The so-called "Mountain of Entertainment" is the best value in U.S. subscription streaming, Ampere Analysis says.
How did the British research company come to make this bold statement?
It calculated the weighted average price U.S. subscribers are paying for each service. Across the $4.99 basic and $9.99-a-month premium no-ads tiers, Ampere calculated that U.S. customers are paying, on average, around $5.94 a month for Paramount Plus, with more subscribers locked into the cheaper plan.
Next, the research company calculated what it perceives as the actual value of the service, which came out, in Par+'s case, to be $8.62 a month.
"Paramount Plus’ overall content offer is boosted by the breadth of its diverse content catalogue and the popularity of several hit reality TV franchises," the Ampere reported said. "In addition, it is supported by Paramount Global’s long-running crime drama series plus a strong mix of licensed movies and TV shows from other suppliers. Ampere’s analysis suggests Paramount Plus has plenty of headroom for price rises while still remaining competitive with its U.S. streaming peers based on its content offer."
(Paramount Plus' value proposition looks like it could be bolstered further after Paramount CEO Bob Bakish confirmed to investors Tuesday that Par is looking to possibly roll Showtime into its broader SVOD service.)
Meanwhile, Ampere's report -- which was calculated on data gathered from January through July of this year, well before Thursday's launch of the ad-supported Disney Plus -- seems to justify Disney's decision to bump the price of the premium ad-free tier to $9.99 a month. After all, it was delivering $9.42 a month in value to customers from January - July at a weighted average price of only $7.99 a month.
We're not sure how specific monetary valuations are placed on a platform's flora and fauna of content -- sheer number of widgets? Are viewer tastes accounted for? Paramount Plus' ubiquitous access to The Godfather franchise might entertain and delight, say, a middle-aged user, but is less likely to entice younger ones.
And it always gets dicey when research companies start analyzing entertainment services with very different business models and content as if you were conducting a side-by-side comparison of disposable razors.
Take, for example, Ampere's ranking of Amazon Prime Video as the worst value in subscription streaming, delivering only $10.38 worth of value vs. a $14.99 average price. Is Ampere calculating the value of free shipping on things like disposable razors and other goods, as well as other Amazon Prime member benefits, into that cost equation?
Again, one of these things is not like the other.
