CBS All Access Adds More Than 100 Films From Paramount Pictures
New Additions to CBS All Access’ Film Library Include The Godfather Trilogy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and More
NEW YORK--CBS All Access, CBS’ digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, today announced the addition of more than 100 films from Paramount Pictures’ library to the service. Titles include Oscar®-winning films like The Godfather, Terms of Endearment and An Inconvenient Truth, as well as other beloved classics like Star Trek: First Contact, Patriot Games and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Nickelodeon Movies include 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 available is Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.
“Expanding CBS All Access’ library of films with these iconic titles from Paramount Pictures is just one of the many ways we’re integrating the phenomenal catalog of IP available to us within the ViacomCBS family,” said Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President & Head of Programming, CBS All Access. “The service is on a growth trajectory with two record-breaking months in March and April, and we look forward to bringing even more premium content and value to our subscribers in the coming months.”
CBS All Access recently experienced its best two months ever in April and March in terms of total streams, and the first half of 2020 now holds CBS All Access’ top two months ever in terms of new subscriber sign-ups of all time.
The Paramount Pictures titles available via CBS All Access also include Airplane!, The Hours, Stand By Me, The First Wives Club, Pretty in Pink and To Catch a Thief, along with additional films in the Star Trek franchise. For a full list of films currently available on CBS All Access, please visit: https://www.cbs.com/movies/.
About CBS All Access:
CBS All Access is CBS’ direct-to-consumer digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service. CBS All Access gives subscribers the ability to watch more than 15,000 episodes on demand – spanning exclusive original series, CBS Television Network’s primetime, daytime and late night shows, plus classic TV hits – as well as the ability to stream local CBS stations live across the U.S. CBS All Access’ original series include THE GOOD FIGHT, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, TELL ME A STORY, NO ACTIVITY, WHY WOMEN KILL, INTERROGATION and TOONING OUT THE NEWS, as well as the upcoming event series THE STAND, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and THE HARPER HOUSE. CBS All Access is also the exclusive domestic home to STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, STAR TREK: PICARD and the upcoming animated series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. CBS All Access also includes the ability to stream CBS Interactive’s other live channels, CBSN for 24/7 news, CBS Sports HQ for sports news and analysis, and ET Live for entertainment coverage.
The service is currently available online at CBS.com, on mobile devices via the CBS app for iOS and Android, and on Roku Players, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Fire TV, Samsung Smart TVs, Vizio Smartcast TVs, LG Smart TVs, Amazon Prime Video Channels and Apple TV channels. Versions of CBS All Access have now launched internationally in Canada and Australia (10 All Access), with unique but similar content and pricing plans. For more details on CBS All Access, please visit https://www.cbs.com/all-access.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation:
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC; VIACA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Television, and Paramount Players. PPC operations also include Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.
From Deadline:
CBS All Access To Get Summer Reboot, Adding New Films And Shows Ahead Of Global Expansion – Update
UPDATED at 7:35AM PT with more Paramount film details. CBS All Access will get a significant reboot this summer, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish told Wall Street analysts Thursday, with Paramount films and shows from Nickelodeon, BET and other networks joining the service.
The subscription offering will be rebranded and will also expand internationally in the next 12 months, Bakish said.
“Our biggest franchises will be key to this strategy,” Bakish said on the company’s quarterly earnings call. The effort will leverage an “already-developed tech platform … we are not building from scratch,” he added.
More than 100 library films from Paramount were added to All Access on Thursday, the company said after the earnings call. Titles include some installments in the Star Trek franchise, The Godfather, Terms of Endearment and An Inconvenient Truth.
“Expanding CBS All Access’ library of films with these iconic titles from Paramount Pictures is just one of the many ways we’re integrating the phenomenal catalog of IP available to us within the ViacomCBS family,” All Access programming chief Julie McNamara said in a press release issued after the earnings call. “The service is on a growth trajectory with two record-breaking months in March and April, and we look forward to bringing even more premium content and value to our subscribers in the coming months.”
Other networks from the portfolio whose offerings will join All Access include Smithsonian and the Paramount Network. BET last September launched its own subscription streaming entrant, BET+, which costs $10 a month and includes series, movies, and specials from BET Networks and creators like Tyler Perry, Tracy Oliver and Will Packer.
While there are still plenty of questions about the road ahead for All Access — including its name, financial profile, pricing and exact programming lineup — Bakish’s commentary was a step forward from the last earnings call. Speaking to investors in February, Bakish teased a streaming “house of brands” that would take advantage of the full portfolio of ViacomCBS, but many analysts were caught up short by the lack of specifics.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified the sense of urgency traditional companies have about boosting their own streaming outlets. In recent months, Disney, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia have also mounted significant streaming efforts as media companies look to close the gap with Netflix and other incumbents.
Original programming will continue to mine the company’s IP, following in the line of breakout shows like The Good Fight and Star Trek: Picard.
CFO Christine Spade said All Access and Showtime, the company’s two biggest subscription streaming offerings, remain on track for 16 million subscribers by the end of 2020. That figure is in line with previous internal targets. CBS, prior to its merger with Viacom, generally did not break out the specific split between All Access and Showtime, but in recent years they had been fairly evenly split. The two biggest months in terms of customer acquisition have come during the first half of 2020, the company said.
As of March 31, All Access and Showtime together had 13.5 million subscribers, up 50% from the same quarter a year ago. Streaming revenue in the quarter also rose 50% to $471 million.
CBS All Access currently costs $6 a month for a basic, ad-supported offering and $10 a month for an ad-free version.
Bakish didn’t offer a firm projection when asked by one analyst if a hold-back effort comparable with NBCUniversal’s reclaiming of The Office or Disney’s withdrawal from Netflix could be in the offing. ViacomCBS has taken some knocks for licensing to third parties — South Park went to HBO Max and Nickelodeon forged an output deal with Netflix — rather than keeping content in house. Bakish earlier in the call noted the sale of Paramount comedy The Lovebirds to Netflix.
Unlike many other SVOD platforms, All Access also will be able to continue delivering live and on-demand news and sports programming via 200 CBS affiliates. Bakish described a “critical mass of live sports,” calling out exclusive streaming rights to the National Women’s Soccer League and UEFA Champions League soccer. CBS telecasts of NFL games, NCAA basketball and golf have long been a hallmark of CBS All Access, which launched in 2015.
Distribution deals are a key element in gaining scale in streaming. All Access was added Thursday to Comcast’s Xfinity platforms, which will introduce it to a majority of the households served by the No. 1 U.S. cable operator.
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From Kidscreen:
CBS All Access rebranding as a ViacomCBS streamer
A 6% revenue dip in Q1 was offset by huge gains in streaming; as a result, the media conglom is doubling down on its SVOD plans, according to CEO Bob Bakish.
Viacom’s streamer CBS All Access is going to rebrand this summer to incorporate more of the company’s cable channels and library programming, CEO Bob Bakish said in a May 7 earnings call.
Alongside the rebrand, CBS All Access will overhaul its user-interface, although no timeframe is specified for a finalized product, in prepreation for the relaunch. Just last year, after Viacom and CBS merged, the SVOD added kids content to its platform for the first time with series from Boat Rocker and WildBrain. Nickelodeon joined the platform shortly after, adding its own library to the streamer.
ViacomCBS brands, like Nickelodeon, will be adding more current and library shows to the revamped platform and also product original content for the expanded SVOD.
Bakish also said on the Q1 2020 earning’s call that ViacomCBS is planning to launch a “broad pay streaming product” in several international markets over the course of the next 12 months.
The company’s revenue for the quarter dropped 6%, its operating income fell 49% and net earnings dipped 74%, due primarily to a 19% decline in year-over-year advertising revenue. However, despite this grim earnings report, there was significant growth in domestic streaming and digital video revenue and subscribers, according to ViacomCBS.
“We are just beginning to tap into the potential of our combined assets, and our growing scale, audience reach and earnings power will become even more apparent as the market rebounds and we put the power of our portfolio behind our streaming strategy,” said Bakish.
Domestic streaming and digital video revenue (which includes subscriptions and digital advertising revenue) was up 51% year-over-year this quarter. Its subscribers on domestic platform surpassed 13.5 million, which is 50% higher than last year. And its AVOD platform Pluto TV grew to 24 million monthly active users, 55% higher than the previous year.
In April, during the COVID-19 induced lockdowns, ViacomCBS’ streaming platforms had their best month yet as subscriber growth accelerated, alongside consumption, according to the Q1 report.
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From TechCrunch:
A rebranded and updated version of CBS All Access will launch this summer
A rebranded and expanded version of the CBS All Access streaming service will arrive this summer, ViacomCBS announced this morning. The service, now run by ViacomCBS following the merger, today offers a mix of live TV, on-demand video, original programming, streaming news, local broadcast stations and sports. Now the company is accelerating its plan to make it a broader offering by incorporating TV and movies from across the ViacomCBS portfolio of brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Smithsonian and Paramount. It also plans to expand its original content lineup and news and sports offerings, the company said.
These efforts are already underway ahead of the big relaunch.
Alongside ViacomCBS’ quarterly earnings this morning, CBS All Access announced the addition more than 100 Paramount films to its service.
These include Oscar winners like “The Godfather,” “Terms of Endearment” and an “Inconvenient Truth,” along with popular titles like “Star Trek: First Contact,” “Patriot Games,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” “Airplane!,” “The Hours,” “The First Wives Club,” “Pretty in Pink,” “To Catch a Thief” and others.
“Expanding CBS All Access’ library of films with these iconic titles from Paramount Pictures is just one of the many ways we’re integrating the phenomenal catalog of IP available to us within the ViacomCBS family,” said Julie McNamara, EVP & CBS All Access Head of Programming, in a statement. “The service is on a growth trajectory with two record-breaking months in March and April, and we look forward to bringing even more premium content and value to our subscribers in the coming months.”
During the earnings call with investors, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish offered more detail as to what the rebranded CBS All Access service will entail when it relaunches this summer.
While the service will showcase the company’s biggest franchises and deep library content, it won’t solely rely on back catalog content to attract viewers. It also will leverage the company’s IP, as its original programs like “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Star Trek: Picard” and “The Good Wife” spin-off “The Good Fight” have already done. And it will continue to promote its sports offerings, which will include its continued airing of NFL games, as well as those from other leagues like the NCAA and PGA.
In addition, Bakish noted the new service is not being built from scratch, but will instead be based on CBS All Access’ existing tech platform.
The company had alluded to its plans for CBS All Access in February, describing its future as a “House of Brands” product that will also be further expanded outside the U.S. through a variety of distribution deals.
ViacomCBS has yet to reveal key details, like its pricing plans or new name, but the time frame of the “summer 2020” launch is new. The company also said its international launch is planned for sometime “over the next 12 months.”
The news of the relaunch comes at a time when streaming services are seeing significant gains as consumers stuck at home during the coronavirus quarantine are in search of more entertainment. In this environment, NBCU has launched its service Peacock and WarnerMedia’s HBO MAX is just around the corner. Recently launched Disney+ has also benefited from the rise in consumer demand to reach 54.5 million subscribers in the five months since its U.S. debut.
The rebranded CBS All Access may have a good chance at gaining an audience too, given it’s already seeing increased usage and interest in amid the coronavirus pandemic. The company said its domestic streaming services, CBS All Access and Showtime combined, were up 50% year-over-year to reach 13.5 million total subscribers by the end of the first quarter. Both CBS All Access and Showtime also broke their own records for sign-ups, streams and time watched in the quarter.
The company’s stock was up 16% on the news of the jump in streaming subscriptions and expanded deal with YouTube TV, despite the 19% decline in ad revenue it saw in the quarter.
ViacomCBS reported a 6% revenue decline in Q1 to $6.67 million, related in part to coronavirus impacts, including the March Madness cancellation. Profit was $516 million, or 84 cents per share, down from $1.96 billion in the year-ago quarter, or $3.20 per share.
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From MediaPost:
ViacomCBS to Rebrand CBS All Access, Expand YouTube TV Distribution Deal
ViacomCBS will rebrand its CBS All Access subscription-based streaming service this summer and expand it into multiple international markets over the next 12 months, CEO Bob Bakish told investors during Thursday's first quarter earnings report.
In addition, the company announced a multi-year expansion of its deal with YouTube TV under which that streaming service, which has 2 million subscribers, will add distribution of 14 more channels owned by Viacom before the late 2019 merger with CBS.
"Major changes [are] coming this summer as we track toward the rebrand and relaunch of a transformed product," Bakish said. “Our biggest franchises will be key to this strategy,” which is to optimize an "already-developed tech platform," rather than "building from scratch."
The focus of the rebrand will be on news, live sports, and on-demand entertainment.
All Access is being prepped for the new name/rebranding with enhancements.
In addition to a coming user interface update, more than 100 films from Paramount's library -- including classic franchises such as "The Godfather" and "Star Trek" -- were added to the SVOD on Thursday. More new content will be added in coming weeks, with VOD content coming from across the portfolio. Given the CBS/Viacom merger, All Access could include access to content from MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, CMT, Comedy Central and Paramount Network, among other sources. The company's various brands will also begin producing original content for the rebranded All Access.
“Expanding CBS All Access’ library of films with these iconic titles from Paramount Pictures is just one of the many ways we’re integrating the phenomenal catalog of IP available to us within the ViacomCBS family,” stated All Access programming chief Julie McNamara. "“The service is on a growth trajectory with two record-breaking months in March and April, and we look forward to bringing even more premium content and value to our subscribers in the coming months.”
CBS All Access also debuted as an app on the homepage of Comcast's Xfinity platform on Thursday.
The 14 ViacomCBS channels being added to YouTube TV under the expanded deal span news, sports, and entertainment. BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TV Land and VH1 will be added this summer,
It will also continue to carry CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and The CW.
New channels including BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TV Land and VH1 will arrive on YouTube TV this summer, where they’ll reach the service’s over 2 million subscribers. BET Her, MTV2, Nick Jr., NickToons, TeenNick, MTV Classic and others will be added to YouTube's base package at a later juncture.
YouTube TV and the broader YouTube platform will also continue to offer access to ViacomCBS’s Showtime and other premium subscription services will continue to be accessible through YouTube TV, and now also through other YouTube platforms.
Earlier this week, ViacomCBS announced that its Pluto TV AVOD -- which Bakish called a "fast-growth, broad-reach gateway to the ViacomCBS streaming world" -- have signed the industry's first comprehensive distribution deal spanning pay TV, connected TV and mobile.
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From The Verge:
Major CBS All Access changes coming this summer as company speeds up relaunch
Accelerated launch comes after ViacomCBS’s strongest streaming quarter
Streaming is one of ViacomCBS’s fastest-growing divisions, and to meet that demand, the company is accelerating significant changes to CBS All Access.
Major changes are coming to the company’s core paid streaming service, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said during the company’s earnings call this morning. Those changes will tie directly into the current CBS All Access platform; the company isn’t building a new version from scratch, but it will increase the amount of content available and make major technology changes.
“We’re accelerating our plans for an expanded subscription service, building off CBS All Access, with major changes coming this summer, as we track towards the rebrand and relaunch of a transformed product,” Bakish said.
The expanded CBS All Access, referred to as “House of Brands” by the company earlier this year, will add 30,000 episodes of shows from Viacom’s biggest networks, including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, and the Smithsonian Channel. The expansion will also see 1,000 movies from Paramount’s library, including franchises like Mission Impossible. Bakish reiterated that one of CBS All Access’ biggest strengths is its library, one of the largest among all media conglomerates with streaming services, and the revamped All Access will work to highlight that offering.
It’s not just library content, though. Bakish confirmed that CBS All Access’ new strategy will see an emphasis on new originals being developed to compete with incoming streaming competitors, like HBO Max and Peacock. ViacomCBS will rely on its library of intellectual property to develop those shows, much like it already has with Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and The Good Fight.
“We are full speed ahead on streaming,” Bakish said.
In order to compete with competitors like Peacock, CBS All Access’ new plan will also lean heavily on leveraging even more from its news and sports offerings. National and local news from over 200 CBS affiliates will be available through CBS All Access, Bakish said. Games from leagues like the NCAA, NFL, and PGA that CBS has the rights to will also be available to subscribers. CBS doesn’t have the exclusive rights to every NFL game, but those that air on CBS will continue to be available on All Access. CBS All Access will also carry the exclusive streaming rights to certain sports leagues like women’s soccer, Bakish confirmed.
On top of ViacomCBS’s plan to accelerate the growth of its CBS All Access platform in the United States — a decision that comes after subscribers to All Access and Showtime’s OTT service surpassed 13.5 million, up 50 percent year over year — Bakish and the team have plans for further international development. ViacomCBS will “launch a broad pay streaming product over the next 12 months internationally,” Bakish said, but he didn’t provide other details.
A big part of the acceleration plan comes during the coronavirus pandemic when more people are spending time at home and looking for entertainment to stream. ViacomCBS streaming platforms saw major growth the time people spent streaming, “with accelerated subscriber growth and consumption, reinforcing consumer demand for its content,” the company reported. People want to stream, and ViacomCBS wants CBS All Access to be a “foundational” streaming platform for consumers, according to Bakish.
“Audiences want entertainment on demand and news, sports and live events,” Bakish said. “We’ll be the service that gives them what they want, how they want it, all in one place, and at a great value. This will be a compelling foundational service for some, and differentiated complement for others.”
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From TheWrap:
Bob Bakish Outlines ‘Major Changes’ for CBS All Access Rebrand This Summer
A heavy dose of ViacomCBS programming, along with more sports, will hit the revamped streaming service
ViacomCBS chief Bob Bakish on Thursday shared details on “major changes” coming to CBS All Access this summer, as the streaming service prepares to undergo a full rebrand and relaunch under a new name.
Bakish, on the company’s Q1 earnings call, said the revamped CBS All Access will include an expanded slate of ViacomCBS programming, including content from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, MTV, BET and Paramount. “Our biggest franchises will be key to this strategy,” Bakish said.
The updated service will also include national and local news from more than 200 CBS affiliates, live and on-demand; more sports are coming as well, with the NFL, NCAA, and PGA, among other leagues and events, available to stream.
“We are accelerating our plans for an expanded subscription service, building off our CBS All Access platform, with major changes coming this summer as we track towards the rebrand and relaunch of a transformed property,” Bakish said. “We believe audiences want their entertainment on-demand, and their news, sports and events live. And with our expanded offering, we will be the service that gives them what they want, how they want it, all in one place and at a great value.”
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.
At the same time on Thursday, Bakish said the company would be launching a “broad” international streaming service within the next year.
Bakish and ViacomCBS offered more details on the company’s overall streaming growth on Thursday as well; Pluto TV, the free-streaming service it purchased last year for $340 million, saw domestic monthly active users hit 24 million, increasing 55% year-over-year. Overall, domestic streaming and digital video revenue climbed 51% since last year to $471 million.
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From The Hollywood Reporter:
ViacomCBS Eyes Summer Reboot of CBS All Access
CBS All Access is adding 100 films to its service from the Paramount library, including 'The Godfather.'
CEO Bob Bakish promises a "critical mass of live sports" and a broad array of Viacom programming.
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish on Thursday outlined planned summer changes to the CBS All Access streaming service, saying it will be beefed up with a broad array of Viacom programming and a "critical" mass of sports content.
"We will build on this incredible base of content — a catalog multiple times larger than many of the new SVOD entrants — by expanding our originals slate across the portfolio," he said on the firm's earnings conference call. "This will bring first-window content from each of our brands to this platform. Our biggest franchises will be key to this strategy, as will our broad programming strength across genres — from animation to science fiction, comedy, reality, kids, crime procedurals and more."
Viacom's brand that will contribute programming include the likes of Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central and Paramount Network.
National and local news from 200-plus CBS affiliate stations and "a critical mass of live sports," including NFL, NCAA, PGA and UEFA soccer content, will also join the service, he said.
CBS All Access will also add around 100 movies from Paramount Pictures’ library, including classics like The Godfather, Terms of Endearment and An Inconvenient Truth. Other titles from the Paramount vault headed to the streamer include Star Trek: First Contact, Patriot Games and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
"Expanding CBS All Access’ library of films with these iconic titles from Paramount Pictures is just one of the many ways we’re integrating the phenomenal catalog of IP available to us within the ViacomCBS family,” Julie McNamara, executive vp and head of programming at CBS All Access, said in a statement.
Bakish also the company would take a broader-based pay streaming service to international markets over the next year, but didn't provide further specifics.
In February the company had first said it was planning a "House of Brands" streaming service that builds on CBS All Access and draws from both sides of the recently recombined Viacom and CBS. It said the goal was to complement its free Pluto TV and premium pay Showtime OTT offerings by adding a "broad pay offering" that would be a "House of Brands" product expanding CBS All Access "by adding the company’s scaled assets in film and TV, including world-renowned brands, and reaffirm and expand the value of entertainment, news and sports — through on-demand and live experiences — for audiences around the world."
On the firm's earnings call, Bakish reiterated that in recent weeks, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the company had seen a "strong acceleration in momentum in both free and pay" streaming and would look to further benefit from that.
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From The Verge:
Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and more Viacom channels coming to YouTube TV
Viacom’s networks join CBS’ on the virtual TV service
When Viacom and CBS closed their merger in December 2019, the latter company gained access to a plethora of networks — networks the newly merged company, ViacomCBS, is now bringing to distribution partner Google in a new deal with YouTube TV.
Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, CMT, Paramount Network, TV Land, and VH1 will all launch on YouTube TV this summer, the company announced today. The multi-year deal also includes prior CBS channels that were available to YouTube TV subscribers, including CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and The CW. YouTube TV will also continue to carry ViacomCBS’ premium cable brand, Showtime, as part of the extended distribution agreement. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“We are thrilled to have reached an expanded agreement with YouTube TV that recognizes the full power of our newly combined portfolio as ViacomCBS,” Ray Hopkins, president of US networks distribution at ViacomCBS, said in a press release. “Google has been an excellent partner, and we look forward to bringing even more of our entertainment networks to YouTube TV subscribers for the first time.”
Viacom’s collection of established, popular cable channels is a bundle of assets that YouTube TV can provide to subscribers. Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, and Comedy Central can help bring in new subscribers or keep current customers from canceling their service. ViacomCBS has also worked with various YouTube creators to create original series for those very same networks. Distributing Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, and Comedy Central via YouTube, a platform their audience is on, could help reach viewers not purchasing cable packages or tuning into linear television.
The increase in channels coming to YouTube TV, however, could potentially precipitate a hike in monthly cost for the service. When YouTube TV added Turner networks (TNT, TBS, CNN, truTV, Cartoon Network, and Adult Swim) in 2018, the service saw a $5 price hike from $35 a month to $40 a month. Then, in April 2019, YouTube hiked the price on its service another $10 to $50 a month following the addition of Discovery channels (Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC) and local feeds from four of the major broadcasters. These deals, on top of others that Google has made with companies like WarnerMedia (YouTube TV will carry HBO), a potential price hike isn’t out of the question.
Adding more channels means more costs for Google, but YouTube TV is a growing business that Google wants to invest in. CEO Sundar Pichai called YouTube TV an “exciting product” for the company in a February 2019 earnings call, adding that it has “long run value” for the company because it “brings our advertising products together including being able to serve it across TV.” YouTube TV currently has more than two million subscribers.
“So we are clearly investing in areas where we see opportunity,” Pichai said. “We are pretty thorough about making sure our investments deliver growth on the other side. And so we monitored with metrics and beat engagement and revenue growth and we see a lot of opportunity here.”
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From Variety:
ViacomCBS Plans to Rebrand CBS All Access and Launch International Streaming Platform
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish told investors Thursday the CBS All Access subscription service will undergo a rebranding soon as it expands to incorporate more of the company’s cable brands and library programming.
Speaking on the company’s quarterly earnings call, Bakish also said ViacomCBS is planning to launch a “broad pay streaming product” in multiple international markets over the next 12 months.
CBS All Access will see a user-interface overhaul this summer in preparation for a relaunch with a new name farther down the road. As of Thursday, 100 titles from Paramount Pictures vast film library, including “The Godfather” trilogy, will be made available to CBS All Access subscribers.
CBS Corp. was a pioneer among traditional entertainment giants in taking the network and its library over the top in October 2014. The makeover plan under way calls for the service to add more current and library shows from ViacomCBS cable brands such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, Smithsonian, MTV and Paramount Network. Those brands will also produce original content for the expanded All Access down the road, Bakish said.
In short, Bakish promised “major changes coming this summer as we track toward the rebrand and relaunch of a transformed product.”
ViacomCBS chief financial officer Christina Spade said the CBS All Access and Showtime standalone services at present have 13.5 million subscribers in total and are track to hit 16 million by year’s end.
ViacomCBS’ first-quarter earnings were soft, but the market liked what it heard from Bakish. Along with Q1 earnings, ViacomCBS disclosed Thursday morning that it has struck a distribution pact for 14 channels with YouTube TV, making the core Viacom cablers available to Google’s digital MVPD for the first time.
The YouTube TV distribution pact coupled with the Verizon Fios carriage renewal pact unveiled last month helped goose ViacomCBS’ share price in early trading Thursday. Shares were up more than 13%, a welcome gain after weeks of market turbulence that pushed ViacomCBS shares below $15.
CBS All Access also reached a milestone Thursday in rolling out as an app on the home-page hub of Comcast’s Xfinity platform. That kind of MVPD distribution — making the app front-and-center for active pay TV customers — is coveted by all subscription streamers.
Bakish also talked up the growth of the ad-supported Pluto TV platform. He called it “the fast-growth, broad-reach gateway to the ViacomCBS streaming world,” meaning that the free Pluto TV service be a magnet to draw paying subscribers to the enhanced CBS All Access and Showtime apps.
Pluto TV at present has about 24 million active monthly users in recent — a number that is expected to reach 30 million by year’s end.
As ViacomCBS looks to ramp up what Bakish called the company’s “owned and operated platforms,” the focus will be on preserving the biggest content franchises for in-house services. ViacomCBS will be more selective about licensing its library content to rival outlets, such as the $500 million pact struck last October with WarnerMedia’s HBO Max for the rights to Comedy Central’s enduring “South Park.”
Bakish said the coronavirus lockdown situation should not have much of an impact on the programming pipeline for ViacomCBS’ key networks in the near term, “assuming we can get back in production albeit with modifications by midsummer.” He noted that concerns about the possibility of a writers strike occurring this year — something that no longer seems to be on the horizon– drove CBS to ensure “it had a backlog of shows ready to go.” Showtime should also be well positioned through the third quarter, he added.
The future of Showtime has been a subject of speculation since Viacom and CBS Corp. completed their nuptials in December. Bakish’s comments earlier in the year about bringing more unscripted programming to Showtime raised questions about a larger shift for the premium TV outlet.
“Our 2020 plan is about turning around the performance [of Showtime] with respect to earnings and cash flow. It has real momentum on subscribers, particularly over the top,” he said. “From a content perspective, we’re excited about where we’re taking this.”
The chill on business activity from the COVID-19 shutdown has taken a toll, particularly in ad sales at CBS’ local stations. On Wednesday, Fox Corp. executives said local ad sales for the current quarter were pacing down about 50% from the year-ago benchmark. For CBS, the picture “is not as bad as what Fox is saying but it’s not pretty either,” Bakish said.
On the production side, dozens of projects have been shuttered, but there’s also been “substantial near-term cash flow savings” as planned expenditures were hastily canceled, he said.
Paramount Pictures hopes to stay on track with its planned early August theatrical release of animated movie “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” which was rescheduled from a planned premiere this month. Paramount made a quick decision last month to sell the action-comedy “The Lovebirds” to Netflix given the uncertainty around exhibition. “We saw an attractive monetization opportunity in the early COVID environment,” Bakish said.
Two highly anticipated releases also disrupted by coronavirus — “A Quiet Place 2” and “Top Gun: Maverick” — will be rescheduled when conditions for theater-going improve, Bakish said.
“We’re not going to light these negatives on fire,” Bakish said. “We’re going to open them when it makes sense to open them.”
###
From Digital TV Europe:
ViacomCBS to launch international pay streamer ‘within year’
ViacomCBS plans to launch an international pay TV streaming product in multiple markets within the next year as part of an expansion of its streaming efforts, including boosting its US domestic premium offering CBS All Access with a number of initiatives.
Bob Bakish
Speaking to analysts after the US studio posted its quarterly results at the end of last week, CEO Bob Bakish said: “In addition to our domestic strategy, I should add that internationally, we will launch a broad pay streaming product in multiple markets over the next 12 months. This service will harness the full power of the of the ViacomCBS portfolio, creating a meaningful brand presence in streaming video in key markets around the world.”
He said that the company saw “a real international opportunity” to leverage its combined asset base and “plans to go after it”, without providing more detail.
The comments expand on statements made by company in its Q4 earnings that it would build on CBS All Access to create a new ‘broad pay’ product will be designed “for audiences around the world.”
Bakish also said that, in the US, ViacomCBS is looking to “rebrand and relaunch” CBS All Access, the studio’s SVOD streamer, later this year.
The service is immediately being boosted by the addition of 100 Paramount films to its line-up, as well as additional hours of TV and film content over the current and coming months.
Bakish said that ViacomCBS would also expand the slate of original programming on the service, as well as adding news and live sports offerings.
Separately, ViacomCBS announced a new distribution deal with YouTube TV that brought Viacom’s cable networks to the platform in addition to existing offerings CBS and Showtime.
YouTube TV will introduce 14 ViacomCBS channels to its lineup. It will continue to carry CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and The CW.
ViacomCBS networks BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TV Land, and VH1 will launch on YouTube TV this summer. BET Her, MTV2, Nick Jr., NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic will launch later.
ViacomCBS’s omestic streaming and digital video revenue – which includes streaming subscription and digital video advertising revenue – grew to US$471 million, up 51% year-over-year, in the first quarter.
Domestic streaming subscribers surpassed 13.5 million, up 50% year-over-year, including both Showtime and CBS All Access.
AVOD service Pluto TV’s domestic monthly active users grew 55% year-over-year to more than 24 million.
Bakish said that he expected domestic streaming subscribers to reach at least 16 million and domestic monthly active users on Pluto to reach at least 30 million by the end of the year.
Overall, the company posted revenues of US$6.67 billion, down 6%, with advertising revenues declining by 19%. Operating income was down 49% to US$917 million.
###
From The Motley Fool:
ViacomCBS Plans to Transform in Response to Cord-Cutting
ViacomCBS's competitive niche is not properly understood
This past quarter, American households with internet-connected TV passed households with cable subscriptions for the first time. The trend of cord cutting, or switching from a bundled TV concept to specific services, is picking up steam amid the pandemic. With no live sports being aired, and limits to live content offerings, traditional differentiators cable once relied on are now absent.
For the nation's largest network, CBS, these trends pose an existential threat. Parent company, ViacomCBS (NASDAQ:VIAC), relies on advertising revenue from cable. With the pandemic severely limiting ad-buyer's budgets, that revenue stream has been relegated to more of a trickle at this point. For their first quarter, which did include some normal weeks pre-pandemic, ad revenue still fell 19%. Quarter two is expected to be worse before a recovery takes hold. Traditional TV's uncertain future places a ceiling on Cable's value proposition and is perhaps the reason behind ViacomCBS's low valuation.
Financial Resilience
In quarter one of this year, without any live sports and a damaged ad market, the company managed to yield $500 million in free cash flow. Annualizing would imply an extremely pessimistic cash generation going forward of $2 billion a year. This does not consider anticipated free cash flow growth upon live sports returning and advertising markets recovering. My pessimistic estimation stamps a cash flow multiple under 5 times on the company, a steep market discount even without the expected improvement.
Compelling Fundamentals
Diving deeper into financials, the entertainment company is trading under .5 times the 2020 price to sales (P/S) with a sub-5 times 2020 price to earnings (P/E). To compare, next-generation competition like Netflix trades at 8 times and 70 times their P/S and P/E respectively. Today, with its rapidly broadening reach, Netflix deserves some valuation premium over predecessor ViacomCBS, but not much. This severe discount depicts investor fear that ViacomCBS cannot compete with new entrants. I wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment.
CEO Bob Bakich has crafted a surgical approach to CBS' evolution placing impactful consumer connections at the center stage. While the prior business model may have been lacking, the new approach deserves a much richer valuation. Assets are in place to compete, and recent actions taken by the company depict an understanding of how to mirror shifting consumer needs. ViacomCBS tomorrow will look nothing like it did in the past. No longer is ViacomCBS reliant on the reach of cable.
ViacomCBS Transformation
The first foundational piece key to ViacomCBS's success going forward will be its free streaming service: Pluto. As of this month, the service advertises to 24 million monthly active users. Thanks to shutdowns, ViacomCBS's free streaming viewers grew 55% year over year. Bakich is using the strong growth to draw in ad buyers thus offsetting losses in cable revenue. Pluto will be imperative to attracting cord cutters long after coronavirus, as households switch to connected TV.
Beyond strengthening and diversifying advertising revenue, ViacomCBS plans to use Pluto as a platform for attracting consumers to its paid services: CBS All Access and Showtime. These services also grew over 50% this quarter. With 24 million content-consuming American's, Pluto can serve as a powerful vehicle for graduating consumers into one of ViacomCBS's subscriptions. Yes, Bakich plans to aggressively sell ad space to other companies, but he also plans to market his own paid services on Pluto to lure consumers.
In the most recent earnings commentary, Bakich openly discussed his plans to soon relaunch CBS All Access as an umbrella encompassing all the company's content. Critics' main complaint toward the original All Access was its sparse library. This should help. Combining studios like Paramount, iconic stations such as Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, and Showtime and brands like Star trek is powerful.
To make their offerings even more tempting, Bakich is expected to eventually include the company's news and sports content in the newly launched CBS All Access. While not having golf or March Madness this year has hurt them, the pain is temporary: sports will be back. This temporary headwind will be a strong tailwind as soon as leagues resume. Live sports drive ad revenue for the entire industry. Content rights to the NFL, NCAAF, NCAAM, and the PGA will be a competitive differentiator between CBS All Access and the field.
By Bakich aggregating ViacomCBS's intellectual property, content rights and brand power, we are left with an organization equipped to compete in a crowded field. The streaming wars are in full force as coronavirus accelerates an already powerful trend in cord cutting. To keep up with the streaming movement, acceleration in Pluto will fuel subscriber growth for an enhanced CBS All Access. That competitive niche is underappreciated. They have the assets, and the know how to win going forward.
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From WrapPro:
ViacomCBS Revisits Strategy That Drove a Turnaround at Paramount
“There’s no question the crisis has proven the power of streaming, and we’re moving quickly to seize on the significant revenue opportunity,” ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish says
Paramount Pictures, on the mend since studio head Jim Gianopulos took over in 2017, has taken a different approach to Hollywood’s obsession with proprietary streaming platforms. While Disney, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal have focused on getting away from licensing content to Netflix and other third-party streaming services, Paramount has leaned into that model — and it appears to have paid dividends.
But is that strategy a recipe for long-term success for the legendary studio that has struggled to return to its former glory? There are indications from within and outside the company that adjustments to that strategy are on the horizon.
The studio’s turnaround — with improved operating income by half a billion dollars since Gianopulos grabbed the reins — has hung on both producing more films for theatrical release while also leaning heavily on third-party streaming partners like Netflix through license agreements and selling and producing content for other platforms.
Meanwhile, ViacomCBS’ main streaming platform, CBS All Access, has served as little more than an extension of the CBS network. But last week, five months after CBS re-merged with Paramount parent Viacom, CEO Bob Bakish told Wall Street analysts that the company is planning “major changes” for the streaming platform, including a full rebrand and relaunch under a new name.
Bakish said the revamped CBS All Access will include Paramount content, as well as an expanded slate of ViacomCBS programming, including from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, MTV and BET. But he maintained that the company is committed to both fortifying its own streaming service while also continuing to license content.
“We are accelerating our plans for an expanded subscription service, building off our CBS All Access platform, with major changes coming this summer as we track towards the rebrand and relaunch of a transformed property,” Bakish said during the call. “We are unlocking revenue opportunities across the combined company. In distribution, we’ve only scratched the surface of what ViacomCBS can do on an integrated basis to unlock additional opportunities with both traditional and new distributors.
“That said, we will continue to selectively license to third parties,” he added. “It’s a big market — playing in that market has multiple benefits, not just revenue, but also expanding the reach of IP to new fans, which benefits the franchise and related businesses like consumer products, like setting up for theatrical, etc… Regardless of what we do in the licensing space remember ultimately these deals are rentals and the IP does revert back.”
In 2018, after kicking off its Netflix relationship by shipping “The Cloverfield Paradox” off to the streamer in lieu of a theatrical release and doing a deal for “Annihilation,” Paramount entered a licensing agreement with the streamer. The studio has, to this point, trusted much of its streaming presence to Netflix. “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” was the first film released as a part of that partnership, and last year Bakish said that the studio’s long-awaited new “Beverly Hills Cop” sequel would also go to Netflix.
“Being an arms dealer is great business,” Lightshed media analyst Rich Greenfield said. “Producing content for everyone is an enviable position to be in. I actually wish Viacom would head more in that direction rather than try to build out its own family of brands streaming service… Running a streaming service isn’t an easy business.”
It’s unclear to what extent Paramount makes a profit on films it sells to Netflix, but doing so means the studio isn’t spending millions more on marketing and prints, so it mitigates the risk smaller films face of not drumming up enough audience at the box office to offset costs.
On “The Lovebirds” the studio was able to recoup its marketing costs and avoid the negative effect of re-marketing the movie later on. When it doesn’t sell off a film that might fit better on Netflix, Paramount has been able to manage losses on theatrical films that underperform, such as “Gemini Man” and “Terminator: Dark Fate,” through co-financing partnerships.
The ViacomCBS-owned legacy studio reported first-quarter revenue last week of $811 million, up compared with the same three-month period last year, and operating income before depreciation and amortization (a measure of the business’s profitability) of $27 million.
That’s quite an improvement considering just four years ago the studio lost $450 million. Last year was the studio’s first full year of profitability after four straight years of posting a loss. Sustaining that, however, and reaching a level fit for its station will be the real measure of success.
“The key to their success, especially in the last year, has been having a really diverse slate of films,” Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said. “On paper, everything looks really good. I think they’re well set up to perfectly utilize big screen and small screen distribution. A turnaround, for any major studio, is like moving a tanker ship — it takes time. Movies aren’t greenlit and made in a day, talent isn’t signed overnight. The way Paramount has handled everything has to be applauded.”
While theatrical revenue in the first quarter fell 3% — “Sonic the Hedgehog” couldn’t quite compete with last year’s release of “Bumblebee” — home entertainment revenue rose 13%, and licensing revenue was up 18%.
Paramount released 10 films in 2019 across a number of genres, with “Crawl,” “Pet Sematary,” “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” “What Men Want” and “Rocketman.” ViacomCBS has talked in spades about tapping all the company’s brands — Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central — for future additional film and TV content like “Dora” and “What Men Want.”
Bolstering the studio’s slate has been one of Gianopulos’ major linchpins in reviving Paramount. When the studio head took over Paramount’s film output was fairly paltry, and the films it did release underperformed: Remember “Ghost in the Shell”? How about “Monster Trucks”?
During Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s annual media and entertainment conference last year, Gianopulos said: “When I started, Paramount was releasing eight movies, then we went to 12, next year we’ll be at 16 and looking forward probably more in the 18 to 20 range.”
As a show of Paramount’s newfound fluidity in distribution, the studio recently forewent a theatrical release for its Issa Rae- and Kumail Nanjiani-led action comedy “The Lovebirds,” mainly due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and sold it to Netflix; whereas, bigger blockbuster fare such as “A Quiet Place 2,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run” were pushed later on the release calendar.
Before the coronavirus pandemic ravaged Hollywood, Paramount had hoped 2020 would biggest at the box office in years. The studio had 17 films slated for 2020.
“We sold ‘The Lovebirds’ to Netflix where we saw an attractive monetization opportunity in the early COVID environment,” Bakish said during the conference call with analysts. “We are in ongoing discussions with a broad range of partners to expand our streaming footprint in the coming months.
“There’s no question the crisis has proven the power of streaming, and we’re moving quickly to seize on the significant revenue opportunity,” he continued. “We know fundamental consumer needs around quality, convenience and cost are driving changes in how they consume content, and they’re focused on addressing all three needs.”
###
From Digital TV Europe:
A house of brands or a house of cards – assessing ViacomCBS’s streaming strategy
Last week, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish shed further light on the broadcaster’s previously announced international ‘House of Brands’ by promising that it will launch a large scale premium streaming service within the year.
Speaking on the company’s quarterly earnings call, the CEO said: “In addition to our domestic strategy, I should add that internationally, we will launch a broad pay streaming product in multiple markets over the next 12 months. This service will harness the full power of the ViacomCBS portfolio, creating a meaningful brand presence in streaming video in key markets around the world.”
Bakish would go on to say that ViacomCBS is aware of “a real international opportunity” to leverage its combined asset base, though neglected to provide any real detail.
From an initial outline, it would appear that ViacomCBS will look to emulate Disney+ which is, in a way, the iconic company’s own ‘house of brands’, combining Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. Disney+ also does not rely on third party content, and is a juggernaut of almost 100 years of content owned by Disney – either that which it has created or acquired.
This is a strategy which has clearly paid off, with the streamer already having over 54 million subscribers and its data usage of seven exabytes per month already accounting for 2-2.2% of all mobile video traffic in North America and Europe.
Max Signorelli, research analyst, media and entertainment at Omdia, notes that Disney’s success has come “due to a combination of competitive pricing globally, building their brand on existing video platforms and partnerships with major traditional operators,” and that “all direct to consumer services will follow a similar pattern if they want to replicate Disney’s scale.”
With the streaming space becoming increasingly congested, operators know that relying on third parties is an increasingly risky strategy. Netflix, for example in the US, has lost one of its most-watched shows in the form of Friends to AT&T’s soon-to-launch HBO Max, while it will also lose another massively popular series – The Office – to NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
Netflix is, of course, aware of this. Ever since it launched its first big budget original House of Cards in 2013, the company has marketed itself almost entirely on its in-house content. Shows and movies like Stranger Things and Bright have proved to be hits with audiences, but those familiar titles are what people come back to time and again.
This is why those shows, despite not being current, are valued so highly. Netflix spent US$100 million to extend Friends’s stay on the platform for another year in late 2018 while it more recently paid a reported US$500 million for the exclusive streaming rights to Seinfeld.
Saying that reclaiming these properties is a surefire success is an oversimplification however.
Looking to AT&T and HBO Max, the company announced in January that it would miss out on US$1.2 billion in licensing money by keeping properties like Big Bang Theory to itself. (It’s worth noting that this does not include HBO shows like Game of Thrones and Barry which AT&T already exclusively streams through HBO Now and HBO Go.)
While it makes plenty of money by licensing properties from networks like Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, it would be hard to argue that many of them are as iconic as characters like Mickey Mouse, Buzz Lightyear, Captain America or Luke Skywalker.
In hindsight, Disney+ was an expensive experiment but the level of risk was minimal given then-CEO Bob Iger’s track record of market leadership and reacting to market trends. Bob Bakish too is a well-respected industry figure, but one must deal with the cards they’re dealt and ViacomCBS’s hand is decidedly less stacked than that of Disney – both in terms of content and financial standings.
The long-awaited merger between Viacom and CBS has seemingly been destructive for both party’s respective values. When it was announced in August 2019, Viacom and CBS were worth a combined US$30 billion. Less than a year later, ViacomCBS has a market cap of US$10.7 billion. Of course, the entire industry has taken a nosedive amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic but it is still not a pretty sight for investors.
AVODs and SVODs
It would be one thing for Bakish to declare the company’s intentions to launch a large scale streamer on its own to join the marketplace’s titans, but the company already has a number of moderately- to highly-successful streaming services which are already well established in the market.
Chief among these are ad-supported streamer Pluto TV which the then-Viacom acquired for US$340 million at the turn of 2019 (a figure which seems like pocket change when compared to Fox’s purchase of Tubi for US$440 million announced in March and even bigger amounts being touted around as established broadcasters look to buy into the AVOD space) CBS All Access – which Bakish said the studio is looking to “rebrand and relaunch” later this year – and Showtime.
On top of this, ViacomCBS operates a number of more targeted streaming services like BET+ which it seemingly wants to simultaneously serve as niche offerings while incorporating them into a larger product. This is a detail that will likely be ironed out in time with subsequent announcements from Bakish, but a clear path to streaming success is not clear.
Tony Maroulis, principle analyst at Ampere, believes that further developing these niche services will serve ViacomCBS better rather than an overarching streamer given the size of the broadcaster’s library. “It might be possible to put all the content ViacomCBS owns under a single service, but if the subscription fee ends up being three times higher than its competitors, ViacomCBS might price itself out of the market. Given the variety of content that ViacomCBS owns, providing a few thematic-focused services might be the best option, with a discount provided if a customer subscribes to all services, similar to what Disney has done with Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.”
The analyst adds that ViacomCBS already has two “relatively successful smaller services in the US” and that it will “likely build on the experience it has gained from those services”. However, he says that given the “long-standing commitments with pay TV partners for its content rights,” It is “unlikely that the ideal ViacomCBS service will launch in 2020.”
Pluto TV meanwhile will continue to exist as a separate entity and go from strength to strength (the most recent tally has it at a domestic monthly active user base of more than 24 million), but there are already several alarming factors which ViacomCBS must address if it is to convince the market – and potential users – of its viability as a platform holder.
Late to the party
On top of a strategy that seemingly pits ViacomCBS up against itself, there is the distinct possibility that it may already be too late.
In a Medium post published at the beginning of March, Richard Yao, manager of strategy and content at IPG Media Lab, argued that it might already be too little too late for ViacomCBS to seriously compete on a large scale. He wrote: “This is a somewhat understandable stance, given that at about five million subscribers, CBS All Access currently lacks the kind of substantial user base for the company to properly monetise its most valuable content. Plus, compared to its competitors, ViacomCBS, and its parent company, National Amusement Inc., lack the kind of non-media assets that they could leverage to build a super bundle like the way Disney or Amazon can.”
Maroulis at Ampere isn’t so quick to judge: “The early success of Disney+ is evidence that a service with compelling content, an affordable pricepoint and the right partners has the potential to carve out a piece of the growing SVoD pie. However, there is also a case for capitalising on the increased competition for content from the multiple new OTT video services as established services like Netflix or Amazon are unable to license content from the largest studios.
Certainly in the US with the market already crowded and set to become even busier with the launches of HBO Max and Peacock before the end of the summer, a place does not seem immediately obvious for a major ViacomCBS streaming service.
With all of this speculation set to continue in the coming months, ViacomCBS will look to convince sceptics that it is indeed a legitimate player and that it has what it takes to thrive with its ‘house of brands.’
###
From The Hollywood Reporter:
ViacomCBS CEO Talks CBS All Access Reboot to Create "Super Service"
"This really brings a lot of young audience to the table," Bob Bakish told an investors conference about adding another 15,000 hours of CBS and Viacom content to the streaming service.
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish detailed changes to CBS All Access, including 15,000 hours of new Viacom and CBS programming and sports content, as he discussed a planned relaunch in 2021 of the streaming service on Tuesday.
"The second part of our strategy is to transform All Access into a super service," Bakish told the Credit Suisse Annual Virtual Communications Conference during a session that was webcast. 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.
Bakish added his Hollywood studio will add another 15,000 hours of on-demand TV and film content to All Access on top of the 15,000 hours of content already on the streaming service. "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," he insisted.
All Access will also gain a "critical mass of live sports" content, including PGA golf and NFL games, to be added to the existing array of sci-fi, comedy, reality TV, kids and procedural programming. 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.
But appearing at the Credit Suisse investors conference, he detailed new content for All Access, including sports and entertainment content from both global, national and local sources. The expanded streamer will offer CBS News, including around 200 local CBS TV stations, and the CBSN, Sports HQ and ET Live services.
The increasing investment in All Access comes as rivals like Walt Disney, HBO 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.
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.
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From Seeking Alpha:
ViacomCBS chief Bakish outlines expansion of streaming
ViacomCBS (VIAC, VIACA) chief Bob Bakish has outlined changes to the company's streaming service in order to position it better in a more competitive over-the-top video world.
Speaking at a Credit Suisse conference, he says CBS All Access will relaunch in 2021 and that the company would be adding 15,000 hours of new Viacom and CBS programming and sports content: "The second part of our strategy is to transform All Access into a super service."
That would roughly double the library currently on the service, by adding new content from Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, the Smithsonian Networks and Paramount Network.
"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 says.
And the bigger All Access product will offer CBS News as well as a "critical mass" of live sports, including PGA Golf and NFL games - part of a "House of Brands" approach to leverage the combined company's assets.
Bakish had outlined initial plans for a bigger super-service in February, hinting that the new service would come in tiers with the base service costing under $10/month.
###
From The Streamable:
Preview Launch of Revamped CBS All Access to Take Place Later This Summer, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish Says
ViacomCBS will launch a preview of its revamped CBS All Access streaming service this summer, with a full rebranded launch at some point in 2021, CEO Bob Bakish said at the Credit Suisse Virtual Communications Conference Tuesday.
Despite taking its share of financial hits during the COVID-19 pandemic, in May, non-executive chairman of ViacomCBS Shari Redstone said the company was “confident” it would execute its strategy “more quickly than anyone expects.” At the time, Bakish added that CBS All Access would eventually include more ViacomCBS brands.
It appears that time has come. Tuesday, Bakish said that the upcoming preview launch will include content from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV, among other major channels.
“Second part of our strategy is to transform All Access into a super service. Building on the presence All Access has in the market today, and we will have a preview launch of that service later this summer, where we will add content from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, MTV, BET and Paramount,” Bakish said. “I think the important point here is that these brands and their content reach 80 percent of viewers under the age of 35. And that should meaningfully expand the market opportunity for us going forward.”
Bakish explained that in its current state, All Access is well-positioned to reach the “older segment,” and that the full relaunch will reach 15,000 hours of additional content over time.
“We do expect a full relaunch of the rebranded service in 2021,” Bakish said. He added that it will include a “broader slate” of original content.
Additionally, Bakish noted that the company will begin to move away from making the “financially attractive” licensing deals it has historically found for its flagship content (like “South Park” on HBO Max), and instead “prioritize franchise IP” to the company’s own platforms.
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From The Streamable:
Pluto TV CEO Touts Long-Term Viability of AVODs
Pluto TV is having a good year. It hit 24 million active viewers in May — a 55 percent uptick year-over-year, according to owner ViacomCBS.
Now, Pluto TV CEO and co-founder Tom Ryan tells The Wrap the AVOD is expected to hit 30 million active users by year’s end. It offers 250 free channels and thousands of free movies on demand. And since the pandemic, there has been a 74 percent spike in viewership of news channels.
Part of its success is credited to its parent company.
“We have added dozens and dozens of channels, I think about 50 Viacom and CBS channels, on the platform. We brought world-class brands, as well as world-class content that’s not available anywhere else to Pluto TV, which really helps to differentiate us from other services out there. We have Pluto versions of MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET, as well as expanding our relationship with CBS, which pre-dated our merger,” Ryan notes.
He also sees the long-term value in AVODs.
“Free, ad-supported streaming television is the single largest opportunity from an audience perspective in streaming. Full stop. People are creating their own bundle of streaming apps — the average house uses four to five streaming apps, but are only typically willing to pay for two to three of those. Pluto TV allows you to have hundreds of high-quality, premium live channels and thousands of shows and movies on demand, all for free,” Ryan adds.
Ryan envisions AVODs filling a key role in the streaming universe. It capitalizes on what TV does well — supply binge-worthy shows people want to see, while leveraging advertising to pay for it. “People are flocking to the service and advertisers are seeing great value in getting in front of our audience.”
In May, Pluto TV announced an alliance with TiVo. It would roll out to customers on TiVo EDGE, TiVo’s premium, 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD), all-in-one media device. Versions are designed to work with HD antenna or digital cable.
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More Nick: Nickelodeon Upfront 2020 Roundup!
Originally published: Thursday, May 07, 2020 at 17:01 BST.
H/T: Seeking Alpha, Anime Superhero Forum /@BillK15.
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