ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish gave a small update on the network’s upcoming rebrand for CBS All Access, CBS’ digital subscription video on-demand (SVOD) and live streaming service, on Tuesday, June 16.
As ViacomCBS drives deeper into the streaming space, including with other offerings like Pluto TV and Showtime OTT, planned changes to CBS All Access include new programming from Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, the Smithsonian Networks and Paramount Network.
After a preview launch of the beefed up streaming service, which will get an infusion of content from Viacom networks, the suped-up version of All Access will have its full launch sometime in 2021. Bakish made the updates during a webcast presentation for the Credit Suisse 22nd Annual Virtual Communications Conference.
“We have a good position in the older segment with the current All Access product, but this really brings a lot of young audience to the table,” Bakish said, adding they will add 15,000 hours of additional content to CBS All Access’ existing 15,000 hours, that includes a “much broader slate” of original content that will largely be based on franchise Intellectual Properties (IP). “We do anticipate a full launch of the to be rebanded service in 2021.”
The revamped CBS All Access will include an expanded slate of ViacomCBS programming, including content from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, MTV, BET and Paramount. The updated service will also include national and local news from more than 200 CBS affiliates and ET Live, live and on-demand; and a “critical mass of live sports” content including PGA golf and NFL games and CBSN and Sports HQ services, with the NFL, NCAA and PGA, among other leagues and events, available to stream. These will join the existing array of sci-fi, comedy, reality TV, kids and procedural programming available on the SVOD. In February, Bakish first talked about a "House of Brands" streaming service to grow the CBS All Access service by adding content from both Viacom and CBS.
As of now, the platform’s most notable originals are Star Trek: Discovery and Stark Trek: Picard with many more additions to the Star Trek universe in development.
"The second part of our strategy is to transform All Access into a super service," said Bakish during the webcast.
Although ViacomCBS’s Paramount has cut licesning deals with Netflix, and Comedy Central’s South Park will stream on HBO Max, Bakish notes they will start to move away from these lucrative licensing deals in favor of keeping their franchises for their own platforms.
Nickelodeon also has a deal with Netflix which will see the network produce original animated feature films and television series based both on the Nickelodeon library of characters as well as all-new intellectual properties for kids and families around the world. Under that agreement, Nickelodeon is currently in development with two new SpongeBob spin-offs, including one starring SpongeBob's long-suffering neighbour and Krusty Krab co-worker Squidward. Prior to that deal, Nickelodeon announced that they are producing two new animated movies based on The Loud House and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the streamer, as well as a live-action adaptation series of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nick has also been licensing content to the platform, which has seen original series Pinky Malinky and Glitch Techs bow on the streamer, as well as the original Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series rejoin it's programming library - which quickly became the number-one title on the service upon debut in May.
CBS All Access currently runs customers $5.99 per month for ad-supported streaming and $9.99 for ad-free streaming. The service, together with Showtime’s streaming subscribers, hit 13.5 million customers by the end of Q1, up big from the approximately 8 million the two combined for at the same time last year. CBS All Access and Showtime OTT are set to collect a combined 16 million subscribers by year’s end, CEO Bob Bakish announced in February.
Last month, ViacomCBS said combined subscribers for CBS All Access and Showtime OTT platforms -- which both started up in 2014 -- was 13.5 million. ViacomCBS said in the first quarter all streaming and digital video revenue for all platforms grew 51% to $471 million.
The increasing investment in All Access comes as rivals like Walt Disney, HBO, NBC Peacock and Comcast continue to roll out direct-to-consumer streaming services in the U.S. and internationally to target cord-cutters in a fast-changing media landscape.
VicomCBS begun bulking up CBS All Access earlier this year, with the addition of Danny Phantom, Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel The Legend of Korra and iCarly and Victorious spin-off Sam & Cat, as well as the Nickelodeon Movies Harriet The Spy, Rugrats Go Wild, The Adventures of Tintin, Mad Hot Ballroom, and Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Also Tuesday, Bakish was asked about the TV advertising climate amid the pandemic. He called April as the bottom of the domestic ad market, with May and June having improved sequentially.
"Digital is improving week over week and Pluto TV's right back on track to pre-COVID," he added.
Original source: TheWrap, Dark Horizons, The Hollywood Reporter, MediaPost, Observer.
From Deadline:
Seeking More Control Of Its Streaming Destiny, ViacomCBS Won’t Sell Off “Critical Mass” Of Its Content, CEO Bob Bakish Asserts
Although ViacomCBS will “selectively” sell its content to third parties, as seen in recent deals with HBO Max for South Park or Peacock for Yellowstone, CEO Bob Bakish says such moves could soon become more rare.
“At this point, we will not license critical mass of any of our key programming areas — areas like sci-fi, kids or procedurals — to any single player,” Bakish said in an appearance Tuesday at the Credit Suisse Virtual Communications Conference. “We will prioritize franchise IP to our owned and operated platforms.”
The company is planning to launch what Bakish called a “super-service,” an expanded version of subscription streaming outlet CBS All Access that will have a “preview launch” this summer ahead of a full debut in 2021. All Access, which launched in 2015, already has 15,000 hours of film and TV programming and will add 15,000 more hours from across the ViacomCBS stable, Bakish said.
Eyebrows have been raised in media circles as ViacomCBS has reached licensing deals with Netflix and others at a time when Disney, WarnerMedia and, to a lesser extent, NBCUniversal are leaning in the opposite direction. With investment in streaming continuing to surge, licensing does bring in sizable revenue and, as Bakish pointed out, ViacomCBS still owns the IP of shows like South Park. Still, many media vets are more skeptical about licensing now that it is clear that it fueled the rise of Netflix, which still enjoys a large lead over rivals, certainly in the U.S.
Streaming in general has become a brisk business for ViacomCBS, Bakish said. In 2019, ViacomCBS generated about $1.6 billion in digital and streaming revenue, with 13.5 million subscribers between CBS All Access and Showtime. Pluto TV, meanwhile, has more than doubled its user base over the past 18 months, with more than 24 million active monthly users.
While the company only discloses official streaming numbers when it reports quarterly results, Bakish said trends in April and May have continued the momentum from the quarter ending in March. Despite the cancellation of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament due to COVID-19, the company still managed to gain a record number of new subscribers in the January-to-March quarter. Pluto, a leading ad-supported streaming platform acquired in early 2019, has been a driver of “strong conversions” of free trials to paid subscriptions, the CEO said.
While streaming has thus far mostly been a domestic story, Pluto is pushing into Europe and Latin America and Bakish said international streaming represents a “big opportunity” based on pre-existing global assets. Viacom and CBS, before they formally merged last December, each had been aggressive in circulating their programming around the world. Bakish oversaw the rise of Viacom’s international capabilities before becoming CEO in 2015. He said ViacomCBS would roll out a “broad pay streaming product in multiple markets” internationally over the next 12 months.
In addition to streaming, Bakish also hit on a subject being closely watched by many investors and certainly everyone in TV business: advertising. While COVID-19 has created adverse conditions, especially given the absence of sports and studio production since March, scatter prices in the second quarter remained above upfront prices and scatter in the first two weeks of June has come in “multiples above” previous June scatter markets.
The shape and timing of the upfront are a work in progress, Bakish conceded. He said sales teams at ViacomCBS plan to stay patient and nimble and be ready to respond as ad buyers start to ease back into marketing. Buyers unwilling or unable to commit up front “will pay a premium” for scatter ads, which could provide “incentive to transact,” he said.
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More Nick: Netflix and Nickelodeon Form Multi-Year Output Deal to Produce Original Animated Films and Series!
Additional source: Nickandmore!.
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