBCUniversal launched its streaming service -- Peacock -- nationally on July 15, 2020 In the second quarter, Comcast said Peacock had 54 million signups and 20 million monthly active users representing a 50% increase from the previous period. 

Rutledge also offered more insight into Charter’s seemingly uncanny ability to report stronger video subscriber results than its peers. Charter added about 56,000 video customers in 2020, while other operators struggled with increased losses. In the most recent Q2, the company lost 63,000 video subscribers, better than the 160,000 most analysts believed it would lose, and well behind the 399,000 losses endured by its closest peer, No. 1 cable operator Comcast. Rutledge said there is no secret formula to Charter’s video performance, just common sense. 

“We're selling more packages that allow us to tailor video to customer needs,” Rutledge said. “It's a difficult business because in general, video is very expensive. Our costs for video to provide it to customers are very high and continuously going up.”

Rutledge added although some consumers are priced out of the market because of the high cost of some traditional video packages, the alternatives are experiencing even higher churn.

“The new products that have been developed -- direct-to-consumer products -- are churning at higher levels,” Rutledge said. “And so our products also are in that re-adoption process of - that occurs as a result of churn.”

While that may make some think that the video business is stabilizing, Rutledge said the downward trend of the overall traditional video business can’t be ignored.  

“The fundamental trends haven't stopped, which is that prices are being continuously passed through to consumers, and there's real pressure on the total cost of the bundle,” Rutledge said. “The reason we're relatively better, we've been moderate with our pricing, and we've created new packages that cost less.” 

In most new industry segments, contraction tends to follow expansion, which is why the various players in the crowded SVOD field are looking to join forces to gain a competitive advantage. 

They’re looking at the Disney-Hulu-ESPN empire and the upcoming Discovery-Warner-CNN one and realizing that yes, scale really does matter.

Many observers have noted that ViacomCBS and NBCU would make a good combination, were it not for the fact that largely outdated regulations around broadcast TV ownership plus Comcast’s role as a distributor would seem to make a U.S. merger unlikely.

Which was why no one was all that surprised by a recent Wall Street Journal story on how NBCU’s Brian Roberts and ViacomCBS’s Shari Redstone allegedly met to discuss the possibility of joining forces overseas.

This makes sense for a number of reasons beyond just sheer numbers, though those numbers--especially the size of their respective libraries--are nothing to sneer at either.

One of the biggest challenges facing all of the Flixes is, that with the exception of Disney Plus and Discovery Plus, they are largely indistinguishable from each other.

Yes, they all have a few hit shows they are well known for (e.g., Hulu and A Handmaid’s Tale) and their interfaces are slightly different, but overall the original programming on the various services is fairly identical, falling into the “HBO-like” category of edgy, intelligent series aimed at affluent, educated, coastal audiences.

In other words, people similar to the people who run the networks.

This is a great strategy for ensuring you get great feedback from your friend group, but not a very good way to ensure that potential subscribers have a clear idea of what they’re getting when they sign up for your service and are thus unlikely to unsubscribe when whatever series they’re currently watching is done.

Until now, the Flixes have been dealing with the churn issue by moving to weekly releases, hoping that by stretching out a series to three or four months, they can keep viewers hanging on long enough for them to find time to get them hooked on something else.

Not a terrible theory, but not a great long-term plan either.

Netflix alone among the Flixes seems to understand the need to appeal to an audience that is broader than the usual “HBO audience,” and has thus signed up talent like Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, who specialize in the sort of well done programming that has considerably broader market appeal than say, Fleabag or BoJack Horseman. 

While that’s a very smart strategy, it’s also resulted in articles by members of said coastal elite questioning whether Netflix has lost its “cool”. 

To which, I suspect Reed Hastings’ response is, “If it means we appeal to 70 million people instead of 10 million, then we will gladly keep losing our cool,” Netflix’s ultimate goal being to keep adding subscribers and all that.

But back to NBCU and ViacomCBS.

While there are differences between the two, there’s also a shared aesthetic based on their background as broadcast and cable networks.

It’s a more mainstream aesthetic that’s also more family friendly, though broad enough to encompass everything from Comedy Central to Bravo.

Which is the other strength the two network groups have: a really deep library of well-known programming. 

There’s much focus on originals as a way of keeping track of who is winning the so-called “streaming wars” but the reality is that one way to keep viewers subscribing is to have a really deep and broad library of well known series and movies that they can turn to during the 23 hours when they’re not watching your hit show.

That was, after all, the key to Netflix’s early success, and between them, ViacomCBS and NBCU have a wealth of offerings, everything from The Office to Viacom’s unheralded slate of Nickelodeon series of the nineties and aughts, which have massive appeal to younger Millennials and older Zoomers. (Hence the iCarly reboot.) There’s also all those Paramount and Universal movies.

The other thing they have going for them is name recognition overseas.

This is key when you’re competing against Disney, Discovery and HBO, all of which invested heavily in overseas markets long before streaming was a glint in Reed Hastings' eye.

So while viewers may not know Viacom, they do know MTV and VH1 and Nickelodeon and Sky (now an NBCU property), and even SyFy. Combining all of those networks under one umbrella would go a long way towards giving the combined companies the sort of name recognition that will help them gain some market share from Disney Plus and Warner Bros. Discovery, not to mention Netflix, Amazon and Apple, all of which have massive worldwide name recognition already.

Whether the deal goes through or not is still far from certain--one meeting is just one meeting and there are many strong personalities involved. 

Still, combining forces would be a very smart move for both networks as the battle for subscribers moves overseas. A successful merger might also set a precedent for them to eventually join forces in the U.S., even if it’s just on streaming at first. 

Stranger things have happened.

Velocity, ViacomCBS’s branded-content unit, has created a campaign that co-promotes season four of MTV’s Siesta Key and the Summer Box from direct-to-consumer marketer FabFitFun.

Kelsey Owens, a star of the reality show, is featured in a spot urging people to try FabFitFun and tune in to the show. The spot starts appearing on MTV Wednesday.

She also is the main character in behind-the-scenes footage from the commercial shoot. The footage will air as an in-show integration during episode 11 of Siesta Key on July 28.

A feature on Owens will run in FabFitFun’s quarterly magazine, which is included in the Summer Box, and Owens will share other messages about FabFitFun via her Instagram. 

Way back in 2018, Owens appeared in a Siesta Key promotion for free Taco Bell tacos during the World Series.

Direct-to-consumer brands have been increasingly turning to television to boost their popularity beyond their initial boost they get from social and digital media exposure. The campaign for FabFitFun is designed to leverage the full breadth of MTV’s marketing muscle, including on-air programming, social media and talent.

In the spot, Owens said she’s excited to be working with FabFitFun because it’s a female-founded company. She adds that it has products for all the things she does in Siesta Key. The spot offers FabFitFun’s Summer Celebration Box for just $24.99 with the promo code SIESTAKEY. It also alerts viewers that new episodes of the show appear Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone reportedly met in late June to discuss how their two media conglomerates could work together on international streaming expansion. 

According to a Wall Street Journal report, citing "people familiar with the matter," the New York meeting also involved ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish.

An actual meeting will only fuel gestating rumors that Comcast is up to something big.  

Just prior to when that meeting was said to have taken place, WSJ quoted unnamed Comcast sources indicating that the company was considering several bold M&A moves, acquiring Roku and merging with ViacomCBS among them. 

The Information also reported earlier that Comcast and Viacom had been in touch regarding an international collaboration of some kind. Also, WSJ's more credibility challenged corporate sibling, the New York Post, also reported that Redstone and Roberts met at the elite Allen & Co. confab in Sun Valley earlier in July. Although, at that event, it's routine for all the media moguls to talk to one another.  

When they were first reported, analysts were quick to pour cold water on Comcast's alleged machinations--specific to ViacomCBS, they cited a ramp of antitrust regulatory activity by the federal government.

But again, the discussions are said to involve non-U.S. territories, an area in which Comcast--beyond the equities it enjoys with Sky in the UK--could probably use more of. 

ViacomCBS has said that Paramount Plus will be in 45 markets by 2022. But like Comcast, it's far away from achieving the kind of massive global user scale enjoyed by Netflix and Disney, and it will probably need help from another company to get there. The company said in May that it had 35.9 million customers for its subscription streaming services, a grouping that includes Showtime in addition to Paramount Plus. 

ViacomCBS and Charter said they have a new multi-year distribution agreement that includes carriage of ViacomCBS’s broadcast stations and cable networks, as well as a license to sell the ViacomCBS streaming services to Charter’s Spectrum customers. 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. One of the reasons for merging Viacom with CBS was to give the company greater clout with distributor like Charter.

As media companies pivot to streaming, there has been concern that by moving the best content to direct-to-consumer services, like ViacomCBS’s Paramount Plus, cord-cutting will be encouraged, hurting cable companies. ViacomCBS has stated that it wants to continue to work with distributors.

“We are pleased to have reached a new deal to deliver ViacomCBS’ expansive portfolio of popular brands and premium programming for Spectrum audiences to enjoy, plus greater choice in how they consume our content,” said Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. “Charter is a valued partner, and we look forward to deepening our long-standing relationship.”

As part of the agreement, ViacomCBS and Charter also will expand their existing collaboration around addressable media and advanced advertising.

“These comprehensive agreements with ViacomCBS recognize the fast-changing pace of the subscription video business and provide us the flexibilities to adapt for the benefit of our customers while also furthering our strategic interests in the advanced advertising realm and aggregated video store concept with the addition of the streaming apps,” said Tom Montemagno, executive VP of programming acquisition for Charter.

App downloads of the major virtual MVPDs were up 63% in June, most likely driven by heavy sports content and the run up to the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, according to a report by Evercore ISI media analyst Vijay Jayant.

YouTube TV again accounted for the largest slice of overall vMVPD downloads -- 44% -- but it was sports-centric FuboTV that had the biggest year-over-year gain in the segment --312%, according to Jayant. FuboTV was a close second to YouTube TV in terms of download share (33%), followed by Sling TV (18%) and AT&T TV (9%).

“Virtual MVPD app download trends improved vs. the prior few months likely driven by the strong sports calendar and lead into the Olympics,” Jayant wrote in his report, adding that May downloads rose 11% year-over-year, driven by FuboTV and YouTube TV. 

Also Read: Fubo TV CEO David Gandler Says VMVPDs Are Pay TV's Future Gateway 

“Similar to trends in prior months, YouTube continues to dominate in terms of vMVPD download market share followed by fuboTV, SlingTV, and AT&T TV,” Jayant wrote. 

June was a big TV sports month ratings-wise with the NBA Playoffs,  Major League Baseball, the U.S. Olympic Trials, the NCAA baseball tournament and UEFA European Championship all attracting strong ratings. 

The Summer Olympic Games are scheduled for July 23-Aug. 8 in Tokyo and NBCUniversal plans to air about 7,000 hours of content on its broadcast and cable networks as well as digital platforms including Peacock and Telemundo Deportes. 

For SVOD providers, the month was mixed. Netflix app downloads were down about 25% year-over-year, a slight improvement over May’s 30% decline. Showtime (up 132%), Disney Plus (up 114%) and HBO Max (up 63%) were the top performers in the sector, while Hulu rose 4% and Amazon Prime Video increased 1% in the period.

HBO Max, according to Jayant, dominated the SVOD space with strong releases of originals and library content in June. Its June 29 expansion into 39 Latin American and Caribbean countries should help drive downloads in July, he said. 

Newer entrants Discovery Plus (launched Jan. 4) and Paramount Plus (launched on March 4) were not included in year-over-year estimates. But Jayant wrote that month-over-month trends at Discovery Plus have been marginally weaker, with June 2021 downloads at about 1.2 million, fewer than the 1.5 million downloads in May. Paramount Plus’s ad-supported tiered launch June 7 helped push total downloads to 2.3 million in June, up from 1.4 million in May. 

Disney Plus was driven mainly by gains in Latin America, ahead of its planned August launch of the Star Plus general entertainment streaming service and a new promotion that will give new Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers Disney Plus for six months free. Existing Amazon Music Unlimited customers can get Disney Plus for free for three months. 

On the ad-supported side, Jayant estimated that app downloads were up 48% year-over-year in June, fueled by gains at Tubi TV (up 49%). Trends for Pluto TV were down about 3% for the month, but the ViacomCBS-owned streamer still holds the biggest share of download activity at 38%, according to Jayant. NBC Universal’s Peacock launched in April 2020, so year-over-year comps were not shown, but Jayant wrote the service has a 26% share of download activity, close behind Pluto.