ViacomCBS is set to launch its highly anticipated streaming service, Paramount+ on Thursday, March 4, 2021. A rebrand of the current CBS All Access, the digital subscription video on-demand (SVOD) and live streaming service will combine CBS’ network programming via its 150-plus local affiliates, including NFL games, with a menu of original series, catch-up viewing and library shows with dedicated hubs for ViacomCBS’ core cable properties including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET and Comedy Central, for a total of some 30,000 titles.
To promote the debut of Paramount+, ViacomCBS has launched "Paramount Mountain", a new advertising campaign in the style of a David Attenborough documentary starring featuring talent and characters from the ViacomCBS portfolio, such as Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer and PAW Patrol and CBS late-night host James Corden - who had a guest role earlier in his acting career on Nickelodeon UK's Renford Rejects in the '90s, playing "Razor 1" - on a journey to reach “Paramount Mountain.”
The ad campaign, which combines animation and live-action aims to make Paramount+ stand out by promoting its range of content, including live sports, news, movies and TV shows.
The first ad in the “Paramount Mountain” ad campaign features PAW Patrol's Chase and Skye along with Dora the Explorer and James Corden riding on a snowmobile. Other notables include Star Trek: Strange New Worlds characters Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and Science Officer Spock (Ethan Peck) and Gayle King, Beavis & Butthead and Jeff Probst, as well as Jersey Shore's Snooki:
The David Attenborough-type narrator, who sounds like a lot like former Doctor Who actor Tom Baker, then reveals what types of characters viewers can expect on the Paramount+ service, listing off, "World travelers... world champions... and also, Snooki, of the Jersey Shore." At that point, the real Snooki appears on screen in a fur jacket and notes, "This sucks. I'm too hungover for this." The video ends with the promise that a variety of live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment will also be available.
Dora the Explorer takes center stage as the leader in the second advert, which sees the heroine enlists the help of her trusty Map - although fellow traveller Coach William Cowher tries to one-up her by pretending to have a Talking Clipboard! Joining Dora and Cowher is DJ Khaled and Blue Blood's Tom Selleck:
The "Paramount Mountain" campaign be a major part of the AFC Championship and the Super Bowl, which air on CBS, in which a series of ads in and bookended by the games will feature.
The broader ad campaign will total more than 6,000 spots airing across the company’s TV networks, which also include Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, CMT and Comedy Central. The campaign will use promotional inventory reserved for so-called house ads instead of commercial ad time sold to other marketers.
The extensive TV effort will be complemented by ads running on ViacomCBS’ digital platforms, such as the free streaming service Pluto TV, and social channels.
One of the top priorities for ViacomCBS following the merger was to establish a system for companywide marketing efforts making use of an expanded portfolio of assets. This included creating a group of 17 top marketing executives overseeing a committee of 65 employees, including media planners and social-media staffers, meeting regularly. Making use of owned assets has become a familiar model for the streaming services of media conglomerates as they try to take on the likes of Netflix, which just topped 200 million subscribers.
Set to launch in the U.S. and Canada on March 4, Paramount+ will feature original content as well as shows from CBS and other broadcast and cable networks such as Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, Comedy Central, BET, and Paramount Network. Showtime and Noggin, the sister streaming services to CBS All Access, will continue to operate separately from Paramount+, although programming from the latter will also be available on Paramount+. Some Showtime-branded originals will be ticketed for the new service and some form of bundling is likely down the line. There is currently no word on whether NickHits will continue.
In addition, the company has also revealed the new slate of original series that are currently being in development under Paramount+. This includes: a new spy drama series titled Lioness which hails from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan: a miniseries titled The Offer which centers around the making of the iconic crime drama The Godfather; and an iCarly revival series, with most of the shows original cast.
They join the previously announced SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, and SpongeBob movie Sponge on the Run.
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish told Wall Street analysts last May that the streaming platform would be getting a rebranding that will also expand internationally over the next 12 months. After the quarterly earnings call, the service began its updating by adding over 100 films from the Paramount vault including the Star Trek franchise, The Godfather, Terms of Endearment and An Inconvenient Truth.
Other networks set to have programming debut on the platform include Nickelodeon, Smithsonian and the Paramount Network and a select number of specials and series from BET, which launched its own streaming service in September entitled BET+.
As of the end of March, CBS All Access and Showtime together had 13.5 million subscribers, which was a 50% increase from the same quarter last year, with general streaming revenue also rising 50% in the quarter to $471 million, estimated to stem from more viewers quarantining and looking for a variety of programming.
ViacomCBS will also bring Paramount+ to international markets with initial debuts in Latin America on March 4, 2021; the Nordics on March 25, 2021; and Australia in mid-2021. The CBS All Access service in Canada will be rebranded to Paramount+ on March 4, 2021, and an expanded offering will be available later in the year.
There is currently no word whether there are plans to launch Paramount+ in the U.K.
While prices for Paramount+ have yet to be revealed, CBS All Access currently offers two pricing tiers: one charges $5.99 a month for access to its library with limited commercials played during programming and another costs $9.99 a month with no ads.
Update (1/31): Star Trek meets Crank Yankers in Paramount+'s latest commercial, in which conditions take a turn for the worse:
It's official. We have our first confirmed case of puppet frostbite on Mount Paramount. #ParamountPlushttps://t.co/1DDapr6XSG pic.twitter.com/TgRCQTgyZk
— Paramount+ (@paramountplus) January 31, 2021
Originally published: Tuesday, January 26, 2021.
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