ViacomCBS Unveils Comprehensive Streaming Strategy and Expansive Slate of Originals Headed to Paramount+

ViacomCBS Unveils Comprehensive Streaming Strategy and Expansive Slate of Originals Headed to Paramount+

Paramount+ to feature massive content catalog of more than 30,000 episodes, 2,500 movie titles and over 1,000 live sporting events, plus around-the-clock news coverage

Select Paramount Pictures films to stream on Paramount+ following a short theatrical release, including A Quiet Place Part II, PAW PATROL: The Movie and Mission: Impossible 7

Over 50 original series to premiere on Paramount+ over next two years, including Halo, Frasier, Criminal Minds, iCarly, The Real World, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, shows from the Avatar, Yellowstone, Star Trek and SpongeBob SquarePants universes and more

Paramount+ to feature depth of content across key genres, including 7,000 episodes of kids’ content, 5,000 episodes of reality and 6,000 episodes of comedy

Marquee sporting leagues and events on the service include the NFL, Masters, PGA TOUR, NCAA, SEC, The PGA Championship, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, National Women’s Soccer League, Concacaf and more

News offerings available include renowned CBS News programs, new series such as 60 Minutes+, live streams of local affiliates in over 200 markets across the U.S. and the 24-hour streaming news service CBSN

Paramount+ to launch in the U.S. on March 4, 2021 with broad distribution and leading launch sponsors, including General Motors, Expedia and Procter & Gamble

Paramount+ will introduce two pricing tiers in the U.S.: A premium plan at $9.99 per month and an ad-supported base plan at $4.99 per month available in June

Paramount+ to debut in Latin America and Canada on March 4, 2021, the Nordics on March 25, 2021 and Australia later this year, capitalizing on ViacomCBS’ global production capabilities, infrastructure and reach with additional markets to be announced

*Head to @ViacomCBS on Twitter to see all of today’s announcements

New York, NY—(February 24, 2021)—ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC; VIACA) today updated investors on its differentiated streaming strategy, which leverages the company’s strong product offerings across free, premium and pay segments with Pluto TV and SHOWTIME® OTT to create a linked ecosystem with the highly anticipated launch of Paramount+ on March 4. Paramount+ will feature a powerful combination of live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment from ViacomCBS’ portfolio of world-renowned brands and production studios, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel.

New details about Paramount+ were unveiled during the ViacomCBS Streaming Event presentation, including an expansive slate of over 50 exclusive original series across scripted dramas, kids and family, reality, comedy, music, sports, news and documentaries that are set to premiere on the service in the next two years, including 36 arriving in 2021. These originals will join a deep and growing content catalog of more than 30,000 episodes and 2,500 movie titles. In addition, pricing tiers, leading launch sponsors and international rollout plans were announced.

“In today’s entertainment landscape, ViacomCBS stands apart as the only media company to fully embrace every segment of the streaming universe across free, premium and pay,” said Bob Bakish, President and Chief Executive Officer, ViacomCBS. “The launch of Paramount+ supercharges our strategy with a broad pay service that will be home to everything consumers love, all in one place: live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment, at scale. As we look ahead, ViacomCBS is ideally positioned to harness the full power of our assets and capabilities – from our world-class production studios and the value of our massive content library, to our global marketing platform and local relationships – to seize the global opportunity in streaming.”

Tom Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, ViacomCBS Streaming, said, “Built from an iconic portfolio of beloved consumer brands and iconic franchises like SpongeBob and Star Trek, Paramount+ is a compelling and differentiated streaming offering for all audiences. In combination with Pluto TV and SHOWTIME®, the service will further strengthen our robust linked streaming ecosystem, giving us a critical competitive advantage as we pursue our goal of reaching consumers across every platform, at every price point, with creativity, content and experiences that are second to none.”

Differentiated Content Strategy – Sports, News and Premium Entertainment, At Scale

The content strategy for Paramount+ is rooted in a commitment to telling great stories across every genre, including must-watch sports and news programming. The live and on-demand service will leverage the company’s biggest franchises and storied IP, including through premium originals and a deep library of shows and movies from some of the world’s greatest content creators, highlighting the hit-making power of ViacomCBS to deliver a truly unique offering with can’t-miss content and wide demographic appeal.

Paramount+ To Feature Robust Collection of Films

Select upcoming films from Paramount Pictures will have their streaming debut on Paramount+ immediately following a theatrical release window of 30-45 days, including: A Quiet Place Part II, PAW PATROL: The Movie and Mission: Impossible 7. Other key titles arriving on Paramount+ in 2022 following their theatrical runs, and in some cases after their pay TV debuts on EPIX, include: Snake Eyes, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Top Gun: Maverick, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Transformers 7, Dungeons and Dragons, Scream and more. Paramount Pictures’ recent titles will be available as well, from Dora and the Lost City of Gold and Sonic the Hedgehog to Bumblebee and Rocketman, all coming to Paramount+. These films will join the previously announced The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: Sponge on the Run, which will be available on Paramount+ at launch.

Additionally, Paramount Pictures announced an agreement with EPIX to make thousands of movie titles from a wide variety of studios available to Paramount+ subscribers. Beginning late spring, the service will stream some of the most popular films and franchises of all time, including films from the James Bond and Hunger Games franchises to features like The Addams Family and The Avengers, among many others in a deal that will grow the service’s film library to over 2,500 titles.

And, following a theatrical release by MGM and an exclusive pay television window with EPIX, MGM’s new movies will become available on Paramount+, including House of Gucci, Creed III and the highly anticipated new James Bond film, No Time to Die.

The company also outlined plans to ramp up production of movies made exclusively for Paramount+. The first of these feature-length films offered will include new versions of Paranormal Activity and Pet Sematary as well as an original supernatural story, The In Between, featuring Joey King, the star of the smash hit, The Kissing Booth. These titles produced by Paramount Players will join a collection of exclusive original movie premieres supplied by the broader portfolio of ViacomCBS studios.

Expansive Slate of Upcoming Paramount+ Original Series

Today’s virtual presentation previewed an extensive new slate of original content for Paramount+, ranging from gripping dramas and unscripted series to franchise expansions and brand-new animated titles.

Scripted Dramas

With brilliant creators, top talent and smart execution, ViacomCBS has been the creative force behind countless award-winning scripted drama series. This incredible collection will come together as a key pillar of the Paramount+ content library, with new additions of exclusive originals and exciting new takes on iconic franchises outlined as follows:

• Criminal Minds – top rated series in broadcast and streaming returns with a new scripted series that brings the team back together to investigate a single, fascinating case over 10 episodes.
• Flashdance – a young woman struggles to make her mark in the ballet world while navigating romance, money, art, friendship, and how to love herself. Award-winning Mad Men writer Tracy McMillan is writing and executive producing the drama series which will pick up from where the story left off, but in present-day. True Blood’s Angela Robinson will direct and executive produce the series with Lynda Obst.
• Halo – based on the iconic Xbox® franchise, Halo’s epic universe and cast of characters come to life in this new original drama series. In the new television adaptation, Halo will take place in the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.
• Land Man – set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, Land Man is a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs. The series is an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.
• Love Story – Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the executive producers of Gossip Girl, The O.C. and Looking for Alaska, are bringing to Paramount+ a series based on the award-winning perennial film, Love Story.
• Mayor of Kingstown – follows the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan, where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. Tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality, the series provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither.
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – the next installment of the popular Star Trek franchise is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the decade before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise.
• The Italian Job – when the grandchildren of the legendary Charlie Croker inherit his old safety deposit box, the quest for the infamous Italian bullion is reignited. The series, from Paramount Television Studios, is executive produced and written by Matt Wheeler (Hawaii Five-0), and produced by Donald De Line.
• The Man Who Fell To Earth – starring Oscar-nominee and BAFTA-winner Chiwetel Ejiofor, is based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name and the iconic film starring David Bowie. The series will follow a new alien character who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution, and must confront his own past to determine our future.
• The Offer – a scripted limited event series from Paramount Television Studios, based on Oscar-winning producer Al Ruddy’s extraordinary, never-revealed experiences of making The Godfather. The 10-episode event series is written and executive produced by Michael Tolkin (Escape at Dannemora, The Player). Ruddy will also serve as executive producer, alongside showrunner Nikki Toscano (Hunters), and Emmy® Award-winning producer Leslie Greif (Hatfields & McCoys).
• The Parallax View – a scripted series from Paramount Television Studios, based on the iconic film. The series will be executive produced by Paula Wagner.
• Y:1883 – follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. It is a stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one.
• Yellowstone Spinoff, 6666 (Working Title) – founded when Comanches still ruled West Texas, no ranch in America is more steeped in the history of the West than the 6666. Still operating as it did two centuries before, and encompassing an entire county, the 6666 is where the rule of law and the laws of nature merge in a place where the most dangerous thing one does is the next thing… The 6666 is synonymous with the merciless endeavor to raise the finest horses and livestock in the world, and ultimately where world class cowboys are born and made.

Kids and Family

Home to some of the biggest franchises in the world, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and PAW Patrol, the kids’ portfolio is fueled by Nickelodeon’s library of nearly 7,000 hit episodes, plus a string of all-new originals based on the most beloved characters in the brand’s history, such as:

• Avatar – Nickelodeon’s new animation studio division dedicated entirely to creating content based on the wildly popular world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Led by the series’ original creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, in partnership with the Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Avatar Studios will produce for Paramount+ a wide-range of Avatar-inspired content, ranging from spinoffs and theatricals to short form. [info]
• Dora the Explorer – a new live-action series based on the iconic character, designed for an older audience of kids 6-11 and their families. [info]
• iCarly – a new chapter for the most successful kids’ sitcom of all time, where original cast members Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor join new friends for a look at these characters’ present-day lives, adventures and comedic mishaps. [info]
• Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years – the first-ever spinoff of SpongeBob SquarePants, Kamp Koral is a CG animated original series that takes viewers back to when the iconic characters of Bikini Bottom met for the very first time, in a summer camp like no other.
• Rugrats – an all-new series featuring Nick’s iconic babies, back together with the original voice cast in new CG animation. [info / sneak peek]
• Star Trek: Prodigy – the first-ever Star Trek for the kids and family audience, combining the Nickelodeon sensibility with the action and adventure hallmarks of the Star Trek franchise. [info]
• The Fairly OddParents – a live-action take on one of Nick’s longest running and most successful animated hits. [info]

This Nickelodeon-created slate joins Paramount+’s previously announced original kids’ series such as WildBrain’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Boat Rocker’s new Danger Mouse and new editions of Lassie, George of the Jungle and Mr. Magoo from DreamWorks Animation’s Classic Media.

Reality

A genre created by MTV in 1992, reality TV is one of the most popular forms of content today. It reigns at the top of broadcast and cable ratings around the globe and in streaming, it’s the fastest growing vertical. ViacomCBS leads the reality category with over 5,000 episodes of the biggest reality hits, with plans to expand its collection with the following original and reprisals:

• Big Brother Live Feeds – offers an in-depth, exclusive pass to the show where fans have the opportunity to watch all the action inside the Big Brother house.
• Dating Naked – the most vulnerable social experiment returns to bring dating back to its most honest, unguarded and naked form. Can these modern daters strip back their preconceived notions, carefully curated images AND their clothes to reveal their true selves and find love?
• Ink Master – the tattoo competition reality series where some of the nation’s top tattoo artists battle it out in various tattoo challenges that not only test the artists’ technical skills, but also their on-the-spot creativity for the title of Ink Master.
• Love Island on Paramount+ – an extension of the popular CBS reality series that takes subscribers beyond the boundaries of what’s shown in the broadcast with exclusive content and live visits to the Villa.
• Queen of the Universe – in a singing competition like no other, drag queens from all around the world compete to see who is Queen of the Universe. High heels, high octaves, high competition - this drag queen singing competition will blow your wig off. From Emmy® Award-winning production company, World of Wonder.
• Road Rules – back with a new roster of Road Warriors. These strangers will be abandoned in a far-flung location and stripped of their modern-day luxuries by boarding a restricted life in an RV, traveling from location to location. They will be guided by a set of clues, odd jobs and missions for money. If they last to the end of the trip, they walk away with the life changing prize.
• RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars – the best of the best from the Emmy® Award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race return to compete for $100,000 and a coveted spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame. In each episode, legendary queens will battle it out until only one drag queen is crowned the winner.
• The Challenge: All Stars – twenty-two of the most iconic, boldest, and fiercest Challenge All Stars from the original Real World and Road Rules have been selected to return for a second chance at the ultimate competition. All have history, but when relationships are the key to survival, will these legends be able to form new bonds or will their past lead to their demise? With $500,0000 and their legacies on the line, which of these All Stars will prove they are still the best of the best?
• The Real World: Homecoming: New York – almost 30 years later, the original “seven strangers” that paved the way for modern reality TV are moving back into the New York loft where it all began. Viewers will be reunited with the cast from the very first season of The Real World in a brand new multi-episode docuseries to find out, once again, what happens when they stop being polite… and start getting real. Series begins streaming on Thursday, March 4th.

Comedy

When it comes to beloved IP and iconic comedic franchises, Paramount+ delivers with a rich library of over 6,000 episodes in the genre alone. Joining this massive catalog of comedy titles, exclusive series arriving soon include:

• Frasier – Frasier’s back – and he’s more exactly the same than ever. Kelsey Grammer reprises his role as the Dr. Frasier Crane.
• Grease: The Rise of the Pink Ladies – with both classic and new songs, and a diverse cast, the series is a prequel to the unforgettable musical film, Grease, and tells the story of how Frenchy’s older sister, Jane, founded the Pink Ladies. The series, from Paramount Television Studios, is executive produced by Annabel Oakes (Atypical, Transparent), Marty Bowen (Twilight) and Erik Feig (La La Land).
• Guilty Party – a dark comedy starring Kate Beckinsale as a discredited journalist who finds herself in over her head when she latches onto the story of a young mother sentenced to life in jail for murdering her husband – a crime she claims she didn’t commit.
• Inside Amy Schumer – the Peabody, Emmy® and Writers Guild Award-winning franchise returns with five specials starring Amy Schumer, one of the entertainment industry’s leading forces as a stand-up comedian, actress, writer, producer and director.
• Reno 911! The Hunt For QAnon – a super-sized event based off the long-running hit, critically-acclaimed Comedy Central series. Most recently, Reno 911! received two 2020 Emmy® Award nominations for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series and for Outstanding Actress in A Short Form Comedy or Drama Series (Kerri Kenney-Silver). In 2021, the show is nominated for a Critics Choice Award.
• The Game – the popular BET sitcom returns with a mix of original cast and new players, and will offer a modern-day examination of Black culture through the prism of pro football.
• The Harper House – an animated family comedy that follows an overconfident female head of a household as she struggles to regain a higher status for herself and for her family of oddballs after losing her job and moving from the rich side to the poor side of an Arkansas small town.
• The Weekly Show with Trevor Noah (Working Title) – Trevor Noah will star in and produce an initial six episode series looking at stories across the societal landscape and talk with the people behind the headlines: people you know; people you don’t know; and people you didn’t even know you didn’t know.
• Younger – Darren Star’s critically acclaimed smash-hit, Younger, follows Liza Miller (Sutton Foster), a talented editor navigating the highly competitive world of publishing — while juggling the complications of mixing business with pleasure and facing the lie she created about her age to land her dream job.

Additionally, exclusive original comedy movies that will reignite franchises for new and nostalgia-driven fans alike are expected to arrive on Paramount+ in year one:

• Untitled Beavis & Butt-head Movie – Emmy® Award-winning Mike Judge reimagines MTV’s seminal, Gen X-defining Beavis and Butt-Head who return for another movie adventure to kick-off the new series.
• Workaholics Movie – made-for-streaming movie based off the popular long-running Comedy Central series starring Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm and Kyle Newacheck.

Music

For almost 40 years, MTV has chronicled the world of music through the eyes of the most important artists — telling the stories that only MTV can, because MTV was there. And now, on Paramount+, MTV is unlocking its treasured vault to bring new and exclusive series like:

• Behind the Music – Behind the Music is back! The groundbreaking and prolific music documentary series returns with several new episodes and the best of the vault remastered and updated for today’s audiences with artist interviews, a creative refresh and reimagined visual style.
• From Cradle to Stage – this new six-part, unscripted television series from Director Dave Grohl was inspired by his mother, Virginia Hanlon Grohl, and based on her critically-acclaimed book, From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars. The series is a dynamic personal exploration of the special relationship between successful musicians and their moms. Each episode features a famous performer and their mom as well as Dave and Virginia.
• Unplugged – MTV’s most iconic musical performance franchise will come to Paramount+ several times a year as special intimate MTV Unplugged events featuring some of the world’s biggest artists.
• Yo! MTV Raps – MTV is bringing back its most storied hip-hop series and music franchise Yo! MTV Raps for Paramount+. The return of Yo! MTV Raps will include hosted segments, live performances, cyphers and lifestyle content, and will serve as a comprehensive deep dive into the current state of hip-hop. After its debut 33 years ago on August 6, 1988, Yo! MTV Raps became the premiere destination for all things hip-hop. The advent of the series was crucial to the rise of rap music worldwide, creating a global passion for the genre and greater hip-hop culture, which has since become the most dominant force in mainstream music and pop culture worldwide.

CBS All Access Originals to Continue as Paramount+ Originals

In addition to the forthcoming titles produced exclusively for Paramount+, the award-winning CBS All Access originals will rebrand to Paramount+ originals and continue to super-serve fans of:

• No Activity – a half-hour police comedy, starring Patrick Brammall and Tim Meadows, which was previously a live-action series, will be completely animated for season four.
• Star Trek: Discovery – the series, starring Sonequa Martin-Green, follows the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new life forms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks – a half-hour animated comedy series, focuses on the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford and Tendi have to keep up with their duties and their social lives, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
• Star Trek: Picard – features Patrick Stewart reprising his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard, which he played for seven seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The series follows this iconic character into the next chapter of his life.
• Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News – a daily news satire series featuring a cast of animated characters, led by anchor James Smartwood, lampooning real-world news stories and interviewing live-action guests.
• The Good Fight – the critically acclaimed drama starring Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart follows her next chapter at one of Chicago’s preeminent African-American law firms. The wide-ranging topicality of the series captures the current sociopolitical era as the firm confronts real life issues of today.
• Why Women Kill – a dark comedy created by Marc Cherry, is an anthology series that examines how the roles of women have changed over the decades, but how their reaction to betrayal... has not.

Sports

In bringing everything sports fans love on CBS to Paramount+, the service will feature over 1,000 live sporting events per year, including regular season games, playoffs, championships and more across the following marquee properties:

• THE NFL ON CBS
• The Masters
• NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship
• PGA TOUR
• SEC ON CBS
• The PGA Championship
• National Women’s Soccer League
• UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League – Paramount+ is the only place in the U.S. where soccer fans can find exclusive English-language coverage of every UEFA club competition match, every season.

In addition, Paramount+ is expanding its exclusive English-language rights in the U.S. with three more soccer properties, featuring hundreds of additional matches.

• Concacaf – offering more than 200 Concacaf matches, starting with the Concacaf Nations League Finals in June of this year, which will feature the U.S. Men’s National Team. Coverage will feature all 41 national teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean across different competitions, including the qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, which will feature the defending champion U.S. Women’s National Team.
• Liga Profesional de Fútbol – Paramount+ will stream more than 300 matches a year from Argentina’s top soccer division.
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A – Paramount+ will stream more than 360 matches a year from Brazil’s premier soccer league.

The service will also be the exclusive home of a long-running, Emmy® Award-winning original series Inside the NFL, which takes fans even deeper into the game and the passion of the NFL all season long. And knowing fans don’t stop watching when the players stop playing, Paramount+ will feature the 24/7 streaming sports news service, CBS Sports HQ.

News

With breaking news and impactful journalism, the award-winning CBS News team will offer Paramount+ subscribers deep insights into the world through best-in-class reporting. News offerings will include renowned CBS News programs, new series such as 60 Minutes+, live streams of local affiliates in over 200 markets across the U.S., and the 24-hour streaming news service CBSN.

In addition to news programs audiences already know and love, Paramount+ will be home to brand-new titles based on CBS News’ premier franchises, including:

• 60 Minutes+ – a compelling new version of the renowned newsmagazine and number one news program in America. Award-winning correspondents Enrique Acevedo, Seth Doane, Wes Lowery and Laurie Segall bring Paramount+ viewers a new perspective on the investigative reporting and exclusive newsmaker interviews that have made 60 Minutes must-watch television for generations.
• 48 Hours original: The Lie Detector – a Texas Ranger who for decades led the department’s investigations into its most twisted and high profile murder cases takes viewers behind the scenes of those crimes and into the minds of the people who committed them. The Lie Detector is a true crime docuseries from the Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning producers of 48 Hours in a new and compelling original format exclusively for Paramount+.

Documentaries

ViacomCBS is a definitive leader in storytelling, and audiences are increasingly hungry for shows that document history, from the distant past to history that’s being made today. Driven by these insights, Paramount+ is partnering with some of the world’s best filmmakers to debut an incredible slate of gripping, powerful and relevant documentaries, including the following from CBS News, CBSN, CBS Sports, MTV Documentary Films and the Smithsonian Channel:

• 76 Days – a look at life in the earliest days of the COVID-19 crisis in Wuhan, China, the Oscar Shortlisted 76 Days focuses on frontline hospital workers and their patients, bearing witness to the human resilience that persists in times of profound tragedy.
• Black Gold – from Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa and Emmy® Award-winning Time Studios, this is a true-life conspiracy thriller about a decades-long campaign to trade our planet for profit.
• For Heaven’s Sake – blends comedy and crime documentary formats for a unique take on uncovering the truth. The series follows the search for Harold Heaven, who mysteriously disappeared from his remote cabin in Ontario, Canada, in the winter of 1934.
• The Real Criminal Minds – a true crime docu series, featuring a former real FBI profiler. The series will examine real cases, and real criminal behavior, illustrated by clips fans will remember from the fictional series.
• Watergate – from MTV Entertainment Studios, this series will illuminate a moment in our history that parallels so much of what’s happening now.
• Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In – tells the story of the legendary manager of Manchester United, and one of the most memorable figures in European football.
• Stories from the Beautiful Game – an original soccer documentary series produced by Pete Radovich, the award-winning coordinating producer of CBS Sports’ UEFA coverage. Paramount+ will release several soccer documentaries every year, starting later in 2021.

In addition to long-lead productions, ViacomCBS will also produce exclusive Insta Docs for Paramount+. These instant documentaries will be released within days of breaking news and will dive deeper into events that capture the attention of the nation.

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Paramount+ Pricing Tiers

Paramount+ will have two pricing tiers available to U.S. subscribers that marry the best of live and on-demand programming.

The premium tier, at $9.99, will be available with the full depth and breadth of live sports, around-the-clock news programming and world-class entertainment spanning Paramount+ originals to an expansive suite of current and library shows and movies. The offering will include CBS’ live linear feed and commercial-free on demand viewing, with 4k, HDR and Dolby Vision, mobile downloads and cross-platform dynamic play functionality.

An ad-supported tier will launch in June for $4.99 and offer the best in sports, news and entertainment. At that time, the current $5.99 plan will no longer be available for new users, but existing users will maintain grandfathered access. The ad-supported tier will feature a compelling offering of exciting Paramount+ originals, marquee sports content including live championship-level soccer and live NFL games, breaking news through CBSN and an extraordinary collection of content, including the full suite of current and library CBS shows available on demand.

Both Paramount+ tiers will feature a seamless user interface, enhanced curation and discovery, personalized homepages, content categories and central hubs for ViacomCBS’ brands. Additionally, each subscription option will include parental control capabilities and up to six individual profiles.

Broad Distribution

At launch, Paramount+ will be available online at ParamountPlus.com, via the Paramount+ app for iOS and Android, and across a wide number of platforms, including smart TVs, connected-TV devices, online, mobile, gaming consoles, and leading OTT providers.

Launch Sponsors

ViacomCBS is proud to present General Motors, Expedia and Procter & Gamble among a select group of leading launch sponsors for Paramount+ in the U.S. Through marketing integrations, custom activations and ViacomCBS’ suite of ad capabilities, these advertisers will have unparalleled access to leading brands, popular IP and premium digital video to deliver significant reach and impact across ViacomCBS’ highly engaged and diverse audiences.

International Rollout

Paramount+ will debut internationally in 18 Latin American countries and Canada on March 4, 2021, the Nordics on March 25, 2021 and Australia with a rebrand and expansion of 10 All Access later this year, with additional markets to follow.

With production capabilities across five continents, strong distribution agreements and local relationships and expertise around the world, Paramount+ will leverage ViacomCBS’ leading global reach – including the largest global broadcast footprint – to drive streaming growth and international expansion. ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) will build on its momentum in prized formats, and as one of the top global producers of Spanish-language content, to bring exclusive series to market for fans of kids and family, scripted dramas, reality and more.

In select international markets, Paramount+ will offer audiences exclusive originals that include The Man Who Fell to Earth, Mayor of Kingstown, Guilty Party, Halo and The Offer, among others, an expansive content library of over 5,000 hours of iconic ViacomCBS IP and hit franchises across genres and a premium user experience. For most international subscribers, Paramount+ will also be the home to SHOWTIME® and feature celebrated series Dexter, Ray Donovan, The Affair, Your Honor, The Comey Rule and Escape at Dannemora. And importantly, like in the U.S., internationally Paramount+ will offer some of the biggest kids franchises in the world, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dora the Explorer and PAW Patrol – in addition to the highly anticipated Kamp Koral and Nickelodeon Animation Studio’s The Astronauts.

Premieres of prized formats including some of MTV’s biggest global reality franchises – such as Acapulco Shore and Are You The One?: Brazil in Latin America, as well as Story of Songs in the Nordics, and a deep catalogue of the best reality hits such as Jersey Shore, Ex on the Beach, Catfish and more – will be available in Latin America, the Nordics and Australia.

And, through ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS), a division of ViacomCBS Networks International, top creators from around the world will also debut premium local scripted dramas on the service. For example, in Latin America, the service will debut:

• The Envoys – a supernatural thriller co-produced with Academy Award-winning director and screenwriter, Juan José Campanella.
• Cecilia – a female-led dramedy from renowned Argentine writer and director Daniel Burman and starring acclaimed Mexican actress Mariana Treviño.

Subscription pricing will vary slightly by market, but Paramount+ will be available to international audiences at a compelling price point.

Internationally, Paramount+ will be available online at ParamountPlus.com, via the Paramount+ app for iOS and Android, and across a number of connected TV devices and OTT platforms. The service will also have broad distribution on major platforms in international markets, including Claro Video, Mercado Libre, Izzi & Claro Brazil in Latin America, and Nuuday, Telenor and Allente in the Nordics.

About ViacomCBS:

ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC; VIACA) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates premium content and experiences for audiences worldwide. Driven by iconic consumer brands, its portfolio includes CBS, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, CBS All Access, Pluto TV and Simon & Schuster, among others. The company delivers the largest share of the U.S. television audience and boasts one of the industry’s most important and extensive libraries of TV and film titles. In addition to offering innovative streaming services and digital video products, ViacomCBS provides powerful capabilities in production, distribution and advertising solutions for partners on five continents.

For more information about ViacomCBS, please visit www.viacomcbs.com and follow @ViacomCBS on social platforms.

VIAC-IR

From The Hollywood Reporter:

ViacomCBS Exec on Keys to Paramount+ Launch, Global Success: "We Have Got a Really Strong Brand"

The expanded streamer has "a very strong content offering at a value price point," says international COO Kelly Day.

ViacomCBS executives on Wednesday dug deeper into their plans for upcoming streaming service Paramount+ and the company’s broader streaming strategy.

The conglomerate had previously said that it would relaunch existing subscription streaming services under the new Paramount+ brand in the U.S. and in Latin America on March 4, followed by a March 25 debut in Scandinavia and a launch later in the year in Australia. It detailed on Wednesday that the Latin America launch would come in 18 countries. In Canada, the CBS All Access service will get the Paramount+ rebrand on March 4, with an "expanded" content offering available later in the year.

"With production capabilities across five continents, strong distribution agreements and local relationships and expertise around the world, Paramount+ will leverage ViacomCBS’ leading global reach – including the largest global broadcast footprint – to drive streaming growth and international expansion," the company said on Wednesday. "ViacomCBS Networks International will build on its momentum in prized formats, and as one of the top global producers of Spanish-language content, to bring exclusive series to market for fans of kids and family, scripted dramas, reality and more."

Premieres of such MTV franchises as Acapulco Shore and Are You The One?: Brazil in Latin America, as well as Story of Songs in the Nordics will be available on Paramount+ in Latin America, the Nordics and Australia. And through ViacomCBS International Studios, the service will in Latin America debut The Envoys, a supernatural thriller co-produced with Academy Award-winning director and screenwriter Juan José Campanella (The Secret in Their Eyes), and Cecilia, a dramedy from Argentine writer and director Daniel Burman that will star Mexican actress Mariana Treviño.

Among the speakers at the firm’s investor day on Wednesday was Kelly Day, who about a year ago was named COO of ViacomCBS Networks International after leaving her post as president of Viacom Digital Studios following the merger of Viacom and CBS. In October, she added the role of president of international streaming.

The executive is high on the company’s global opportunities in streaming and on the opportunities for its international operations to feed content to Paramount+ and beyond.

Ahead of the investor event, Day spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the company’s streaming strategy in foreign markets, how Paramount+ there will differ from its U.S. version and the sheer size of the international opportunity.

Streaming is a key focus for ViacomCBS now, just like for many of its entertainment peers. How do you think about the international opportunity in streaming overall and how do you decide whether to focus on your subscription service Paramount+ or your advertising VOD service Pluto TV?

I moved over to the international side of the business about a year ago. And I made the move, because it's a super exciting space. If you look at the opportunity outside the U.S., it is absolutely huge. And that's not to say that the opportunity in the U.S. isn't still very significant as well. But when you look at the international landscape, it's just very early days, both for the SVOD side of the business, but also for Pluto TV. Most of the world lives outside of the U.S. So as a practical matter there's just a really big market opportunity.

I think our approach to that has been unique. And we are really looking at markets on a case-by-case basis and developing bespoke [strategies] that take advantage of a couple of key assets that ViacomCBS brings to the table. We [evaluate] if in a market we think an SVOD strategy is likely to take hold and we can be competitive and think the opportunity to go into the market is significant. Or if a market is better suited to AVOD, perhaps a market that has a lot of scale and a healthy ad market. In some cases, like Latin America, we see both. So Latin America has been a big focus for us. We have a kind of Paramount+ light version in Latin America that has done well, but then we also launched Pluto there last year, and it has just been off the charts. It took off much faster than we even anticipated.

What has helped with the success in Latin America and how much upside is there with the upcoming launch of the beefed up Paramount+ on March 4?

As we think about the opportunity for Paramount+ in Latin America, I think it comes down to a couple of things. One, we do have a really strong content offering. So if you look at what we're bringing to the market, we have got the best of Showtime, we have got the best of the Paramount+ originals in the works in the U.S., we have got a great slate of movies, we have got a lot of local content. So we really have all of the pieces in terms of having a very robust content catalog, and we should end up with about 5,000 hours at launch in Latin America. So it's pretty deep and broad. The content is premium.

Some people have asked how strong the Paramount brand is in international markets…

We have got a really strong brand. And that's something that there has been some conversation about it in the U.S. coverage, but I think there is not enough attention on the fact that the Paramount+ brand is so incredibly strong amongst consumers. We did a ton of research last summer, when we were making the decision on the brand, on all of the biggest markets around the world. And what we found was so remarkable that it was kind of "wow."

Which is 91 percent of people in markets everywhere, non-English-speaking markets all over the world, knew the Paramount brand and recognized the mountain and the logo. But 96 percent had a really positive association with it. And when you ask people what do you associate with the Paramount brand, they mentioned things like big blockbuster movies, awesome TV shows. They just have a perception in their heads that this is going to be very premium and a brand that they know is going to bring high-quality content. That gave us a lot of confidence in the brand as really a global brand, like a halo that we can get behind and roll out to many different markets.

Let's talk about the pricing of Paramount+ abroad. [The company disclosed that monthly prices include 79 Mexican pesos ($3.85), 19.90 Brazilian real ($3.66), 299 Argentinian pesos ($3.34), 69 Swedish krona ($8.30), 69 Norwegian krona ($8.15), 59 Danish krona ($9.63), and 6.99 Euro ($8.48) in Finland.] How did you decide about the cost of the service in international markets and how does it compare with rivals?

I think that is the second piece. You look at the content offering and the brand. Then you say, okay, what's the price point? Obviously, it is a competitive space. And all of these markets are competitive; everybody is moving into them. So Latin America, the Nordics, Australia are no different. We feel like what we are delivering to consumers is a very strong content offering at a value price point. And that is not to say that it is cheap, but it is a value price point. We think that that matters to consumers. And in some markets, it matters more than others. We know that in Latin America in order to be successful and in order to grow our consumer base, we have to have a price point that is really competitive.

So we are going to be priced, in most markets, fairly considerably lower than other streaming services in the market. I think there is going to be this perception of you have got a super-strong brand, really robust content catalog, and I can get it at a price point that I feel pretty good about. At launch, we felt like the best strategy was to go out of the gate with a price that essentially you can't say no to.

What else is key to your international streaming strategy and success?

The last piece is distribution. In streaming, in general, having really strong distribution is critically important. You have got to make sure that your app is in front of consumers on all the platforms that they are accessing it. And they have a lot of choice right now, whether it be connected TVs, the big platform partners like Apple, Google etc. And that is where I think ViacomCBS does have a unique position in the market. We already have fantastic relationships with Apple, Amazon, and Google, so we will be available on all of those platforms at launch. But where you get kind of a secret sauce, and where we can really get that incremental scale, is that we have very strong relationships with all of the multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) partners. For example, in Latin America, we have over 50 MVPD relationships, and so we are going to be everywhere, we are going to be ubiquitous.

Could it make sense in certain markets to offer Paramount+ exclusively to one big distributor?

I wouldn't rule it out. But I do think that it depends on how you define exclusive. We have strategic partners in many markets, and there may be an opportunity to create some kind of exclusive experience. But I think that, broadly speaking, we want to have the Paramount+ service available as broadly as we can.

Will your distribution deals keep Paramount+ a direct-to-consumer service or will some relationships have business-to-business elements?

We have a mix of offerings depending on the market and depending on the operator. And so we certainly have our traditional direct-to-consumer offering available through our iOS and Android apps and web and mobile and all of those things. We will also have a B2B2C relationship with some of the MVPDs. And in certain cases, we even have more of a B2B relationship where, if it is a legacy box, or if the platform is set up in such a way where we essentially have to deliver content into a sort of app, then we are happy to do that as well. An example of that would be in Russia, where we have a relationship with a streaming platform called Okko where you can actually buy Paramount+ through their bundle or you can buy it individually. And so it is available both ways. We want to be as flexible as possible working with our partners and making sure that we are reaching as many consumers as possible.

ViacomCBS has set dates for Paramount+ launches in the U.S. and Latin America in early March, followed by the Nordics and then Australia. No mention has been made ahead of the investor event for other markets in Europe and Asia though. Are you planning launches there and does the timing depend on whether you have enough content rights in a market or how Pluto is doing there?

We do have additional markets coming soon. It is absolutely our plan to have Paramount+ available very broadly in almost every major market. There are a lot of considerations as to how and when we enter a market, whether it be having the right content, having the right partnerships. There is a whole variety of factors. We definitely see Western Europe as a big opportunity, but also Central and Eastern Europe. There will be more information coming on that over the next couple of months as we continue to finalize our plans.

With regard to Pluto, we have seen great strength, including in the U.K., Germany, Spain, France, and we are planning to launch Italy later this year. I don't really consider it an either or, we don't need to do one before the other or something like that.

When we look at the content offering, how different will Paramount+ in the U.S. be from international markets?

The content proposition is a little bit different outside the U.S. than it is in the U.S. In the U.S., of course, you have live sports and news and a mountain of entertainment. Outside the U.S., we are a little bit more focused on the mountain of entertainment. We will have a live feed available in Canada, where we currently have the CBS News feed. We will continue with that, and we are looking at live feeds in other markets, but won’t launch them out of the gate. We are much more focused on being a big premium general entertainment package outside the U.S. Within that, we are very well coordinated with the U.S. But we also have the Showtime content in the Paramount+ product outside the U.S.

We work really, really closely with both the Paramount+ originals team and the Showtime team as they are developing and greenlighting content to make sure that we have great titles that are available globally. And that is something that I think over time you are going to see us do more and more global releases of some of the big franchises. But all of the big series that you would typically expect to see from Paramount+ or from Showtime, you are going to see in most of the markets, although there are always a few titles here and there where maybe there is a rights issue in this market or that market. But for the most part, we are trying to make most of those titles available. So, you are going to see Ray Donovan and Dexter and those big series that people love from Showtime. And then the same goes for the Paramount+ originals like The Man Who Fell to Earth, which we are pretty excited about, and Lioness from Taylor Sheridan. And then we will have a really robust kids offering.

How key is that kids content from Nickelodeon etc. for the success of Paramount+ globally?

In the grand scheme of Paramount+, people obviously tend to focus on the big scripted dramas and for good reason. But the kids content is really important to the product offering because that is really the family piece of it. So the parents may subscribe to get access to one of the big, scripted dramas, but people tend to stick with it if the kids want to keep watching. And I think that the offering from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. is really strong. So we are going to have a ton of hours and a ton of episodes from Nickelodeon in all the markets, which is great. We are also going to be premiering Kamp Koral, which is of course the new SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off. And all of the big all kids shows - SpongeBob, Paw Patrol, Dora the Explorer - is going to be there. And we think that the kids piece of it is a critical retention tool.

How important is rolling out original fare regularly, and will we over time see originals from the international side that Paramount+ will either launch in select markets or globally?

It is an area that we are spending a lot of time on right now. We launched ViacomCBS International Studios a few years ago. That has really grown into a very robust business, led by JC Acosta. He is super-focused on developing new original series for Paramount+. I can't announce anything officially uet, but I can tell you with great certainty that you will see things developed from ViacomCBS International Studios, available globally. That is a big priority for us to not only take those big U.S. franchises and distribute them everywhere. We also know that audiences all over the world love a lot of the local dramas and local content as well. We have a presence for this in pretty much every major market around the world, and we definitely see that content traveling far and wide.

ViacomCBS owns such big broadcast networks as Telefe in Argentina, Network 10 in Australia and Channel 5 in the U.K. How much will Paramount+ be promoted on these and the company's other networks and assets in international markets?

You will certainly see Paramount+ on our linear networks, you are going see it on our social feeds, you are going to see it integrated into our shows. In Argentina, where they are a little bit more liberal, you may even see things popping up in the news broadcasts. You are going to see Paramount+ everywhere in Latin America on March 4. It is going to be out of home, on air and digital. We are really putting the full weight of ViacomCBS behind it.

How do you think about competition in international markets from other streamers, such as Netflix and Disney+, and other media?

Our job is to cut through the noise, whether it be people browsing social media on their phones, or subscribing to other services, or watching linear TV, whatever it is. And our job is to make sure that we offer the best possible content experience that keeps bringing people in and keeps people on the service. We have certainly looked at the competitive space in all of these markets and we have a pretty good sense for how our brand and our content offering and our price point match with the competition. We feel like we are going in in a really strong, a very competitive position, and we expect to capture real share.

And how do you feel about launching amid the coronavirus pandemic?

Television consumption is through the roof right now because that is all we have to do. So, in some ways, it is kind of the best time to launch something like this because we have a really captive audience.

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From Seeking Alpha:

ViacomCBS Inc. (VIAC) CEO Bob Bakish on Q4 2020 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAC) Q4 2020 Results Earnings Conference Call February 24, 2021 4:15 PM ET

Company Participants

Anthony DiClemente - EVP, IR

Shari Redstone - Non-Executive Chairman

Bob Bakish - President and CEO

James Corden - CBS Host

Tom Ryan - President and Chief Executive Officer, ViacomCBS Streaming

George Cheeks - President and CEO, CBS Entertainment Group

Gayle King - Journalist, CBS News

Norah O'Donnell - Anchor, CBS Evening News

Jim Gianopulos - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures

Nicole Clemens - President, Paramount Television Studios

Julie McNamara - EVP, Development and Programming

David Nevins - Chief Creative Officer, CBS & Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Showtime Networks

Chris McCarthy - President, MTV Entertainment Group

Trevor Noah - Television Host, Comedy Central

Brian Robbins - President, Kids & Family Entertainment, ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks

Scott Mills - President, BET Networks

Tyler Perry - BET Networks

Kelly Day - President, International Streaming

Naveen Chopra - EVP & CFO

Stephen Colbert - CBS Host

Conference Call Participants

Alexia Quadrani - JPMorgan

Mike Morris - Guggenheim Securities

Brett Feldman - Goldman Sachs

Ben Swinburne - Morgan Stanley

Rich Greenfield - LightShed

John Janedis - Wolfe Research

John Hodulik - UBS

Robert Fishman - MoffettNathanson

Steven Cahall - Wells Fargo

Vijay Jayant - Evercore ISI

Operator

Anthony DiClemente

Good afternoon. My name is Anthony DiClemente, and I am the Head of Investor Relations at ViacomCBS. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our Streaming Investor Event and Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Earnings Presentation.

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain statements made in today's presentation are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Information about these risks and uncertainties are discussed in more detail in our filings with the SEC. Some of today's financial remarks will focus on adjusted results. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release or in our trending schedules, which contain supplemental information, and in each case, can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website.

With that being said, on behalf of everyone at ViacomCBS, I would like to thank you for taking the time to join us this afternoon. And now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

[Video Presentation]

Shari Redstone

Thank you, everyone, for joining us. This is a big day, a new day and new beginning. And we're so excited that you tuned in, as we celebrate our vision for the company we share, the content we make and the consumers we serve.

I'm speaking to you from Paramount Pictures, which is one of the first movie studios in the world and the last working studio located in Hollywood. My father loved this lot. He loved everything that was created here, and he believed that its future could be even greater than its proud, storied past. I believe it, too, especially today, a year after we brought together Viacom and CBS.

When I thought about what that might look like, today is exactly the kind of day I had in mind. The breadth and depth of the creative firepower that you are about to see from this unified company is truly breathtaking. And the incredible executive team, presenting it is as talented and experienced a group as I've ever seen.

If your impression of ViacomCBS is still rooted in what we were 3 or 5 or 10 years ago, I invite you to take a fresh look. This is not your father's Viacom, and it's not my father's either. This is a ViacomCBS that is being re-imagined for a new kind of marketplace and a new kind of consumer.

As Bob Bakish has said, despite the challenges posed by the world around us, our company's transformation is ahead of schedule. We are optimizing the power of our combined assets and IP. We're unlocking more power in distribution. We're driving growth in subscribers, and we're rapidly realizing the cost savings we promised when we announced the merger. We're now building on this new foundation and on our legacy of innovation.

Simply put, we are better-positioned to succeed because we have the best team in the industry, and we are better on the fundamentals. Our leadership in creative teams, our culture, our values, all of this proceeds and informs the vision and the strategy. And we have the vision and the strategy to win and to grow.

For all of these reasons, one year in, the market is beginning to recognize the value of the company. And we hope that soon, it will fully recognize that value. You know us as a value stock. But what we are going to show you today is that inside our value company is a powerful engine for growth, one that can propel this company faster and further.

It starts and ends with content, and I want to be super clear about this. We are not confused about what we do. We are a pure-play content company. Every single day, we are working toward two mutually reinforcing objectives. First, to maximize the quantity and quality of content, what people want to see, wherever they want to see it. And second, to maximize the value of that content for the long-term and for all of our shareholders.

The business case is pretty simple. Consumers are demanding a world-class experience with world-class content. My father famously said, content is king. Today, we affirm anew that ViacomCBS is indeed one of the kings of content.

Through Paramount+, we will offer consumers a unique combination of live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment. Some people will tell you that a company like ours has to choose, that we're either all in on linear or all in on streaming. We think that's a false choice. We're not about only linear or only streaming. We're about both linear and streaming.

The industry is transitioning. But for consumers, it's happening at different paces in different places. We will live in this hybrid environment for a while, but we are the company that is best-positioned to enable this transition over time.

Wherever consumers like to experience their favorite shows and movies today, our promise to you is simple. We will be everywhere you need us to be, on every platform that matters to you with content, creativity and experiences that are second to none.

And audiences will stay with us because of that, because of our integrated ecosystem of free, pay and premium streaming platforms that support strong, long-lasting consumer relationships.

In the process, we will deliver to our shareholders a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. This is a new day for ViacomCBS.

And to share more, I am pleased to welcome our President and CEO, Bob Bakish.

Bob Bakish

[Video Presentation]

Thank you, Shari. And hello, everyone. On behalf of the ViacomCBS senior leadership team, thank you for joining us on this exciting day. Paramount was the first studio to make a full-length feature film back in 1912. In the century since, Paramount has been home to some of the biggest stars and the biggest movies and television series in Hollywood history.

Paramount has also had a front-row seat on every innovation to propel the entertainment industry forward, from the advent of sound and color, to the rise of broadcast television, to the birth and rapid expansion of the Internet.

Today, that landscape is being reshaped again, as the industry transitions from linear-based platforms to streaming video. So this lot is the perfect backdrop to launch an exciting new chapter for the Paramount brand and for ViacomCBS.

Paramount has thrived through the years for a simple reason, because Paramount tells stories that people love. This is a brand that hasn't just produced iconic movies like The Godfather and Top Gun, but also legendary television series like, The Brady Bunch, Star Trek and Cheers.

Paramount has proven that no matter how technology changes the industry, great content will always win in the end. And that same commitment to telling great stories, also sits at the heart of the flagship brands of ViacomCBS. Whether on demand, on broadcast or on the big screen, there's one truth we pride ourselves on that connects all of our brand experiences. We know how to make hits.

ViacomCBS has been and remains a consistent hit maker across genres, across demographics, across formats and across platforms. Across our studios, we're one of the biggest suppliers of premium original content in the industry today, with nearly 900 shows in production this year.

In addition to hits on our own networks around the world, every major streaming service has had a monster hit from one of our studios. We have made or licensed for third parties some of the most watched shows and movies of the streaming era, including 13 Reasons Why, Emily in Paris, Dead to Me, Jack Ryan, Avatar, The Haunting of Bly Manor and many others.

The original shows we've made for others, is proof of the power of our content in the streaming era. And we also know that if we direct that same great content engine back to our own streaming service and unleash that same knack for producing original hits to attract our own subscribers, we can be successful. And that's exactly, what we're setting out to do.

A year ago, I said we were going to super size CBS All Access, but we've done much more than that. We've transformed CBS All Access into Paramount+. Paramount+ will be one of the only streaming services to combine live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment, a mountain of entertainment built on a portfolio of world-renowned brands. It's all your favorites, all in one place.

Going forward, the combined creative firepower, franchises and IP of Paramount, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and the Smithsonian Channel will be focused on creating original hits for Paramount+. And Paramount+ will also be home to their massive libraries.

As you'll hear over the next couple of hours, Paramount+ comes to the streaming space with real advantages that our competitors do not have. And with a strategy that's unique to the marketplace.

As the streaming segment continues to evolve and mature, we believe consumers will increasingly be looking for the combination of genres that have long made linear television popular. And ours will be the first service that can do it at scale in each of them, all in one place.

It starts with live sports. CBS was a pioneer of live sports on television more than seven decades ago, with coverage of college football, PGA golf and the NFL. College basketball found a home on CBS four decades ago. Today, Paramount+ is helping to bring those sports and more into the streaming era, with over 1,000 live sporting events a year.

It will have exclusive matches and tournaments that fans love most, from the NFL to the National Women's Soccer League, from March Madness to the Masters. And we'll have Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar competing for some of soccer's biggest cups. Few other streaming services will offer live sports at this scale.

The same is true of breaking news. There are a few brands more storied or celebrated in journalism than CBS News. Back when giants like Edward R. Murrow walked its halls, CBS invented Broadcast News. Eight decades later, our award-winning news programs and franchises, like the renowned 60 Minutes, are among the most watched and trusted in the world. And now that commitment to excellence is carrying over to the streaming era.

Paramount+ is the only streaming service where well-informed citizens will get both a 24-hour news network and local news and weather from 200 local affiliates across America.

Now we know that fans of sports and news also have this in common. When the game or the news is done, they like to find other content to watch. And as you've seen from our marketing campaign, we have a mountain of entertainment for them to enjoy.

How big is that mountain? As you'll see today, it's a lot bigger than you think. It starts with more than 30,000 episodes of iconic television from some of the most popular franchises of all time, and we're building on that library immediately, with a broad slate of original content that we're thrilled to tell you about.

This year alone, Paramount+ will debut 36 original series across key genre lines. And it will also have some unforgettable original movies, content that subscribers won't get anywhere else.

Now if you like reality TV, Paramount+ is the place for you. Remember, ViacomCBS invented the genre with MTV's The Real World back in 1992, and we've dominated it globally ever since.

Paramount+ will have more than 5,000 episodes of the biggest reality hits, including the most-watched reality series on all of television and four of the most popular reality franchises on cable. And we will debut a new reality series every single month in 2021.

If you're a parent looking for outstanding kids programming, we have beloved characters and global franchises that have ranked in first place with kids and families for 25 years straight, a library of nearly 7,000 episodes of the most popular series ever and some extraordinary new original series and movies for kids on the way this year, including new versions of a certain sponge that lives under the sea.

If scripted dramas are what you love, Paramount+ will, of course, benefit from our top rated broadcast network and studios that produce original programming on a huge scale. And we don't just develop shows. We develop powerful, beloved series and franchises that are as popular on streaming, as they are on broadcast, cable and the big screen.

On Paramount+, you'll see powerful new versions of well-established television IP, amazing spin-offs based on franchise movies and of course, some of the best new ideas from creators responsible for a number of the most acclaimed series streaming today.

The good news is that you help make our scripted dramas big hits on other services, there's a good chance that the next chapters or spin-off of your favorite franchises will be coming soon, only to Paramount+.

In addition to reality, kids and scripted dramas, we also have more than 6,000 episodes of the world's funniest comedy programming and dozens of documentaries coming from award-winning film makers, including sports and news docks. We're thrilled about all of that.

And let me tell you what we're most excited about. If you love movies, our service will do justice to the Paramount name. We will provide an unforgettable range of some of the most exciting movies ever made for the Paramount+ consumer.

As you will hear in more detail from Jim Gianopulos, movies will come to Paramount+ in a variety of ways. First, some of the biggest, most anticipated new Paramount films will go exclusively to Paramount+ 30 to 45 days after their theatrical release.

Second, all other new Paramount movies will appear on Paramount+ after their theatrical run, some as early as 90 days. In addition, new movies from MGM will also appear on Paramount+ during the pay one window.

Third, the powerful hit-making studios across all of ViacomCBS are ramping up production to provide a continuous flow of new original movies made exclusively for Paramount+.

And fourth, all of these new offerings will be underpinned by a library with over 2,500 titles from Paramount, Miramax and a number of other leading Hollywood studios, which includes some of the most popular films and franchises of all time.

In short, if you love movies, Paramount+ is a streaming service that you can't live without. So we have incredible breadth and depth of content coming, truly. That's what we mean by a mountain of entertainment. Today, we're thrilled to show you the original storytelling that's coming in Paramount+.

And here to tell us more about that mountain of entertainment, is a man who started more genres in his own right than you can count, our very own, James Corden.

James Corden

[Video Presentation]

Thank you, Bob. It's great to be here, and welcome, investors, or should I call you sharks? When Bob asked me to speak here, of course, I said yes. Not only is he my boss, but what else am I going to say? Where are we going to be right now? I'm going to be like, oh, sorry; I've got a really pack day just lying on the living room floor, staring at the corner of a rug.

But seriously, though, it's great to see you, Bob. It really is. We don't get the opportunity too often. We're both very busy. He spent his days navigating an ever-changing media landscape. I spend my days telling actress how much I enjoyed their films that I've never actually seen.

But here's what you need to know. Paramount+ is coming March 4th, and there is so much amazing content. And as the host of The Late Late Show with James Corden, I know a thing or two about amazing content. Every five or six episodes, we actually managed to produce some.

Paramount+ brings together the best in live sports, breaking news, children's shows, comedy, drama, reality and whatever Spy Wars with Damian Lewis'. But I'll say that again, live sports, breaking news and an unbelievable mountain of entertainment. I haven't left my house in nine months, and now it looks like I don't need to be leaving for the next nine either.

Now we all know that there are a lot of streaming services out there. But when it comes to streaming, Paramount+ is doing things differently. We break the mold. Here are just a few ways Paramount+ is different from those other streaming services.

First off, I have it on good authority that there are zero other streaming services named Paramount+. And I promise you this, if our service goes down, Bob has promised to personally fly to each customer's homes and act out their favorite television episodes for them. I mean, what other streaming CEO would do that?

But seriously, Paramount+ has so many shows and movies to offer. It has Peppa Pig and the Jersey Shore. And I can't say this for certain, but if you invest enough, there might be a crossover.

Paramount+ also has the new SpongeBob SquarePants movie, as well as the original SpongeBob Show. This is great news for both children and adults who live anywhere where weed is legal.

What's that? You want Mission Impossible movies? Well, we got them. We've got Missions Impossible. Here's the thing about those films. The mission was always eventually possible. That's basically what every single movie was about. They should have called them Mission Difficult. But we've got them, and it's still a great watch.

We've also got Love Island. I've got a soft spot for Love Island, because just like Love Island, I'm also a sexy import from Britain. Paramount+ has so many incredible shows, but I want to highlight one show in particular, and that's The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Honestly, you don't even have to watch it. Just click play and go in the other room. That's what my family does. And here’s the promise, whether it's an announcer for Real Madrid during Champions League Soccer or just an episode of Jersey Shore, you will get plenty of good use out of the subtitles feature.

Now that I've told you about Paramount+, it's time for me to throw back to Bob. Bob?

Bob Bakish

Thanks, James. Lastly, let me say that Paramount+ is not the only part of our streaming strategy that makes us unique. We're also the only media company to fully embrace an ecosystem of free, pay and premium streaming services. That starts with free.

We acquired Pluto TV two years ago because it is a compelling, free, ad-based complement to linear and streaming video. Today, Pluto is the number one free ad-supported streaming television service in the United States and is quickly becoming a leading fast service around the world. Pluto may not be a planet, but it sure looks like a rocket ship. And it's well on its way to being a $1 billion business, and it's not going to stop there.

On the premium side of the spectrum, we have Showtime OTT and BET+. We believe strongly in the premium space, because it attracts a different kind of consumer, one who values provocative, cutting-edge content and storytelling that takes risks.

All told, no matter where you are on your streaming journey, we have fantastic content for you. This is a differentiated winning strategy. One of the reasons I'm so excited about our streaming future is that we have Tom Ryan, the visionary who built Pluto TV and a master at seeing and acting upon white spaces, driving our streaming execution across free, pay and premium. As Tom will tell you, you don't want to miss the chance to be part of it. It's my pleasure to introduce the President and CEO of Streaming at ViacomCBS, Tom Ryan.

Tom Ryan

Thanks, Bob. I've spent most of my career as an entrepreneur, creating, launching and leading companies that reflect the things I love, great music, art, fashion, film and TV. Each of these companies was unique.

They span different industries. But what made them successful was something they all had in common. Each used curation to solve the paradox of choice, delivering not just the right product or content, but the right experience for every consumer.

Whether you're talking about music play lists, design collections or channels in the case of my most recent startup, Pluto TV. Curation is the differentiator, which means my job description really hasn't changed much over the years, because delivering the right content and the right experience is not just a part of the streaming strategy we're discussing today, its the whole ball game.

Starting with the center piece of that strategy, a new paid service that we believe represents the next evolution of streaming beyond CBS All Access, beyond film and TV as we know it, where no one has gone before.

[Video Presentation]

Live sports plus breaking news plus a mountain of entertainment, Paramount+, the next exciting chapter for one of the most storied brands in Hollywood. A brand-new, one-stop, live and on-demand streaming service with one of the broadest content experiences across more genres and the hit-making power of ViacomCBS at our backs.

We're leveraging our massive catalog, our key franchises and storied IP and some of the world's greatest content creators to assemble a truly unique and compelling service, with more than 30,000 episodes and more than 2,500 movies and more on the way, the sheer depth and breadth of content makes Paramount+ a world-class streaming service on day one.

We're putting more of what people want in one place because we know most viewers come to us for more than just entertainment. Paramount+ is uniquely positioned to serve this large audience of people who love all kinds of content in the streaming space.

But it's not just about aggregation. We're curating all of this amazing content by brand and genre to deliver the combination of news, sports and entertainment that we know people will flock to.

Our user experience is built around the joy of discovery. And Paramount+ doesn't just get the basics right. We're delivering an on-demand experience with originals in 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision, mobile downloads so it's easy to watch your favorite shows and movies on the go and cross-platform dynamic play functionality that lets you pick up right where you left off.

Our personally curated carousels use machine learning to offer recommendations for every family member. This encourages deeper scrolling, presents users with more new shows and movie to love and leads to more streams and longer viewing times.

We've rebuilt our entire live experience, and we're introducing a new feature called On Now, which provides immediate access to content playing on our live channels including, CBS, CBSN and CBS Sports HQ.

You can watch games and matches from our growing line-up of exclusive sports programming, get breaking national and local news or catch-up with award-winning daily and weekly shows like 60 Minutes, CBS This Morning or the CBS Evening News.

We're even taking what we learned about curation from the explosive growth of Pluto TV and applying it to Paramount+. The service will expand overtime to include new curated linear channels of movies, shows and originals, offering an effortless lean-back experience.

And it's not just the content from each of our brands can be discovered throughout the service. Curation means every one of them from CBS to Nickelodeon to Comedy Central to MTV, to BET and more will have a dedicated home on Paramount+. We know from our research that when it comes to choosing what to watch, these iconic brands are already deeply trusted content curators in their own right. They're universally known and loved.

Each comes to the service with a deep library of fan favorites, plus an all-new slate of originals you won't be able to find anywhere else. And nearly all have greater than 90% brand awareness. Just seeing these logos makes it easier and faster to find what you're looking for.

But it's the way these lanes come together when we reach across brands and start to think about the leading genres that generate the most interest and excitement, engagement and retention, from sports to news, to movies, from kids to scripted dramas to reality shows and everything in between. That's when you start to get a sense of how powerful this new service really is. And we haven't just dominated these genres. In many cases, we pioneered them in markets around the world. Take a look.

[Video Presentation]

Paramount+ is home to the leading franchises and valuable IP, not just in the streaming space, but in all of entertainment. Curation means maximizing this IP and expanding these beloved franchises from SpongeBob to Star Trek and beyond to attract and engage with the millions upon millions of passionate fans who love these stories, know everything about their favorite characters and would follow them anywhere.

Soon, they will follow them to Paramount+. But we're not just relying on brand recognition. We know that we need to keep turning out high-quality, ground-breaking content to expand our audience's trust, extend our lead and take our indelible dynamic library to the next level.

So we're going to hear directly from the brand leads behind this work, starting with George Cheeks, President and CEO, CBS Entertainment Group, about how our studio content engines are kicking in to high gear, making bold new investments and creating an all-new lineup of unforgettable shows and movies exclusively for Paramount+.

[Video Presentation]

George Cheeks

Wow! Thanks, Ru. That's a serious view you've got up there. Now as Bob said earlier, Paramount+ stands out because it provides the full breadth of programming that consumers love.

In addition to all the entertainment content CBS will bring to Paramount+, we're also contributing two of the service's biggest differentiators, live sports and breaking news. So let's talk about live sports. It's a huge passion point in our lives and the number one acquisition driver for our current streaming service.

Fans come to us because we have college football and basketball. We've got the PGA Tour. We've got marquee events like the Super Bowl, NCAA March Madness, the Masters and the PGA championship. And of course, we have the NFL. It's television's most valuable property by far, attracting massive audiences and major advertisers. And it will be fundamental to the growth of Paramount+.

It drives more subscriptions than any other program and significant engagement, too. Time spent streaming NFL games grew 88% this season alone. Any NFL game you can watch on CBS, you can stream on Paramount+.

Bottom line, everything sports fans love on CBS, everything that brings them to us and everything that keeps them with us, our marquee properties, regular season games, playoffs, championships, all of this will be available on Paramount+.

We're also doubling down on soccer for Paramount+. It's the world's most popular sport with billions of fans globally. And it's rapidly growing here in the US among young, diverse, enthusiastic digital natives, exactly the type of audience that's drawn to streaming. Plus it's year round, which means no seasonal churn.

So as we look to the future, we are making soccer a core pillar of sports exclusively available on Paramount+. We will be the home of UEFA, including the popular Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League and the only place in the US where you can find every match, every season.

That's hundreds of exclusive matches with renowned clubs like Man City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. UEFA currently drives more new subscriptions than any sports partner except the NFL.

Now for fans of Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz or Carli Lloyd, Paramount+ also will be the home of the national women's soccer league, with full regular season coverage and now the challenge cup.

In addition to this, we've added exclusive US English language rights to three more soccer properties and hundreds of additional matches. We'll have more than 200 matches from Concacaf, covering 41 national teams across North and Central America and the Caribbean, including high profile matches for the US men's and women's national teams, as well as the women's World Cup qualifiers.

We'll have more than 300 matches a year from Argentina's top soccer division with more than a century of history and some of the most famous rivalries in the world. We'll have 350 matches a year from Brazil's premier soccer league, known for holding the most club world champion titles and for producing exceptional young superstars.

With the breadth of our sports programming available on Paramount+ as well as the depth of new exclusive matches and tournaments, few other streaming services will offer live sports at this scale. So let's hear what this means for fans from the people who know them best.

[Video Presentation]

Thanks, guys. Now as Jim and Tony know, fans don't stop watching when players stop playing. So while Paramount+ will be the leader in live sports, we'll also have original programming that will take fans even deeper into the sports they love.

Here's just one example. Inside the NFL, it's a go-to program for NFL fans with the most respected experts in the industry offering an inside look at America's most popular sport. And it's coming exclusively to Paramount+. This is exactly the kind of programming that turns new subscribers into lifelong fans, and it's just the beginning.

Now beyond sports, Paramount+ will give you deeper insight into our world with breaking news and impactful journalism from the award-winning CBS News team, Truth Matters.

And today, more than ever, we need best-in-class unbiased journalism that brings us the news as soon as it happens and unpacks the most pressing questions of the day with context and with perspective.

This is what CBS News stands for. Time-honored broadcast with steadfast followers, trusted journalists who help people understand not just what's happening, but why? And who better to speak to the power of CBS News than Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King.

Gayle King

Hey, George, as you can see, I'm here with your favorite evening news anchor, that's Norah O'Donnell. Hey, Norah.

Norah O'Donnell

Hey, Gayle, and hey, George. Hi, everybody, so good to be here.

Gayle King

This truly is an unprecedented time for us. Now it's not just about reporting a story. It's about why it matters. And that is the reason we go after and talk to the key people at the heart of every story at the end of the day, Norah. We know that's what really matters.

Norah O'Donnell

It's so true. CBS News and all of the reporters here have a mission, to break news, to tell stories that may never see the light of day if it weren't for our relentless efforts to listen, report and bring important issues to the public. That's what all of our shows really do.

Gayle King

We hope so. This is the home of some of the most honored and iconic news franchises in the world from CBS This Morning, that's me, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil. CBS Evening News with Nora O'Donnell, 60 minutes, CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley, Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan 48 hours, and the list goes on and on.

Norah O'Donnell

The very best shows and also we tell the new stories that are compelling, and we do interviews that have impact. I'm proud to be part of CBS News and excited that we will be bringing the best news content in the business to Paramount+ alongside live sports and a mountain of entertainment, yes, all in one place.

Gayle King

Yes, Norah. I'm proud, too. Definitely exciting for all of us here at CBS News. George, your turn. Back to you.

George Cheeks

Thanks so much, Gayle and Norah. So, in addition to the news programs our viewers already love, Paramount+ will be home to brand-new series based on our award-winning franchises.

First 60 Minutes Plus, a compelling new version of the world-renowned News Magazine and the number one news program in America. The program will feature the famous ticking stopwatch, as well as the hallmark storytelling that has made it a Sunday night favorite for generations, investigations that expose injustice, correspondents who travel the globe to interview world leaders and cultural icons who open up and reveal their true selves, respected award-winning journalists, Enrique Acevedo, Wes Lowery, Laurie Segall and Seth Doane will speak directly to the next-generation of viewers on a news magazine built for them. That's 60 Minutes Plus exclusively on Paramount+.

Next up, the new 48 Hours, true crime docu series, exclusive for Paramount+, it's called a Lie-Detector. A Texas Rangers who has spent 25 years getting into the minds of killers in high-profile, twisted murder cases. He will take viewers behind the scenes into some of the most infamous cases he has handled. You'll find the same style and quality of true crime reporting you've come to expect from the producers of the Emmy and Peabody Award-Winning 48 Hours. But this time, in a new and compelling original format.

And then there's CBSN. CBS News is global, 24/7 digital new service. It's a live, anchored stream with breaking news and round-the-clock coverage. Now it's been embedded within CBS All Access since 2017, which means we've had a big head start with a streaming news service on a premium service.

We've got years of data on what news stories people consume, as well as how and when they consume it. We know our CBSN audience is 20 years younger than our broadcast audience.

Also viewers who streamed CBSN daily last year spend an average of 55 minutes on the service. And CBSN broke records in 2020 with more than 1 billion streams across platforms and connected devices. That's a year-over-year increase of 200%. All of these showcase our strength and storytelling.

And increasingly, we see audiences hungry for shows that document history from the distant past to history that's being made today. So I'm excited to tell you about just a few of the amazing documentaries from all across ViacomCBS that we're bringing to Paramount+.

For sports, we'll bring fans up close to the greatest sports figures and the moments that define them. NEVER GIVE IN tells a story of Alice Ferguson the legendary manager of Manchester United and one of the most memorable figures in European football.

And building on our strength in soccer, we’re producing an original series of documentaries called the Stories from the Beautiful Game from Pete Radovich, the award winning producer of our UEFA Champions League coverage

We’ll release four to five soccer documentaries every year, beginning later this year. We'll also produce exclusive documentaries in the immediate aftermath of momentous events like the siege on the Capitol last month.

These instant documentaries, or inst docs will be released within days of breaking news, and we'll dive deeper into events that have gripped the nation's attention. Our documentary slate for Paramount+ will include projects from some of the world's best filmmakers.

First up will be Black Gold from Oscar nominated director Darren Aronofsky and Time Studios. It's a true life conspiracy thriller about big oils decade's long campaign to trade our planet for profit. From Smithsonian, we have a series on Watergate that illuminates a moment in our history that parallels so much of what's happening right now.

And from MTV documentary films, we have the Oscar shortlisted 76 days, an extraordinary inside look at Wuhan, China in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Take a look.

[Video Presentation]

I honestly can't think of a story more gripping, more powerful and more relevant to this moment. And this is just one of the many documentaries you will find on Paramount+.

Now as you can see, we are bringing the full weight of our talent, our resources and our expertise to this new service, live sports, exclusive championship events, the richest in-depth storytelling, investigative reporting and high-profile interviews, 24/7 live news and compelling documentaries.

Together, these offerings will put Paramount+ in a league all its own. No other streaming service will offer sports and news coverage of this quality and at this scale. But as Bob said, these are just two pieces of the puzzle.

So to tell you about our mountain of entertainment, please welcome Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, Jim Gianopulos.

Jim Gianopulos

Thank you, George. Now movies have always been very special to me. Growing up in Brooklyn, my grandfather was a Greek immigrant, took me to the movies all the time. It was his way of spending time with me and learning English in the process.

I would translate what was happening on the screen as a sort of un-credited voiceover, which created some irritated shushes from fellow patrons. He wasn't very particular about the movies we saw, choosing them more from the geography of the theater than what was playing.

We saw thrillers and westerns and romances, you name it. He inadvertently took me to see Psycho. I was 8. Before many of the movies we saw, the lights would go down, that iconic mountain would come up, that Crown of Stars would trail in from off screen and a great Paramount presentation would begin.

For over a century, Paramount has thrilled generations of audiences. It's one of the world's most recognized brands, known for great stories told well and unforgettable experiences that stand the test of time. And that's why we're so pleased that the Paramount name will be the one that carries a great new streaming service forward into a new era.

If you love movies as much as I do, Paramount+ is the service you can't do without. It starts with access to one of the greatest film libraries in the world, generation-defining films like The Godfather, Indiana Jones and Forest Gump and Top Gun. Dramas like China Town and Titanic and comedies like The Odd Couple and Beverly Hills Cop and Wolf of Wall Street and romances like Sabrina and Ghost, sci-fi films like War of the Worlds and World War Z.

And that great library is now augmented with the addition of over 700 titles from the Miramax library as well. Here's a look at our library and some of what's coming to Paramount+.

[Video Presentation]

As Bob mentioned, that's not all that will be on our service for film lovers. Thanks to the Epix deal we announced, we'll be making available thousands of a wide variety of studios to Paramount+ subscribers.

Beginning in late spring, Paramount+ will have available for streaming some of the most popular films and franchises of our time, including films from the James Bond and Hunger Games franchises to films like The Addams family and The Avengers, among many others.

In addition, Paramount's recent titles will be unified and available as well from Dora the Explorer to Sonic The Hedgehog to Bumblebee and Rocket Man, all coming to Paramount+.

All told, we'll have more than 2,500 movies on Paramount Plus, and that's just the ones that already exist. We have an exciting robust slate of some of the most anticipated films and beloved franchises planned for 2021 and the years to come.

As we always have, we believe in the power of theatrical releases. And we have faith that after things get back to normal, audiences will enthusiastically return to theater. At the same time, consumers have also increasingly embraced streaming as another way to enjoy films, and our strategy accounts for both.

I'm pleased to say some of our biggest releases this year will go exclusively from movie theaters to Paramount+. That starts with the sequel to one of the most original and memorable films of the past few years.

In John Krasinski's expert hands, A Quiet Place showed us that if they hear you, they hunt you. The film captivated audiences and earned huge box offers receipts, all with a very compelling premise. How do you protect your children from the world around you?

In A Quiet Place Part II, the Abbott family has been forced into the outside world and must fight for survival in silence. It's my privilege to show you the trailer for A Quiet Place Part II scheduled for release this September and coming to Paramount+ just 45 days after its theatrical release.

[Video Presentation]

Another one of our titles to make an exclusive streaming debut in year one on Paramount+ after its theatrical release is the first film for one of the most beloved children's [Technical Difficulty], the kind that inspire moments like a seemingly mild-mannered CEO jumping out of a plane at 35,000 feet.

While it was Bob Backish inside at helm at this time, this November, Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in the next installment of one of the most beloved action spy series of all time, Mission Impossible.

Mission Impossible 7 is scheduled for theatrical release on November 19 and will come to Paramount+ exclusively 45 days later. The rest of our 2021 film line-up, including Snake Eyes and Clifford the Big Red Dog and Top Gun Maverick will all be coming to Paramount+ in 2022 after their respective theatrical runs.

Future releases like Sonic the Hedgehog, the newest Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, The Saint and many others will also be coming to Paramount+ after their theatrical runs. New MGM films such as Respect and Creed 3 and Gucci will also be coming to Paramount+ after their theatrical runs.

But that's not all. There's much more in store and content coming directly to Paramount+. As Brian Robbins will discuss in a moment, we will also release SpongeBob SquarePants Sponge on the Run exclusively on Paramount+.

In the streaming era, many have come to us as content creators with access to talent and storytellers and ideas and intellectual property to make original programming for them.

Together with our sister studios at ViacomCBS, Paramount will now be ramping up our in-house engine for original hit series and movies made exclusive for Paramount+. Many of these films will stem from our franchises.

Our originals will cover a wide range of genres, and the first offerings will focus on one of the most popular, horror and the supernatural. We're commencing production on new film versions of Paranormal Activity and Pet Cemetery, as well as an original supernatural story, the In Between, featuring Joey King, the star of the smash hit, The Kissing Booth.

As I learned long ago, seeing that mountain onscreen signified that we were going to love what we were about to watch. And that no matter who you are or where you come from, the mountain has always had something for you. That has been true of Paramount over the years, and it's true of Paramount+ as well.

In addition to film, our Paramount television studios has had huge success with shows for a wide variety of platforms. And we'll now be bringing that talent to producing original series for Paramount+, accessing the rich trove of our assets and our franchises.

To say more about our forthcoming series, please welcome the President of Paramount Television Studios, Nicole Clemens.

Nicole Clemens

Thank you, Jim. I know we both feel tremendous reverence for Paramount's legacy and library and see great opportunity to take that legacy into the future. For me, that starts with The Godfather.

In our forthcoming event limited series, the offer screenwriter, Michael Token, brings us the true story of the making of one of the most celebrated movies in cinematic history. The story of how this film ultimately made its way from page to screen is nothing short of a miracle, one wrapped in intrigue, betrayal, sacrifice, menace and audacity.

When it premieres on Paramount+, The Offer will journey with producer, Al Ruddy, on his quest to bring The Godfather to the screen. Al Ruddy wanted to make a movie about terrifying ice cold people who you love. He did and lived it [Technical Difficulty] scripted dramas like The Offer drive viewership and engagement.

We know because nearly every major streaming service includes one of Paramount Television Studios biggest hits from Jack Ryan and Defending Jacob to the Haunting of Bly Manor, Catch 22 and 13 Reasons Why. And now we have the unique opportunity to harness Paramount's incredible library to create shows that come with a built-in fan base for Paramount+.

While we have no shortage of source material, we're being very selective and strategic in choosing what IP is best positioned for modern streaming consumers, and there will be something for everyone.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies will come to Paramount+ from executive producer, Annabel Oakes, and the producers of La La Land and Twilight. With both classic and new Songs and a diverse cast, this series is a prequel to the unforgettable musical film Grease, and tells the story of how Frenchy's older sister Jane founded The Pink Ladies.

Award-winning Mad Men writer, Tracy McMillan, is writing a new Flashdance drama series. It will pick up from where the story left off but in present day. True Blood's Angela Robinson will direct and executive produce the series with Linda Obst.

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the executive producers of Gossip Girl, The O.C. and Looking for Alaska, are bringing to Paramount+ a series based on the award-winning perennial film Love Story. Fans of The Italian Job and the Parallax View can also look forward to series based on these iconic films.

Since the 1960s, Star Trek has been one of Paramount and CBS' most revered franchises. More recently, the three Star Trek series launched on CBS All Access have broken records. And now the Star Trek journey will continue on Paramount+, boldly going where no man has gone before with more universes, more storylines and more mind-blowing visual effects. Soon, viewers will be able to enjoy new realms of this final frontier and binge the classic shows and films as well, truly the best of all worlds.

On the television side, producer Alex Kurtzman has brilliantly crafted Star Trex's new voyages with a clear vision for what comes next. Take a look as he explores the ever-expanding Star Trek universe.

[Video Presentation]

Thank you, Alex. In addition to the new shows we're building from our franchise IP, we're excited to leverage our relationships with the most talented creators in the industry to develop new originals and a steady stream of innovative programming for Paramount+. Now to tell us more about the slate of incredible shows coming to the service, please welcome EVP of Development and Programming, Julie McNamara.

Julie McNamara

Thanks, Nicole. Our franchise strategy is core to our vision for Paramount+ originals with brilliant creators, top talent and the right execution for the moment, we've created hits like the Star Trek franchise entries Alex just talked about, The Twilight Zone and The Good Fight, all modern reimaginings of beloved TV shows that were groundbreaking in their day and are newly significant now, and this is just the beginning.

To expand a franchise, whether from a movie or a TV series, you have to have a visionary at the helm, making sure every show has its own unique flavor and reason for being. These genius creators are hard to come by, and we are partnering with some of the best.

It's my pleasure to kick it over to one of the most impressive prolific creators out there today, Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, Taylor Sheraton, creator of Yellowstone, the number one series on cable, along with some of the creative talent he's working with on some very exciting projects for Paramount+.

[Video Presentation]

With creators like Taylor, an entire universe can emerge from a single great show. And when it comes to crime procedurals, we have a lot of great shows. No one does the crime procedural better than CBS. NCIS, Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, Seal Team, FBI, all of this library content is on our platform. And of course, so is Criminal Minds.

It's a huge hit on broadcast and consistently one of the top 10 shows streaming. On Netflix, it was the third most viewed series in 2020. And now the only place you can find all 15 seasons will be Paramount+. We're also creating a suite of new projects that build on the success of this show and our culture's ever-growing obsession with criminal cases.

First, a scripted series, bringing the gang back together, same show runner, same breaking down of the criminal psyche and catching the bad guy, all the things you love about Criminal Minds. But instead of a new case every week, it will be a single fascinating case story told over 10 episodes each season.

And second, a true crime series, the Real Criminal Minds, where a real FBI profiler analyzes real cases and real criminal behavior, illustrated by clips fans will remember from the fictional series. Also building on the crime genre, we're doing a follow-up to Waco, Paramount Networks' massive hit mini series as part of our new anthology entitled American Tragedy.

Exclusive to Paramount+, each season of American Tragedy will tackle complicated and conspiracy-ridden moments in history. Of course, crime is not the only genre that has pulled in Die Hard fans. Our hit Dramedy, Younger, developed a super strong fan base over the course of its six amazing seasons.

In fact, it was the number one original cable sitcom among women 25 to 54 during each of its last three years. Fans have been waiting impatiently for the final season, and now they'll be able to find that season on Paramount+. So it's my pleasure to give you a first look.

[Video Presentation]

With each new franchise entry, our goal is to create moments. Not just the splash of a big entrance, but the lasting ripples of a new conversation. So now I'm thrilled to announce the revival of one of the most highly acclaimed, most successful comedy series of all time. Frasier is coming back exclusively to Paramount+.

It's one of the most popular shows in our library, and the new series will have everything you love about the original, coziness, great writing and, of course, a cast led by multiple Emmy winner Kelsey Grammer. It's nostalgic and contemporary all at once.

Paramount+ will be home not only to franchises based on movies and television series, but also to franchises based on video games. To start, one of very, very popular video game.

To tell you more, please welcome the CEO of Showtime Networks, David Nevins.

David Nevins

Thank you, Julie. I'm here to talk about Halo, one of the most important game franchises of all time. The reason Halo has persisted in the culture for two decades is because of its incredible narrative and rich universe of stories and characters.

With a cast led by Pablo Schreiber as the iconic Master Chief, the upcoming Halo series will weave intimate personal stories with incredible action and a lavishly imagined vision of the future.

Halo has been in production in Hungary. And I can tell you, it's visually stunning, totally thrilling, and significantly, it offers true four-quadrant general audience appeal. Its so promising in fact that we’ve made the strategic decision to have Showtime serve as the studio that produces the series for Paramount+.

That’s right, Halo premier on Paramount+ early in 2022 and we all believe it’s going to be defining show for our new super service. We see this as another example of us marshalling the finest resources of the company in service of Paramount+.

Julie McNamara

We are all very excited about this new series.

David Nevins

It's my privilege for the first time ever to show you a sneak peek of Halo coming to Paramount+ early in 2022.

[Video Presentation]

Julie McNamara

There's no question Paramount+ will be home to some of the greatest franchises on TV, but every franchise begins with a single game-changing series. So you better believe we'll be taking big swings and teaming up with top creative talent to create the next big thing.

I'd like to share just a few of the notable new projects we have planned. First, I'm thrilled to announce that we have found our Man Who Fell to Earth in Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner, Chiwetel Ejiofor. Based on the iconic science fiction novel and film, The Man Who Fell to Earth tells the story of an alien who arrives on this planet and reveals more about human nature than humans ever could.

Next up, Guilty Party, a dark comedy starring Kate Beckinsale, as a journalist who gets in over her head when she tries to salvage her career by investigating the story of a young woman in jail for murdering her husband. Then there's The Game, a sitcom that broke records when it premiered on BET, which is returning to the field with a mix of original cast and new players and will offer a modern-day examination of black culture through the prism of pro-football.

At a time when we all could use more laughter in our lives, shows like Frasier, Guilty Party and The Game are embracing comedy in a big way.

To tell us more about comedy on Paramount+ and some of the other genres that will define our new service, I want to introduce President of MTV Entertainment Group, Chris McCarthy.

Chris McCarthy

Thanks, Julie. Now we just heard some great new comedy projects that are coming to Paramount+, and I'm excited to share some new ones.

But first, let me tell you why how comedy matters to streaming. Now when we look at total minutes consumed across the leading streaming services, comedy is the genre that rises to the top of the list.

So what does that mean? Well, it means that comedy helps to capture new subscribers and it helps to keep existing ones. You see, viewers enjoy binging episode after episode of friendly faces and familiar characters.

In many ways, comedy is our comfort food. And when it comes to beloved characters from iconic franchises, Paramount+ delivers. With over 6,000 episodes, it's clear that comedy is central to Paramount+.

Now we've got it all. Everything from I Love Lucy to Everybody Hates Chris, from Hot in Cleveland to The Neighborhood and from Strangers with Candy to and the famous Friends and Cheers.

Paramount+ also brings us some of the funniest families in television, including Family Ties, the Brady Bunch, Young Sheldon, Melissa, Mom, and of course, Frasier.

Now Paramount+ will also be the home to iconic sketch shows from the man who reinvented the genre in Chappelle Show to the guys who took it to new heights with Kinpeo [ph] and of course, the women who made it their own, Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer. In fact, Amy is back for a very special new season of Inside Amy Schumer.

And if topical comedy is your thing, well, Paramount+ has you covered with the raining chance of late night. I'm talking about Stephen Colbert, James Corden and, of course, Comedy Central's, Trevor Noah.

Plus exclusive new originals that offer a fresh take on the day's events, like Stephen Colbert's is turning out the news, and something very special from my friend, Trevor Noah, who is here to tell us more about that now.

[Video Presentation]

Trevor Noah

Well, thank you so much for that, Chris. And I'm not going to lie guys. Paramount+ sounds incredible, but not nearly as incredible as Trevor+. That's right, people. A new streaming platform that's going to blow Paramount+ of the water. I mean, sure Paramount+ has breaking news, but Trevor+ has news that you won't hear anywhere else because I'll be making it up.

For instance, did you hear that they found chocolate inside Mount Everest? Of course, you didn't. It's a Trevor+ exclusive. And yes, Paramount+ offers classic new and original shows, I mean, and movies, including the best in reality, comedy, music, animation and late night, yes, true mountain of entertainment. But Trevor+ doesn't have any kind of mountain. What we do have is a plus sign. And my plus sign could mean anything. Maybe there's more than one Trevor. Maybe I'll be doing arithmetic all day. The possibilities are endless.

And yes, I know that Paramount+ has live sports, but I'm proud to announce that at Trevor+, we couldn't get the rights to any live spots. So instead, I'm just going to be showing off my karate skills.

All right, people, let's be honest. I'll never be able to compete with Paramount+, which is why I've made the unfortunate decision to announce that after magical zero days in business, Trevor+ is shutting down.

But as the old saying goes, if you can't beat them, well, why not host a show for them on Paramount+. That's right, a new weekly show hosted by me, Trevor black belt Noah is coming to Paramount+ later this year. Each week, I'll look at the stories across the media landscape and talk with the people behind those stories, the people you know, the people you don't know and the people you didn't even know that you didn't know. It's kind of exciting, right? My favorite part is that, wait, if I'm doing the daily show, and I'm going to be doing a weekly show, what am I still doing? I've got to get to work.

Chris, back to you.

Chris McCarthy

Thanks, Trevor. We're also excited to share that we'll be doing exclusive original comedy movies that will reignite franchises for new and old fans alike. Like a new special from the guys of Workaholics, who are working hard for the pandemic and the gang from UNO 911, who returned to take us on the elusive search for quinone [ph] certainly not one to be missed. And we even have two of America's most famous couch potatoes, who went in on the action, and they are here joining us today via Zoom.

[Video Presentation]

Well, it's great to have certainty back where it belongs in animation. Okay. So it's clear that we know comedy. But there's another category that we know really well as well, and that's music, because for almost 40 years, MTV has chronicled the world of music through the eyes of the most important artists, telling their stories and only in a way that we can because we were there.

And now we're bringing back some of our most iconic franchises and opening up our vault exclusively for Paramount+ with new seasons Behind the Music, Unplugged and the legendary TV Raps, plus new original music series like Cradle to the Stage with Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters.

Now switching gears, I want to talk about another area that we know really well, and that's because we created it. It's reality television. Now reality television is one of the hottest genres today. It's long reined in the top 10 across broadcast and cable, and that's around the globe. But it's also the fastest-growing genre in streaming.

Look at Netflix alone, and we see that reality made up half of the top 10 new series. Now that's a category that barely crack the top 10 just a few years ago. So let's take a look at where it all started right here back in 1992.

[Video Presentation]

That's right. You've guessed it. We're kicking off Paramount + with the first reality series in the first reality house with the first reality cast of all time, back together for the first time in over three decades.

Now we've come a long way since the railroad. And as you've heard from Bob, we dominate the reality category today with over 5,000 episodes of some of the biggest hits. But what you might not know is how important reality is to sports fans.

So guess what sports fans are watching when they're not watching the biggest game? That's right. It's reality TV. And as you heard from George, sports is a key differentiator for us. And so reality will help drive new subs and it will help us to retain the existing subs that sports helps to bring in.

So we have all the biggest hits to help us do that from love and hip hop to Love Island from Drag Race to The Amazing Race from survivor to the challenge and of course from Big Brother to the big bros in Jersey Shore. And I'm excited to share with you today, a great new slate a Paramount+ originals using some of our biggest franchise IP, including The Challenge: All Stars, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, and a new series Queen of the Universe, which is this global search for the world's best new drag queen.

And of course there's Big Brother's 24 hour live feed and the red hot Love Island after show. Plus in addition to the real world, we're bringing back some of the most beloved reality franchises, exclusively for Paramount+ including Road Rules, Ink Master and Dating Naked. So let's take a look at why Paramount + will rule reality.

[Video Presentation]

It’s all great stuff and it’s all right here on Paramount+. And now, I like to turn it over to my colleague and friend, Brian Robbins, the President, Kids & Family Entertainment to tells about the amazing content, he and his team have in store for us on Paramount+.

[Video Presentation]

Brian Robbins

That video was just a quick Roll Call of some of Nickelodeon's greatest characters and global franchises, the engines that have kept this brand in first place with kids and families for 25 years straight. Shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, which is hands down, the most watched kid’s franchise there is.

PAW Patrol, the biggest preschool property on the planet with an unparalleled 97% awareness rate. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Henry danger, Dora, Blue's Clues and many more. These are franchises that audiences connect to and follow on every platform that we take them to.

From linear, we're number one with all the top 10 shows in every demo to digital like YouTube, where our channels like Nick Jr, our top 10 globally to music, gaming, consumer products and experiences, like our coverage of the NFL wild card game, which can entertain the whole family and capture the attention of the whole world.

And when you put it all together, the NIC brand is approaching absolute ubiquity with kids SU 211, along with the millions of nostalgic adults who grew up with our shows, and now want to share them with their own kids. So we know the audience is ready to follow us again, as we move to Paramount+. Kids are early adopters, and they've led the way with streaming.

Households with children subscribed to almost 40% more streaming services than those without. And once these families subscribe, they stay subscribed. So by using the power of our franchises, our deep connection with the audience and our significant reach, we're going to make Paramount+ a must have streaming service for kids and their families.

Now on one hand, we have our content library, 7,000 episodes of hit shows, in every genre kid’s love, including a powerhouse roster of curriculum driven, preschool hits, like Paw Patrol, Blaze, Dora and Diego, Blue's Clues and many more. And with our content, translated into more than 25 languages, were already set to fuel the services international expansion.

And now on the other hand, we're stocking Paramount+, with a growing slate of original productions, strategically built around our biggest and best franchises. Now we surveyed which are the most celebrated, the most requested and which holds the most creative possibilities and that has led us to produce the string of Reimagine Series starting with Avatar, The Last Airbender.

It's considered one of the greatest animated series of the last 30 years. Our hero's journey through a universe of myth and fantasy, with a dedicated fan base that is super size since the show's original run on Nickelodeon in 2008.

Now to satisfy the demand for more chapters of this franchise, we're now establishing Avatar studios, which will be led by the original creators with the goal to further develop this fantastic universe. Together, will produce all new series, short form content, spin-offs and theatrical films. It's an all out expansion of everything Avatar with Paramount+ at the core.

And then, there's SpongeBob, which in many ways is the centerpiece example of our strategy, pairing beloved library with brand new takes on beloved characters. SpongeBob is simply a property that wins on every platform. Number one on TV, in games and products, and ubiquitous on social media, where it's mentioned or made into a meme every five seconds. And yes, that is a real stat.

Paramount+ is already home to the complete SpongeBob library. In next month, we upped the ante with dual editions of the Sponge on the Run feature film, and the brand new series Camp Carl, where viewers will see SpongeBob in gorgeous CG animation and learn how he and his friends first met. Here's a clip.

[Video Presentation]

Also teed up for the second quarter of this year is an All-New Rugrats, the original Nic franchise that still holds a special place in almost every millennials childhood memories. The babies we all know in love are back with a new animation style and the original voice cast on board. And here's the very first sneak peek.

[Video Presentation]

Next on deck for the fall is the most successful kids' TV shows of all time, iCarly, a show that define its time, predicted a future of young internet creators and entrepreneurs and gave us Spaghetti Tacos. The new show has the same humor and focus on friendship. But now the characters are 10 years older and with much better track. Here's a message from the cast.

[Video Presentation]

Thanks, guys. Now coming in the near future, we also have a live action Dora, the Explorer series and the Navane the hit [ph] 2019 Paramount feature and a live action retelling of the Fairly OddParents, one of the longest running and most successful animated hits on Nickelodeon. But we'll finish out this year by literally taking the audience to the final frontier.

As you heard Alex Kurtzman mentioned earlier, with Star Trek: Prodigy, the team producing this impressive show is A-class. Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin along with the Hageman brothers, Ben Hibon and Nickelodeon are the first to make a Star Trek story for the kids and family audience.

It combines Nickelodeons fresh sensibility with the action and adventure that are the hallmarks of this incredible franchise with characters who are kids in an extraordinary situation, who have to work together to commandeer a star ship and explore a universe like no other you've ever seen before.

So all of this, Prodigy Rugrats, SpongeBob, iCarly, Dora, Fairly OddParents, Avatar and a vast library four decades in the making. This is just a test of the full pipeline for our new home base on Paramount+ and all of this is just the start. There is so much more to come. So, thank you.

Now here's Scott Mills, President of BET to share his plans.

Scott Mills

Black audiences have long been a key driver of the TV viewer ecosystem. They make up an outsize share of the viewing audience for virtually every major network. For the Black Community, television is the go to source for news, public affairs and entertainment. Contrary to prediction, the revolution is very much being televised.

In other words, black viewers are TV super consumers and when they tune in, they're looking for the very best of general entertainment and potentially relevant programs that speak to the black experience. BET was founded on this insight and we have flourished for 40 years by super serving our community with black stories that entertain and move us all.

Now, we're very excited to bring a robust array of traditional scripted and unscripted BET originals and library favorites to Paramount+ including our top library series like Being Mary Jane, Real Husbands of Hollywood and The Bobby Brown Story. But that’s not all, we're bringing exciting new originals series to the platform as well.

I brought a friend along to give you a sneak peak of his upcoming project, he is making exclusively for Paramount+.

Unidentified Company Representative

Thanks, Scott. I have to say, I did not realize what a beautiful man, you are. But maybe everyone else said anyway. My name is Kenya Barris and I'm a writer and producer, storyteller and for me when it comes to content the thing that interesting most is telling stories from new perspectives and from fresh noises.

Stories that expand how we see ourselves on screen, who we see ourselves as on screen and most importantly, who is telling the stories behind the screen. I could not be more thrilled to be joining the ViacomCBS family. I can't wait to share more about what we've got going in the works.

But today, however, today I'm here to make all my new partners [indiscernible] by telling you exactly how excited I am about Paramount+. That's why I think this is the perfect place to kick things off.

The first series I'll be involved with we are taking intimate look at contemporary relationships. We'll explore a sort of a complicated ever changing boundaries and some time lazy dynamics that have shaped and redefined what modern love is. It's customary for Paramount+. And I can't wait for you and the rest of the world to see it.

Now back to the beautiful Scott Mills.

Scott Mills

Thanks so much, Kenya. As Bob said earlier, ViacomCBS is the only media company to fully embrace an ecosystem, a free pay and premium streaming services with strong products in each. Each of these services has a dedicated audience and combining them allows us to serve a broad array of consumer needs.

You've heard all about the incredible content coming to Paramount+. Now I want to talk about our premium offerings starting with BET+. We launched BET+. BET is first ever standalone streaming service, 18 months ago. The enormous success we've seen already proves that Black Americans are also streaming super consumers.

BET+ has rapidly grown to nearly 1.5 million paid subscribers by delivering a unique and powerful combination of provocative and edgy originals from top black creators, fan favorite movies, beloved sitcoms and exclusive stage plays amounting to over 2,000 hours of popular culturally relevant content.

BET+ has great original series from star show runners like Tracy Oliver, who’s next season of the popular First Wives Club starring Jill Scott, hits the service in June. And the prolific Will Packer whose comedy series Bigger comes to BET+ plus in April with Tori Spelling adding a little drama. There's the brilliant Emmy Award winning, Lena Waithe, who's executive producing the scripted dramedy, Birth of Cool, which will debut later this year.

And last, but certainly not least we've got the one and only Mr. Tyler Perry, created of the top three original series for black consumers right now. His popular streaming series Ruthless is coming back to the service in April and his stage plate recently broke every viewing record on the service.

Not only does BET+ have Tyler's catalogue, one of the most valuable libraries of content and entertainment today, we have the man himself here to share more of what are we bringing next to BET+. Tyler, take it away.

Tyler Perry

Thanks, Scott. I am really thrilled with BET+ incredible growth, nearly, 1.5 million subscribers. We've clearly established BET+ as essential black streaming service, the service that black consumers buy to supplement general entertainment streaming services.

Listen, I began my career in this direct to consumer business so I know it well. I would go out on stage every night all over the country and as a result, I have been confident about the demand for our service since its inception because I know how much my audience, how much black consumers overall value and seek our great content anchored in our culture, and in our experiences.

BET+ is home to an extraordinary array of my content, including my movies, dramas, sitcoms and my stage plays. I'm most excited about the new original series I'm creating for BET+ including the second season of my breakout hit, this thing is huge on BET+. My drama there Ruthless, my comedy Bruh and Tyler Tyler Perry itself is working on a brand new show called All The Queens Men. And I can't wait to create even more, bring more great content for the BET+ viewers, as we continue our growth right through the roof.

Scott Mills

Thank you, Tyler. BET plusses premium content offering and powerful brand are already prominent beacons in the streaming marketplace. As such, they're the perfect complement to Paramount+ and Showtime, pairing BET+ with Paramount+ and Showtime gives us a unique opportunity to tailor packages to black super consumers, with BETs unbeatable array of targeted marketing platforms, partners and insights, we're able to aggressively market these packages to our audiences to drive acquisition across all three. We're going to super serve our viewers with the perfect combination, the very best general entertainment and culturally relevant content that can only be found in our ecosystem.

Next up, it's my pleasure to now bring out, David Nevins, Chief Creative Officer of CBS and Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks.

[Video Presentation]

David Nevins

A drunk roguish patriarch, a lesbian gallery owner turned candidate for LA Mayor, a brass sadomasochistic attorney, and a shrewd relentlessly calculating hedge fund king, iconic characters shape our culture. They captivate, they fascinate, they elevate, they take risks, they make you say, I can't believe they just did that. They're not only thrilling to watch, they move us, and they change the way we think about each other, and the world. They define our most interesting conversations.

So when we talk about culture, really we're talking about characters with unique voices and Showtime is their home. For 30 years, Showtime has been at the forefront of storytelling. Our stories, our characters and our content, push the culture forward.

Our viewers have the cultural omnivores who want to be a part of the conversation, the adventure seekers who aren't afraid to be challenged, their consumers who want a provocative experience that they've heard about, and they won't be able to find anywhere else.

This unique segment is why we at ViacomCBS believe in the broader strategy of carving out lanes. Some viewers will want the free content on Pluto, some will want the broad offerings on Paramount+ and some will want the premium entertainment offerings on Showtime.

People are used to paying for premium Showtime content, and we are proving our value to consumers every day. That's why Showtime has grown streaming subscribers so dramatically the past few years. The fact is, the brands matter and Showtime stands out is the only pure play premium service for sophisticated, surprising culture moving content.

We've got entertaining, compelling docu series like The Circus, VISE and Couples Therapy, decade defining shows like Billions, Shameless and The Chi and the premier combat sports line-up in America with premium boxing and MMA events throughout the year.

So let me tell you about a few of the upcoming projects that we're so excited about. From the incredible director Susanne Bier who created the Night Manager and The Undoing comes the First Lady, featuring actors as powerful as the women they portray, with Viola Davis playing Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford, and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Think of it as the crown for America. Moving from the east wing to the hills of Western Pennsylvania, our new series American Rust starring Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney explores the elusive American Dream through a compromised chief of police. It's a compelling murder mystery that's going to grip audiences and strike right at the heart of some of today's most important conversations.

And then there's Yellowjackets. It's the story of a girl's High School soccer team who's playing goes down in the Canadian wilderness, equal parts survival epic, psychological horror story and coming of middle age melodrama Yellowjackets stars Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, and Melanie Lynskey as the grown up women who must come to grips with what they had to do to survive. Take a look.

[Video Presentation]

Oscar winner Steve Zaillian is writing and directing Ripley, a thrilling multi season TV series based on the great novels by Patricia Highsmith that also inspired the hit movie. Ripley will be played by Andrew Scott, best known as the hot priests from Fleabag. It's a premium psychological drama shot in some of the most iconic locations around the world. Also, who said iconic characters had to be made up. Showtime has built a reputation for incredible documentaries. Here's a preview of our upcoming slate.

[Video Presentation]

In comedy, we couldn't be more excited about the Curse. This is the ultimate collaboration between Oscar Winner Emma Stone, Satiric Genius Nathan Fielder and boundary pushing filmmakers the Safdie Brothers of Uncut Gems fame. Starring Emma, Nathan and set against the backdrop of a cable home flipping show, the Curse keenly satirizes the performative aspects of white liberalism Run Amok.

Next, we're bringing back an old favorite in a big way. The famous fixture, Ray Donovan will return to Showtime, this time in a feature length movie. We're thrilled that Liev Schreiber’s back to wrap-up the show, while setting us up for a potential movie franchise.

And speaking of Favorites coming back in a big way, the pandemic of 2020 meant the last season of Billions got cut short. But last year's loss is this year's gain. We're coming back with 18 power-packed episodes of this culture defining show. Take a look.

[Video Presentation]

Oh yeah, one more thing. We do have one more treat for Showtime subscribers, but I'll let him speak for himself.

Unidentified Company Representative

Late of original programming and with even more coming beyond what we're able to preview today. Showtime will be offering the premium content that's going to define 2021. And it's all going to pair perfectly with Paramount+ and Pluto. To say more about Pluto and our commitment to free ad supported TV, I'd like to welcome back, Tom Ryan.

Tom Ryan

As you've just seen, we're set up for big success in paid and premium streaming. We’re also on course to dominate the free streaming world, a hugely exciting opportunity in itself, and one that allows all of our products to work together in a unified streaming strategy that's greater than the sum of its parts.

When my co-founders and I launched Pluto TV nearly seven years ago, we led with linear interest based channels, at a time when everybody was moving to on-demand. We wanted Pluto to be totally free in the age of paid subscription and supported by ads, when everybody said consumers wouldn't watch ads anymore. And it's clear that those contrarian instincts are paying off.

Pluto TV hasn't just proven our skeptics wrong, we pioneered a new category and now we're one of the leading free streaming television services, with over 43 million global monthly active users. We're available anywhere you stream on mobile, desktop and connected TV.

And Pluto TV is not only distributed as an app, through innovative partnerships with Samsung, LG, Amazon, Verizon, TiVo and Vizio. We've already integrated Pluto directly into over 100 million devices. And we're on pace to extend this integrated partnership portfolio to 200 million devices globally, this year.

This gives us by far the largest distribution footprint in our category. We meet viewers and advertisers where they want to be. In the streaming living room, on connected TVs and our ad partners love Pluto, because we offer the best of both worlds.

The efficient targeting of digital, with the brand building and storytelling of traditional TV, and we're not just growing domestically. From day one Pluto's mission has been to entertain the planet. And we are well on our way, scaling rapidly in 25 countries across Europe and Latin America. We'll have more to say about our international strategy, a bit later.

At a time when choosing what to watch too often feels like work. When you're paralyzed by the Paradox of Choice Pluto makes enjoying great entertainment, easy, fun, and intuitive, with more than 150,000 hours of high quality programming, from 400 global content partners spanning news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle and more all hand curated into 100s of channels, plus 1,000s of shows and movies on demand. Pluto TV really does have something for everyone.

TV lovers can watch hits like the Walking Dead, narcos and RuPaul's Drag Race, or classics like, Three's Company. Happy Days and The Love Boat sports fans can watch channels from the NFL, Major League Soccer, the PGA Tour, and launching soon, Major League Baseball.

News junkies can stay up to speed on CBSN, CNN, Bloomberg, and NBC News Now. And Spanish language viewers will find a wide selection of programming that understands and serves the US Hispanic Community in all its diversity, across cultures and generations.

In May, we'll re-launch our USH category with nearly double the offerings of our closest competitor in this space, curated into a dozen re-branded channels and 14 new ones, for a total of over 40 channels in Español, including kids and music.

Our secret weapon is our team of human curators, each programming what they're passionate about, like the XMMA fighter who programs all of our fight channels, or the stand-up comedian who programs, our comedy channels, or the movie buff, who selects films for our cinema classics channel. Pluto TV really is a whole world of entertainment. And it just keeps getting better with more great content on the way.

[Video Presentation]

Now Pluto's category leadership in free streaming TV is hugely exciting in itself, but it's even more exciting when you see how it helps us create something we call the super funnel. I know that sounds like something from a Nickelodeon game show. But actually it's an incredibly powerful way to expand our paid streaming audience because of ViacomCBS is enormous reach, we can ensure that we're there for you in every place you experience content.

We're there for you on linear TV where we have the number one broadcast and cable networks across all demographics in the US. We're there for you on social media, where we are ranked number one in total video views among major media companies. And of course, we're there for you on free streaming, where Pluto is the number one free ad supported television service in the country.

Through all of these touch points we expand the funnels base. And once we have people's attention, we keep demonstrating the value of our subscription services. How? The key here can be found in a line you heard earlier, from the Paramount classic, The Godfather. We keep making them offers they can't refuse.

Take Pluto, which offers particularly valuable opportunities for discovery, sampling and upsell into our paid services. With Pluto's free linear experience we can effortlessly introduce tens of millions of viewers to the amazing content we've highlighted today. Viewers drop in anytime and discover a pilot episode of the stand, or past season episodes of NCIS before a new season debut. Once they're hooked. We offer a trial subscription for more.

For example, a few months ago, we launched a channel called Showtime Selects where viewers can watch select episodes of hit Showtime series for free. After they've watched, we tell them how to find more great episodes by subscribing to Showtime. Eventually, users will be able to click right out of the Pluto service to immediately begin their Showtime subscription. Already the channel has been an enormous success.

The first episode of Your Honor, saw more sampling on Pluto than it did on YouTube. So you can bet we're going to be launching a channel like this for Paramount + too, and doing everything that we can to make sure that Pluto viewers are watching it.

These channels on Pluto TV are just one example on linear, online and everywhere. We'll keep putting out content that appeals to all kinds of people. And then funnel these viewers into our subscription services through offer so good, they can't refuse. So the super funnel is one major competitive advantage that Paramount+ will have over the competition from day one.

And there are two other big strengths, we expect to supercharge growth. For one, we will launch with near universal awareness of the Paramount brand. I think it's a good sign that I don't have to tell you much about the Paramount+ marketing campaign, because the statistics suggest, you've already seen it.

Our ad campaign reached new heights. When nearly 100 million people tuned into the Super Bowl this year, and saw our iconic talent from Patrick Stewart, and Christine Baranski, Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants summit Paramount mountain, their new streaming home.

This TV campaign is being accompanied by an incredible social media and digital blitz from the entire ViacomCBS enterprise. All together, our ad campaign is projected to reaching outstanding 95% of Americans aged 25 to 54.

And two, Paramount+ will have near universal distribution. As I mentioned, Pluto's powerful distribution strategy provided the foundation for remarkable growth. And we have deep relationships with virtually every major distribution partner across our business, mutually beneficial relationships, we've been cultivating for years.

The combination of Pluto Showtime, BET+ and now Paramount+ creates a uniquely valuable portfolio for our partners. So again, we're talking about near universal awareness and near universal distribution. I think we can all agree that's a great place to start. And to quote a line from a CBS Classic, The Price Is Right.

Starting this June, Paramount+, we'll have to two pricing tiers. First, a base ad supported tier that still offers the full spectrum of the Paramount+ experience. For live sports, subscribers on our base tier will get the NFL, UEFA, National Woman Soccer League and more to come.

For breaking news, they'll get CBSN, an on-demand videos from CBS news. And for their mountain of entertainment, they'll get the full breadth of Paramount+ originals, Paramount movies, a massive portion of the ViacomCBS library and current seasons of CBS shows, and all for 499 a month, an incredible value.

Subscribers on our premium tier will get a commercial free viewing experience. Their live sports will be supplemented by even more CBS Sports. Their news will be enriched by Live CBS news feeds including local feeds from around the country.

And their mountain of entertainment will get even taller with the full Live CBS TV experience at their fingertips. It's everything we know consumers want in a streaming experience, plus some things that they’ll soon discover that they want, and all for 999.

Even better we will be offering consumers the chance to bundle Paramount+ with our premium offerings for an even better deal on ViacomCBS content. Our goal is to create a frictionless experience with an integrated ecosystem of services available to users.

For example, we plan to add an integrated upsell where subscribers can easily add showtime content to their Paramount+ experience. This way we have distinct products that stand for something and can succeed in their own lane, but it's incredibly simple for users to combine them however they see fit.

That's why we call this an ecosystem. In nature different parts of an ecosystem carve out their own niche, their own particular strategy for success. But each one of an ecosystems elements also works together with the rest promoting the health of the whole. That's exactly what we hope to create with our streaming services and we can't wait to see them thrive.

And now, let me introduce our President of International Streaming, Kelly Day to talk us through our global launch.

[Video Presentation]

Kelly Day

Thanks, Tom. 95% of the world's population, 7.5 billion people live outside the US. The International opportunity and streaming is massive. Let's start with Pluto. Since ViacomCBS acquired Pluto and began expanding outside the US, our monthly active user growth has gone through the roof.

In 2020 with growth in the UK and Germany, as well as new launches in Latin America and Spain our international monthly active users jumped from 1 million to 13 million. This year with Pluto's expansion in France and Italy, we expect that incredible growth to continue.

The SVOD space is still early in international markets. We expect over 350 million new subscriptions to come online in the next 3 years, giving us a lot of room to grow. With Paramount+, we have a four prong strategy to meet this global opportunity.

First, we start with a truly global brand. An average of 91% of people in key markets we tested know the Paramount brand and 96% have a positive association with it. Around the globe, the Paramount brand means premium content, blockbuster films and must see TV.

Second, we deliver a powerful mix of global and local content that lives up to that storied reputation. Internationally, Paramount+ will be the home of Paramount movies with select first run movies in certain markets, as well as some of the world's biggest scripted dramas from Showtime, CBS studios and others.

This new service will feature many of the exciting Paramount+ series you've heard about today, including originals such as the Man Who Fell to Earth, Halo, and Kamp Koral, as well as fan favorites like NCIS.

Paramount+ will also be the international home to many of the fantastic Showtime titles, you just heard about, including new ads like the First Lady and American Rust, as well as classics such as Dexter and Billions.

You'll also see widely acclaimed dramas from third party studios in select markets, including award winning shows like The Handmaid's Tale, and Killing Eve, and local formats of some of MTVs biggest global reality franchises, such as Acapulco shore and Are You the One? Brasil. All of these will be available to international consumers as part of a single subscription. Here's a quick look.

[Video Presentation]

Offering this unparalleled collection of global content is key to our strategy, and through ViacomCBS international studios, we're also working closely with top global content creators to ensure we have a robust offering of premium scripted local dramas.

These include, the envoys a supernatural thriller Produced with Academy Award winning director and screenwriter, Juan Jose Campanella, Cecilia, a female lead drama from renowned Argentine writer and director, Daniel Berman. And Last King of the Cross, an organized crime drama based on the best selling autobiography, by John Ibrahim will premiere all of these in 2021 with record coming 2022.

The third pillar of our strategy is to provide this premium content experience at a value price point, creating a must have service. That's why all of this incredible content from Paramount, Showtime, and our global content creators will come at a considerably lower price than competitors in each market.

Finally, we're leveraging the massive global reach of ViacomCBS to distribute this service. We have a deep history of relationships with MVPDs and Telco partners in every major market around the world. And we are thrilled to announce that our service will have broad distribution across dozens of platforms in Latin America, and the Nordics in addition to our direct to consumer distribution.

Paramount+ will also be made available internationally through our global relationships with major platform partners such as Apple, Amazon, and Google. With a universally recognized brand, and unparalleled collection of local and global content offerings, a value price point, and a massive network of distributors, we are well positioned for rapid growth.

So on the same day, we launched in the US will launch in all Latin American markets and in Canada. Just a few weeks after that will launch in the Nordics. And then later this year will launch in Australia. And this is just the beginning. We'll have more markets and more exciting growth opportunities coming soon.

And now to hear more about our growth, both in streaming and across our enterprise, let me introduce Executive Vice President and CFO, Naveen Chopra.

Naveen Chopra

Thanks, Kelly. We began 2020 with a clear path forward, unlock the power of the combined company, build strong operating momentum, and accelerate our streaming strategy. And that's exactly what we did.

And while we were at it, we improved operational efficiency. We strengthened our position in distribution and advertising. And during today's presentation, Bob, Tom and leaders from across the company have provided a sweeping view of the content powerhouse that will drive our streaming services.

I'm excited to share a financial perspective on the streaming future of ViacomCBS. But first, I'd like to take a few minutes to quantify some of our recent progress by reviewing our Q4 results, and sharing a brief look ahead to Q1.

Our consistent focus on value creation is evident in our Q4 results, where total company revenue was $6.9 billion, up 3% year-over-year, adjusted OIBDA was $1.2 billion, up 5% year-over-year, and adjusted diluted EPS was $1.04 up 13% year-over-year.

Looking more closely at our revenue performance in the quarter, advertising revenue grew 4% year-over-year, driven by an acceleration in streaming advertising growth and strength in political. Notably, advertising revenue growth in the quarter improved significantly versus the 6% decline we experienced in Q3.

Affiliate revenue grew 13% year-on-year in Q4, and acceleration compared to our Q3 growth rate of 10%. The growth in total company affiliate revenue reflects the benefit of distribution renewals that included incremental carriage and improved economics, as well as strength in domestic streaming subscription revenue, which grew 74% in the quarter. Of course, today is all about streaming and there we finished Q4 on a high note with significant growth in subscribers for CBS All Access and Showtime OTT.

In fact, it was a record quarter for both services in terms of new signups. We ended 2020 with 19.2 million domestic streaming subscribers, up 71% year-over-year. In the domestic free ad supported streaming TV market, Pluto continues to be the leader. We closed Q4 with 30.1 Pluto TV MA used domestically and 43.1 million globally. Moreover, based on publicly available information, Pluto TV is not only the leader in MAUs, but also leads in total viewing hours and revenue.

Continued momentum in subscriber and MAU acquisition translated to strong year-on-year growth in domestic streaming and digital video revenue of 72%, and acceleration from Q3’s 56%. That equates to a domestic annual run rate of nearly $3.4 billion and highlights the power of combining ad-supported and subscription models in our streaming businesses.

And lastly on Q4, I would point out that as expected. Production ramping led to negative adjusted free cash flow in the quarter of $342 million still adjusted free cash flow for the year finished at $2.5 billion, and we ended the year with $3 billion of cash and equivalents on our balance sheet.

Before sharing thoughts on what do we expect Q1, I want to highlight some changes we're making in our financial disclosures. In light of our increasing focus on streaming, we're adding streaming as a specific revenue type in both our consolidated results and our segment reporting.

Streaming revenue includes global subscription fees and advertising revenue generated by our streaming services, including Paramount+, Showtime OTT, BET+ and Pluto TV, as well as advertising and subscriptions for our other digital video products.

And now, you can see exactly where and how these revenues contribute to our operating segments. Today on our website, we published trending schedules with quarterly and annual data for 2019 and 2020 in this new format. So you can clearly compare our historical results with future reporting.

We're also changing our domestic only metrics to global metrics for subscribers and Pluto MAUs. For example, now that we're reporting global numbers, streaming subscribers as of the end of Q4 are 29.9 million rather than 19.2 million of domestic only subscribers, based on our previous method of reporting. We'll be reporting under this new format, going forward.

We will also be breaking global streaming revenue into its components, so you can see exactly how much of our streaming growth comes from advertising and how much is driven by subscription revenue.

For example, as you can see for the full year 2020, streaming ad revenue grew 41% to $1.4 billion. While streaming subscription revenue grew 61% to 1.1 billion. I would also note that as a result of this change, our advertising and affiliate revenue types have been recast to remove streaming related revenue.

With those changes in mind, let's talk about Q1. First, on advertising, which now excludes streaming advertising revenue, we expect Q1 advertising growth will materially benefit from Super Bowl 55 and the return of the NCAA men's basketball tournament which, as you know, did not occur in the prior year period.

For affiliate revenue, which now excludes streaming subscription revenue, we had a productive year in 2020, with several new distribution deals signed. These renewals will continue to benefit our affiliate growth rates as we enter 2021.

Turning to our streaming outlook, we expect continued robust growth in total streaming revenue with the Q1 growth rate in streaming subscription revenue expected to be similar to what we experienced in Q4.

And we're off to a strong start. Super Bowl Sunday delivered a record breaking day on CBS All Access in terms of new subscribers signups, streams and time spent. In fact, signups surpassed prior single day records by 138%. And time spent on All Access across platforms, surpassed prior records by 92%.

Beyond Q1, we have even more to look forward to with our expanded streaming ecosystem. And thanks to how far we've already climbed, we think the view is inspiring. We finished 2020 with 2.6 billion in global streaming subscription, and streaming advertising revenue and an annual run rate of 3.6 billion. And we're not stopping here.

Our progress in 2020 exceeded our expectations. But our ambitions, reach even further. In fact, our goal is to grow streaming revenue to north of 7 billion, by the end of 2024. This represents an approximately 30% compound annual growth rate over that time period.

So let me tell you how each of our free, pay and premium components will contribute to this goal, starting with free streaming TV. Here, ViacomCBS doesn't just have a strong foundation, with a category leader in Pluto TV.

What's more, the free ad supported streaming TV or fast market is arguably still in its infancy. It's expected to grow to more than $50 billion, globally, over the next four years. We expect to play a major role in accelerating this trend with continued MAU growth, international expansion and improvements in monetization.

By the end of 2024, we expect Pluto TV, to have between 100 million and 120 million monthly active users around the globe. We know a large portion of them will be connected TV users, because today, these viewers are the dominant source of viewing hours on Pluto TV.

In fact, in 2020, connected TV users represented 86% of total Pluto viewing hours. These are the Pluto TV users who have been rewarding us with longer sessions, more total watch time and stronger program completion metrics, all things that fuel Pluto's advertising revenue growth.

And as a result of more people spending more time with us, attracting more advertisers Pluto TV has enjoyed significant ARPU growth, which we intend to improve even further.

Both, Pluto TV and the base tier of Paramount+ are components of our broader, IQ digital advertising platform, which also includes digital video inventory from brands specific streaming sites like CBSN, BET, MTV Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Through IQ, advertisers can reach 50 million full episode monthly unique viewers in the United States alone. And we're proud to be launching Paramount+, with a select group of brand sponsors, leading global brands like, General Motors and Expedia. Each will have an unparalleled access to this audience, and a unique opportunity to surround our beloved content from all angles, from video, to custom-creative, to social.

So we have a great opportunity before us in streaming advertising. And we have an even greater opportunity to leverage our linked ecosystem to grow streaming subscribers.

In the pay and premium space, ViacomCBS has nearly tripled its global subscriber base in the last 2 years, and more than doubled streaming subscription revenue. This is just the beginning because we're launching Paramount+ into a new era of broader streaming growth.

The number of streaming services, the typical US household pays for continues to increase. A few years ago, it was one to two paid subscriptions. In 2019, it was two to three, now it's three to four, and trending toward five. Already half of US households have more than three. And we believe this number will grow as new services like Paramount+ come to market with streaming propositions that have not yet been available to consumers.

It's one more reason, we're excited about the combination of live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment. Step back and look at the bigger picture of this massive, growing, global market.

The number of SVOD subscriptions is expected to climb to more than 1.1 billion by 2025 with revenue topping 100 billion. ViacomCBS has the world class studios, the massive library, the broad distribution, the beloved brands and local resources and relationships around the globe to capitalize on this opportunity.

We've set a goal of achieving 65 to 75 million global streaming subscribers by the end of 2024. The vast majority of this subscriber growth will come from Paramount+, both domestically and internationally. This year alone, Paramount+ will debut 36 Original Series in addition to a library with over 30,000 TV episodes, and more than 2500 movies.

I'm personally looking forward to many of the great originals coming to Paramount+ from the offer to Trevor Noah’s weekly show and the Yellowstone spin-off to name a few. And we're putting all of this and more right at consumers fingertips at the price that's right for them.

The premium tier at 999 launches on March 4th in the United States and the ad-supported base tier at 499 launches in June. The 499 tier Paramount+ will have live sports, including NFL games, soccer and more. It has breaking news through CBSN. And of course, a mountain of entertainment, with all Paramount+ originals and the full suite of current, and library CBS shows available on demand within 24 hours post airing.

By removing the live linear fee from our lowest cost tier, we gained flexibility to bundle and package Paramount+ for a variety of distribution partners. We're looking forward to sharing more details about our partner distribution strategy when the new tier launches.

And as Kelly highlighted, Paramount+ will be available in several international regions at a very compelling price point, relative to competing alternatives in each market, no matter which option consumers choose. Over time, we expect the combination of advertising and subscription revenue to generate incremental value, every time we attract a new Paramount+ viewer, even if that viewer has cut the cord and switched entirely to streaming.

As we pursue the streaming opportunity, we will invest aggressively in content to support our growth. Across our portfolio of services, we expect streaming thinking to grow to at least $5 billion by 2024. This number includes content created exclusive for streaming service, and an allocation for highly valuable content assets, distributed on both streaming and traditional platforms, including linear television and theatrical.

It represents an increase of approximately 4 billion to our 2020 streaming content expense realized through a combination of incremental spend and reallocation of linear content spend.

And frankly, we may accelerate the pace of reallocation, if we exceed our early goals for subscriber and revenue growth. We're thrilled consumers will be able to find all of this must watch content in one place, with live sports, breaking news and mountain of entertainment, we're bringing customers a streaming service like none other. This is the promise of Paramount+ and the power of ViacomCBS to deliver continued growth to investors over the long-term.

Thank you for joining us. But don't leave a lot quite yet. Before the Q&A portion begins, I'd like to turn it over to a special guest. The host of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Stephen Colbert?

Stephen Colbert

Thank you, Naveen. Hey, everybody. And thanks for being here for today's ViacomCBS streaming event. I've been invited to talk about the company's future and the exciting things in store for our viewers.

As you all might have noticed 2020 was a bit of a challenge, but the silver lining is that right now people are watching more television than ever. In fact, I'm watching Blue Bloods, while I tape this. Tom Selleck, don’t let Donny Wahlberg walk down that dark alley. He is your son. Being a policeman is in your blood. That’s why it’s blue. I'm sorry, I'm just invested. Save your mustache.

To recap, today we talked about what makes ViacomCBS unique, namely that we are the only media company to fully embrace an ecosystem of free, pay and premium streaming services. It's a far cry from the limited entertainment options of my childhood, which were Gilligan's Island and Watergate hearings, great crossover episode though, when Committee Chairman, Sam Ervin made a subpoena out of coconuts.

No matter what people are looking for, we’ve got the service for them as long as they're looking to stream TV. If they're looking for something else like a socket wrench set, try hardware store or something. I don't know.

Take our new service. Paramount+, it's amazing and way more user friendly than my idea. Paramount squareroot. Paramount+ is the only paid streaming service to combine a mountain of entertainment like the offer, the rugrats reboot and the real world reunion.

Are you guys sure you want to return to the real world, because the real world is a bit of a garbage fire right now. Now, Paramount+ has breaking news and live sports like the PGA Tour, The NFL, Champions League, Soccer and March Madness. But if you want to avoid any mention of sports whatsoever, it also carries the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, you know, our motto is Dungeons and Dragons of sport.

ViacomCBS also offers a free streaming service Pluto TV loaded with top notch content, all to fulfill one mission to entertain the planet. Although, I do have one question which planet? Because they named it after Pluto, which Neil deGrasse Tyson says, isn't even a planet anymore. Damn you, Tyson. That's our business model.

And last, but certainly not least, ViacomCBS offers Showtime with programs like Desus and Mero, Billions and Ray Donovan plus combat sports like Boxing and MMA and industry secret. If you turn on showtime at 3:00 AM, you can watch Ray Donovan fight SpongeBob in a parking lot, cross platform synergy. That's what this means.

On top of all that ViacomCBS uses its massive reach across social, digital, linear and streaming to give audiences what they want and then direct them to even more within its platforms and streaming services is like a cruise ship buffet, folks can load their plates with béarnaise, [Indiscernible] a stir fried chicken fingers and popcorn shrimp. Then once we got him there. We're like, how about hitting the chocolate fountain and the unlimited Sheldon bar. Anyway, thank you again for coming.

Now please welcome Bob Bakish, Naveen Chopra, Tom Ryan and Anthony DiClemente, who will take questions from investors. You know, you guys will talk about the Dow. You won't believe how many Dow units we have. Right now, so many Dow's tell them all the Dow points we want Bob.

Anthony DiClemente

Thanks, Stephen. Good evening everyone. Sorry for the late start tonight. I had traffic on the 101 was a little bit worse than expected, but thanks for staying with us. I'm Anthony DiClemente, EVP of Investor Relations at ViacomCBS. And with me on stage for a Q&A session is Bob Bakish, our CEO, Naveen Chopra, our CFO, and Tom Ryan, President and CEO of Streaming. We’re going to spend the next 30 minutes answering questions. Our analysts are joining us by zoom. [Operator Instructions]

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

With that, we can now open the line. Our first question comes from Alexia Quadrani at JPMorgan. Alexia, please go ahead.

Alexia Quadrani

Thank you. Can you hear me? I just wanted to clarify - I wanted to clarify a couple of things and ask a question. I guess my main question is really on the windowing. I think Jim has spent a couple of minutes talking about how they were - some movies are going direct to theaters and then they were going to go to Paramount+ after 45 days.

I'm curious if that is a universal decision or is it really noted, movie by movie, and you will then - you contract with movie [ph] or is that something you're going to do across the board when you're looking at Paramount+.

And then I just wanted to follow up on two other really small claims that you mentioned, if you could talk about whether or not you'll be breaking out Showtime as the sub separately. Or if you'll give us domestic versus global as well?

Bob Bakish

Sure, Alexia, it’s Bob. Let me take the first part of your question. So we're very excited about the film offering we're bringing to consumers under Paramount+. It's multifaceted and robust. Part of that, offering is enabled by us getting access to the Paramount pay one product through this new deal we have with Epix.

We will basically have two different models there, there'll be a subset of titles, including A Quiet Place: Part II, and Mission Impossible 7 in 2021 and then there'll be additional titles in '22 and' 23. Those titles will have a short theatrical run - exclusive theatrical run where they will go 45 days and then on day, 45 will go to Paramount+, where they will reside for a while and then later on Epix will pick them up. There'll be another set of titles where Epix has them first, the window won't be quite that short, and then Paramount will pick them up.

We do believe two things. We believe in the value of the actual, particularly for pictures like a Mission Impossible or a Top Gun, really big screen experiences. But we also believe that consumer is interested in titles earlier on streaming and we believe that's important proposition for us to supply. So, that is the direction we're going, and we think it's going to work out well.

Naveen, you want the other two points?

Naveen Chopra

Sure. So in terms of the breakdown between services and then domestic versus international, we're not planning to break each of our services apart in our future reporting. However, I would tell you that, we do expect Paramount+ will be the primary driver of subscriber growth going forward.

And in terms of domestic versus global, we really look at streaming as a global opportunity. And so we'll be reporting both our advertising revenues, as well as subscription on a global basis going forward.

Anthony DiClemente

Thanks, Alexia. We'll take our next question from Mike Morris at Guggenheim Securities. Mike, go ahead.

Mike Morris

Hey. Thank you, Anthony and thank you guys for the presentation, all the details. I'm curious, with respect to that long-term guidance you gave and looking to 2024, if you could share any thoughts on sort of the trajectory to achieve that both on the subscriber side, and also on the financial side you expect it to be straight line, is it something that's faster, early, or kind of ramps up. I'm curious how you're thinking about that?

And then, on the content investment side, we understand the growth that you laid out from 1 billion to the 5 billion. I'm also curious about how you think about the licensing revenue that's been a strong part of the business for quite a long time.

As you think about the future is there, should we think about some contraction to that revenue stream, as you allocate more internally or any thoughts that you have on how that pace is would be great? Thank you.

Naveen Chopra

I'll start on the pacing of the growth. I want to remind you that, we talked about achieving 65 million to 75 million SVOD subscribers by 2024, by the end of 2024 and 100 million to 120 million global Pluto MAUs and $7 billion in revenue. We're already - we got a ton of momentum toward those goals finishing 2020 with 3.6 billion run rate of streaming revenue.

And we expect that there will be significant growth along the way. We did not provide an annual breakdown because there will be parts where we might enter into certain new deals or launch certain content that could make it - be a little spiky here and there. But we do think that we'll continue to make progress both in 2021 and in the subsequent years. Bob you won't take the…

Bob Bakish

Yeah. So look, on the content licensing side, if you look at ViacomCBS, we're obviously a powerhouse content producer from an original standpoint and have broad and deep libraries to back that up. We've long been in the content licensing business. But as we've scaled our streaming trajectory, particularly on the pay side, what you've seen us do is lean more towards the streaming side, particularly when it comes towards franchises and IP, and if you watch what we presented today, you see franchise originals really across the board in all the genres that we're bringing to Paramount+, we believe that's critical to attracting subscribers and we believe that links very well to library.

Now, as we do that, we pick up more internal licensing versus third-party licensing. In addition, we obviously are rolling Paramount+ out globally. There we have specific countries that we have announced, then we have a specific plan beyond that going forward. And as we go to pay O&O streaming in a country, whether that Latin America or Australia or the Nordics that we've already announced, or other countries down the road, you'll see us pickup what might have been prior output deals, and then have them go to more in-house output deals, that's certainly what's going on in the launch countries, including with respect to Showtime, because Showtime product will be Paramount+ outside the US.

So yeah, that poses a change in composition of the business, but it doesn't mean we're exiting the business. We still like the business. It does provide some attractive financial characteristics, as well as being an important platform for franchise development. So for example, you saw us bringing a new version of iCarly to Paramount+ this year as part of our kids offering.

We do have prior seasons of the original iCarly available today on a large streamer and we think that helps with franchise development. So hopefully that helps you understand the trajectory we're going down.

Anthony DiClemente

Great. Thanks a lot, Mike. Our next question will come from Brett Feldman at Goldman Sachs. Brett, please go ahead.

Brett Feldman

Yeah. Thanks for taking the question. I know that you are going to be giving us more details on your domestic distribution partners as you roll out the entry level plan later this year. But I was hoping maybe you could talk broadly about the role you expect third-party distributors to play in expanding the reach of the service.

I'm also particularly interested in how you think MVPDs could be meaningful partners because on the one hand, your services probably very appealing to the cable companies broadband bases, on the other hand, it could theoretically simulate additional cord cutting? Thank you.

Bob Bakish

Yeah, Bret, let me hop in here, this is Bob, because if you look at the history of Viacom, particularly Viacom Legacy, what you see is over the last four years, we've substantially grown our book-of-business and diversified our book-of-business with in particular MVPDs.

And what I mean by that is, we're not only licensing linear feeds, but we're also engaged in advanced ad partnerships, and more recently licensing apps, whether those are free apps, like Pluto, or paid apps like at the time CBS All Access. And that's really all about being a multifaceted and more important content supplier. We've found that works particularly well, particularly as those entities build our broadband distribution.

So, we like being a valued content player to a broad range of distributors. That's very much, our strategy, and certainly will be so as we roll out Paramount+. Maybe Tom, you want to add a little more there.

Tom Ryan

Yeah. So, thanks. We're certainly in discussions right now with a number of different partners about how we can expand the distribution for Paramount+. Pluto is a very widely distributed service. Paramount or CBS All Access has been a very widely distributed service, and we're in discussions about how we can accelerate the distribution of Paramount+ as it rolls out.

As Naveen mentioned in his remarks, the 499 tier which rolls out in June gives us much greater flexibility and how we go about providing promotional distribution with partners. And so we'll have more to announce on that. We really are just getting started. So, stay tuned.

Anthony DiClemente

Great. Thanks a lot, Brett. Let's take our next question from Ben Swinburne at Morgan Stanley. Go ahead, Ben.

Ben Swinburne

Thanks. Can you hear me, Anthony?

Anthony DiClemente

Yeah. We can hear you well.

Ben Swinburne

Great. Thanks, guys. Bob, when I look at your streaming forecast, particularly on the subscriber side, it's basically I think 10 million a year or so on average. I'm just wondering how much of an opportunity is it to use the three different products, I guess this is a US question, to drive growth?

In other words, you've had these products in the market for some time. But are there opportunities that you can take advantage of that you haven't yet taken advantage of, to sort of cross promote. I noticed, you didn't talk about sort of a ViacomCBS bundle across all these with a bundle of price, just wondered if you can talk a little bit about your opportunities there.

And then Naveen, I know you probably want to answer this, but I wanted to take a shot. As we think about the whole company's EBITDA outlook. Should we expect growth after 2021, as you scale this business, I mean $7 billion plus of revenues substantial, is 2021 sort of the peak investment year and you'll start to get some benefits across the entire ViacomCBS company over time? Anything you could tell us about the EBITDA outlook for the business would be great. Thanks, guys.

Bob Bakish

Yeah. So, sure, let me start, so for about a year now, I've been talking about a streaming ecosystem that crosses free, pay and premium. And that is not just because we believe there were three lanes there. We do obviously. But it's really because we believe, that that creates an opportunity that can collectively create value.

So for example, using our free service Pluto, as a funnel to not only attract MAUs that we can generate ad revenue from, but also to up-sell them. And we've recently done that with a Showtime channel, which actually proved that it was a better up-sell channel than in fact in terms of attracting subscribers, then YouTube.

We also have bundled some of our products. So, in the case of Showtime OTT and CBS All Access we created a combined bundle at a discounted price and so that through an over the top distributor also to great effect.

So, absolutely, there are opportunities to create value. And Tom, and I'll turn it to Tom next, he is working on a more seamless version of this ecosystem, which we believe would create even better value in the form of lowering acquisition costs, managing churn, increasing lifetime value.

So, yeah, we think the ecosystem is a really powerful concept. And that's why we're so focused on it. Tom?

Tom Ryan

Yeah. So as Bob said, we've been working on the up-sell opportunities within our free ecosystem now for the better part of the year. We've been having increasingly more effective and exciting results. Bob mentioned, the Showtime selects opportunity that where we spun up a channel on Pluto TV, driving more impressions for Showtime than the same viewership did on YouTube.

And we're doing the same. We've been doing the same thing on CBS All Access, and of course we'll be launching a similar channel for Paramount+. However, the super funnel really allows us to take advantage of different parts of our system, not just our number one free ad supported streaming TV service and Pluto TV, but our number one reach in linear television across all demographics and our number one spot in digital. So we see big opportunities for bundles going forward. We'll have more to announce on that soon.

Naveen Chopra

Yeah. And then Ben to the second part of your question which really speaks, I think more broadly to the question of profitability and investment. I would say the following. Number one, we are excited about the long-term potential of streaming to be a nicely profitable business for ViacomCBS as a whole.

We think that because the size of the opportunity is massive, as we talked about. Billion SVOD subscribers, $100 billion SVOD, revenue potential, $50 billion AVOD market and we think we've got a strategy that gives us some advantages in terms of turning that into a profitable business by having a dual revenue stream, by having the ability to leverage content across multiple channels, multiple services, multiple windows.

And so overtime, we think that is going to contribute very nicely to the company. In the short to medium-term, however, we are focused on the growth, and it will require investment to realize that growth. And I think that the plan we laid out today is very consistent with what we said back in our Q3 call, which was that we are going to have to increase our levels of investment in streaming in 2021. As we begin down that path, and we're excited about what that's going to unlock in the long-term.

Anthony DiClemente

Great. Thanks so much, Ben. Why don't we take our next question from Rich Greenfield at LightShed. Rich, go ahead.

Rich Greenfield

Hi. Can you hear me?

Anthony DiClemente

Yes.

Rich Greenfield

When CBS All Access was created the affiliates were clearly your partner, but it appears that the affiliate content, meaning live TV, I think you said will not be part of the base streaming tier for Paramount+, which just based on price I presume would be the one most consumers choose, but it will still have the most valuable affiliate content which is the NFL. And so I just wanted to understand, first are the affiliates okay with these changes that you're making? Like have those deals been worked out with all of the affiliates?

And then number two. I think David Nevins mentioned that he is producing one of the most exciting shows, new shows exclusively for Paramount+, but out of the Showtime. Development team, you had show like billions or that new show which look great called Yellowjackets are going to Showtime.

And I guess maybe for Bob, how do you decide what goes where? I guess it was just not clear like, who's choosing which goes to Showtime versus what goes to Paramount+ and how that works out would be great to understand?

Bob Bakish

Yeah. So let me jump in, I'll actually take both of them. So first of all what we announced today, we absolutely have the rights to with respect to the 499 tier. Second, we have partnerships, of all sorts of dimensions across this industry, including with the distribution community and that obviously includes MVPD, stations and other types of distributors.

And so as we you know move forward and transform businesses, we are for short sensitive to those partnerships. The station side, obviously the live local feeds are in the 999 version of the product. The station's participate economically in that and in that growth. They get their local news exhibited there, et cetera.

So we are sensitive to it. At the same time, we are also moving forward with a simplified version of the product that we think meets the market. As to the split of subscribers overtime, we'll have to see, they're both compelling for different reasons.

The second part of your question Showtime. The first thing I tell you is on Halo that show was commissioned when there was no vision for Paramount+. As David said, it's been in development and now in production for some time and we came to the conclusion, he and I jointly that the characteristics of that show will better linked to a broad product, a Paramount+ then Showtime as we look to get the most possible value out of it.

At the same time, the other shows you mentioned, including Yellowjackets, which looks phenomenal. I mean, they are, if you will, classic Showtime in that they are definitely edgier, they are definitely riskier. They are definitely a little bit more visually jarring, AKA [ph] a little less mass market. And so we like them in the Showtime lane and by the way, Showtime has been doing fantastic as David said, it's had a great run financially this year. It's had two back-to-back strong years on the over the top subscriber side, and the trajectory looks quite good, particularly as it stays in this premium lane, where others, kind of, move around a bit.

So we like Showtime in its lane. I'm really excited about the slate and by the way, if you haven't seen Your Honor you really should Rich. That was show we released in the fourth quarter. It's the biggest hit – new hit of the year on Showtime and it's fabulous. So hopefully that helps.

Anthony DiClemente

Yes, Your Honor is gripping. Thanks so much, Rich. Why don't we take our next question from John Janedis at Wolfe Research. John, please go ahead with your question.

John Janedis

Great. Thanks. Can you talk a little bit more about the pricing strategy? As you know, Netflix continues to enjoy pricing around the top end of the market. And there's just been spending a lot of money in price to take shares.

So over the long-term, how are you thinking about pricing power and how relevant is the price point of the other services in the market, after the initial land grab given what seems to be a pretty big commitment on the programming side? Thanks.

Bob Bakish

Sure, I'll take that. So we came up with the pricing strategy because we wanted to one serve the greatest addressable audience, which we think the two tiers does. And also, the two tiers allow us to drive both subscription and advertising revenue. And in addition the 499 tier gives us greater flexibility in how we go to market with distribution partners.

The 499 tier has way more content than CBS All Access ad. The 999 tier has more live sports, more breaking news, and it has no ads. And so, we came up with those by doing a variety of research, listening to customers and understanding what we thought would be the price points that would allow us to address the greatest possible audience.

And so we think that those are great places for us to be. Over time, if - you know, as we see success, we will revisit those price points, but right now we think that those are the best price points to go to market within they're clearly very competitive in each of their respective lands.

Anthony DiClemente

Great. Thanks, John. Let's take our next question from John Hodulik at UBS. Please go ahead. John, are you there?

John Hodulik

I am here. Can you hear me?

Anthony DiClemente

Yes. Go ahead.

John Hodulik

Okay, great. First, thanks for all the info that you guys shared today. Two quick ones, I think, first of all, and you guys may have gone over this. But is the $4 billion in content spend all incremental, is it sort of total company spending in 2024?

And then in second, any clues you can give us in terms of the expected advertising ARPU component of the ad supported tier? You know any targets or any of those sort of components you can give us to sort of build up to a number? Thanks.

Naveen Chopra

Yes, I'll start on the - the first part of the question in terms of content spend. Just to be clear, we didn't provide any specific guidance about total company content spend. But let me give you some context for that in general, because I think it's very important to recognize that as a company, we spend about $15 billion in content investment, that's what we had budgeted for 2020.

And what that does in terms of the strategic value for us that ultimately benefits streaming, I think goes well beyond the $5 billion that we have sort of allocated from a financial perspective in our 2024 goals. That $15 million investment creates, and gives us access to content that would be very difficult to do with a smaller level of spend. It builds a phenomenal platform for promotion and driving awareness of our streaming services, and it feeds a library that ultimately becomes very, very valuable for streaming.

Over time, the mix of that 15 billion in terms of how much is dedicated to streaming versus how much is sort of doing double duty between multiple distribution channels will evolve. And we think that's going to be a really powerful component for driving our streaming services, going forward here.

In terms of the second part of the question, in terms of the component that was advertising related, we’re not breaking out the specific composition of the $7 billion of revenue that we hope to achieve in 2024. We do think advertising is going to be a meaningful part of it, you can look at the - our current streaming revenues, you can see that advertising is, we did about a $1.4 billion [ph] digital video advertising in 2020.

We've got tremendous momentum, that business is growing at close to 70%. And we're seeing strong growth in MAUs. And we're adding to the monetization potential on services, not just Pluto but also Paramount+ through the introduction of the lower cost here. So we do think that advertising will be a major piece of what our business looks like going out into the future.

Anthony DiClemente

Great, thanks, John. Let's take our next question for Robert Fishman at MoffettNathanson. Robert?

Robert Fishman

Great, thank you. Good afternoon. Can you speak more about how important Paramount+ is for your future sports rights negotiations, either as an exclusive home for new games or a hybrid approach for new rights going forward, including the upcoming NFL renewal?

Bob Bakish

Sure, Robert. So as a Paramount+ live sports breaking news, mountain of entertainment, the live sports component, we believe is compelling from a subscriber acquisition and from a from a engagement standpoint. We obviously exhibit a variety of sports on CBS and by extension, today on Paramount+, whether it's the NFL, the NCAA golf. We recently did a deal for UEFA, which is overwhelmingly now Paramount+ - was CBS All Access with a little bit of CBS carriage.

I think that's a good example of a hybrid deal that you mentioned because what it allowed us to do was get exclusive product for Paramount+, but also help the league's in terms of their audience development longer term by benefiting from broadcast.

So we think Paramount+ is an important - it's obviously a critical product for us overall. It is an integral part of our sports paradigm. I talk with Sean McManus a lot about that including today. Sean runs CBS Sports and yeah going forward you will see us use that platform as a key component of our overall sports business. Some of it will be exclusive to Paramount+, some of it will be broader.

Anthony DiClemente

Thanks, Robert. Let's take our next question from Steven Cahall at Wells Fargo. Steve? Steven, are you there? Maybe Steve can come back to us, why don't we take the next question. All right, go ahead Steve.

Steven Cahall

Yeah, sorry about that. So Bob, you talked a little bit about churn in one of the previous questions, and I think a lot of managing streaming is about managing churn. So maybe just help us think through the decision to continue to keep Showtime and Paramount+ separate, because it does seem like there's a lot of premium content on both and now you kind of got one content budget, but sitting with two services that might have higher churn as a result? And then just on the subscriber guidance, any kind of big buckets of splitting that between maybe domestic and international for us? Thanks.

Bob Bakish

Sure. So Steve, again we like the two lanes that we see one for Paramount+, one for Showtime. They both Paramount+ in its prior iteration CBS All Access and Showtime had very strong performance on the subscriber side and subscriber revenue side. And they both have distinct positionings.

And we believe in brand positioning. We think that's important for consumer to understand what they're in this case buying and help them navigate a sea of choice and again, the positioning of Showtime versus Paramount+ are different. We are going to run a combine product outside the United States. It will be called Paramount+ and it will include Showtime.

So we will have the benefit of looking at both configurations, and we can look at a variety of metrics as we do that, including as you state churn. But at the moment, we like the split play in the US. We believe that allow us to generate larger overall revenues and maintain real positioning power against the competitive landscape.

In terms of guidance…

Anthony DiClemente

On domestic international split.

Bob Bakish

Sure. We're not providing an explicit breakdown between domestic and international in terms of our long-term goals. I will say that, we think they are both very important. As I said earlier, we look at streaming as a global opportunity. And we have big ambitions both for domestic subscriber growth, as well as international subscriber growth, and an advertising business across the board.

And the reality is, depending on the pace at which we launched some international markets, you may see that split actually evolve over time. But as said, we're really focused on the global opportunity.

Anthony DiClemente

Great. Thanks, Steve. I think we have time for one last question. We'll take our last question from Vijay Jayant at Evercore ISI. Vijay?

Vijay Jayant

Hi guys. Hope you can hear me.

Anthony DiClemente

Yeah.

Vijay Jayant

So I'm just trying to understand sort of the economics of this business. So if you look at your legacy business today, which did something on just in the domestic market and look at affiliate and advertising, there's something like $17 billion, $18 billion and if you divide that by the 70 odd million subscribers in the US, it's about $18 per subscriber per month.

When you talk about your pricing for these products, obviously you don’t know what the ad component it is. How is this going to be accretive to the enterprise long - is it going to be the do you think that'd be better margins here or the scale would be so substantial that it will sort of compensate for obviously the leaner business, but secular pressures, I'm just trying to understand the accretiveness of this transaction - of this plan?

Bob Bakish

Naveen, you want to take that.

Naveen Chopra

Yeah. I'm happy to jump in. At the end of the day, I mean, you kind of hit on the two key components in your question. We do think that over time scale would present a tremendous opportunity in streaming. We have the ability to distribute our content in more places and in more channels than we could in the traditional model where we're dependent on generally on MVPD distribution.

And number two, we think the dual revenue stream approach can be really valuable in the streaming context, and the ability to over time generate incremental ARPU, both from subscribers, but even more so in the form of advertising revenue is something that we are very bullish about, and there's a long track record of being able to generate incremental advertising revenue as our viewership becomes more and more valuable to advertisers.

So we do think, obviously, in the short-term, we're not able to put all of that together instantaneously in terms of the perceived economics. But over time, we're really excited about that opportunity.

Bob Bakish

And the other thing I just add to it is Pluto. Implicit in your numbers, I think, are the pay side of the business, particularly when you look at the scale. But we see Pluto as another very meaningful business. It's obviously 100% ad supported, but it is not only domestic, it is global.

So you really should add that into the equation as well, because as that continues to scale, it also is a very powerful tool for advertisers to use. You see them ramping in its consumption very materially as we speak. And so that is additive to the total enterprise as well.

So, we are very excited about the future trajectory of the business, our ability first and foremost to serve consumers. But then, obviously, to monetize that through multiple revenue streams, subscription, advertising, and to a lesser extent, things like ancillary and consumer products.

Anthony DiClemente

Well, thanks Vijay. And thanks everyone for your questions and for joining us tonight. With that, I'm going to hand it back to Bob for some closing remarks. Bob?

Bob Bakish

Yeah. Thanks, Anthony. Look, on behalf of the entire ViacomCBS leadership team, thank you for joining us today. I know this session was long but we appreciate that you stuck with us. It was a little more than a year ago, when the ViacomCBS merger closed. And at the time, I said we were ready to hit the ground running to unlock value across this entire company. We'll fast forward a year, and you see our content position is strong. You see a real operating momentum. You can see it in our Q4 results.

And those results were driven by the continuation of and really an acceleration of a strategy that's clearly working. And those results include nearly tripling of our global streaming subscriber base, and more than doubling of our streaming subscription revenue in the last two years. And that's obviously before we launch, everything that you've seen here today.

Now, over the years, we've learned that if you want to stand out in entertainment, as in life, it helps to stand for something. And as we told you today, when it comes to streaming, we stand for something unique, an ecosystem of free, pay and premium streaming, underpinned in pay by the new Paramount+ service, which is a streaming service that combines live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment.

And it's a streaming service that will resonate with broad and diverse audiences. And it's a streaming service that has a robust slate of originals, which will only grow by harnessing the combined hit making power of this global content company.

So we're tremendously excited about the role of ViacomCBS in the streaming future of media, and we look forward to delivering on our long-term goals for streaming and more, because we know that will deliver growth and shareholder value creation at this company.

Lastly, I want to thank the team you heard from today and really all the amazing employees at ViacomCBS, who are bringing our streaming strategy to life each and every day. And I want to thank all of you as well for your time and your support. Stay well everyone. We'll talk to you soon.

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From Seeking Alpha:

ViacomCBS' (VIAC) CEO Bob Bakish on Virtual Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference

ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAC) Virtual Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference March 2, 2020 7:45 AM ET

Company Participants

Bob Bakish – President and Chief Executive Officer

Conference Call Participants

Benjamin Swinburne – Morgan Stanley

Benjamin Swinburne

Good morning, everybody. Welcome back. Welcome to day two of Morgan Stanley’s Virtual TMT Conference in 2021. I’m Ben Swinburne, Morgan Stanley’s media analyst. Quick disclosure, please note that important disclosures, including my personal holdings disclosures and Morgan Stanley disclosures, all appear as a handout available – sorry, not a handout – on the Morgan Stanley public website.

We are really excited to welcome this morning our keynote conversation with Bob Bakish. Bob is the President and CEO of ViacomCBS. Prior to the merger of these two companies, Bob was the President and CEO of Viacom since December 2016. Bob, it’s great to see you, and thank you for being here.

Bob Bakish

Hey, great to be with you, Ben. I only wish it was in person, but we’ll get there next year

Benjamin Swinburne

We will. We will. Thanks for thanks for your time this morning. This interview is actually happening, I think it’s quite timely given last week, you guys had a lot going on and a lot to communicate to the market. You had fourth quarter results. You laid out your outlook. But probably most importantly, you really spent time with us on your streaming strategy. In the background, I’m sure you’ve noticed your stock has doubled since just November, more than doubled. So clearly, the market is starting to focus on your streaming opportunities. Maybe to start, we’re a year plus since the merger. Your streaming plans have now been sort of formalized. How do you frame the longer-term opportunity for ViacomCBS sitting here today?

Bob Bakish

Benjamin Swinburne

We will. We will. Thanks for thanks for your time this morning. This interview is actually happening, I think it’s quite timely given last week, you guys had a lot going on and a lot to communicate to the market. You had fourth quarter results. You laid out your outlook. But probably most importantly, you really spent time with us on your streaming strategy. In the background, I’m sure you’ve noticed your stock has doubled since just November, more than doubled. So clearly, the market is starting to focus on your streaming opportunities. Maybe to start, we’re a year plus since the merger. Your streaming plans have now been sort of formalized. How do you frame the longer-term opportunity for ViacomCBS sitting here today?

Bob Bakish

Yes. So look, the last week really accomplished exactly what we wanted. We obviously delivered a set of strong numbers for the quarter and the year, and people liked those. But the bigger item of course was talking about our streaming strategy and Paramount+ is the centerpiece to that going forward. And to put it simply, I think there were a lot of skeptics going in, but people got really excited about the scale of the offering we’re bringing to market with Paramount+. And of course, as we’ve said before, that’s live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment. And what that means is there’s real depth and breadth of content. There’s something for every demo. There’s all genres of television. There’s a deep film component. And when people saw that and put it up against the objectives we talked about for 2024, which included 65 million to 75 million global SVOD subs, 100 million to 120 million global MAUs for Pluto and at least $7 billion in global streaming revenue, I think they saw that we had the product to put us on a path there to actually deliver.

And by the way, there is something the market missed. I think they didn’t fully appreciate yet the value of the $4.99 version of Paramount+ to the ad business because it really is quite substantial, and we’re quite excited about it. And as we look forward to Thursday, we are leaning into the biggest marketing campaign in our company’s history. What we’re going to do – and it’s already started. It started back with the Super Bowl, but it’s six times the size of any initiative that was ever done for CBS All Access. It’s a true company-wide effort leveraging all elements of our asset base, our linear portfolio, how we show up in social media, our digital portfolio, in addition to of course some third-party spend to round it out. So it’s really exciting times for ViacomCBS.

Lastly, you mentioned our stock. As it relates to our stock, clearly it has performed well from the kind of COVID low of 2020. And so far in 2021, it’s off to a great start. I think there’s really two things going on there. You mentioned one, but I think the first thing is it does reflect the successful integration and execution of combining Viacom and CBS and unlocking tremendous value and growth as a result. We know when we closed that deal roughly a year ago, there were a lot of skeptics. And there are people saying, "Does this combination make sense?" And then we went on very quickly to create one ad sales force, one distribution force, significantly exceed our cost savings targets, put together one streaming organization, which of course mounted Paramount+, among other things. And that led to the second, which is the market recognizing our potential as a global streaming powerhouse. And even with that, even with the run-up in the stock, here, you look at us relative to our established streaming peers on a multiple basis, and it’s still low. So we’re really getting somewhere because I think people are now seeing that this combination definitively makes sense and that we are executing against the plan, which is in fact unlocking value from the combination very quickly, including in streaming.

Benjamin Swinburne

That all makes sense. Let’s talk a bit more about Paramount+, Bob. You spent some – a lot of time on it last week with us. But it’s going to be the biggest part of your 65 million to 75 million streaming goal in 2024. I thought there was a really interesting slide last week where you and Naveen talked about how many services you think the American consumer will likely be – or global consumer signing up for. But just spend a minute on what really makes Paramount+ stand out to the consumer in the market because obviously, as you know, there’s a lot of services out there. And even CBS All Access has obviously been around for a while. So what really differentiates this product in the eyes of the consumer who’s making that decision on spending?

Bob Bakish

Look, it for sure is a differentiated product. It is not a replica of something else that’s already out there. It has tremendous variety and this really unique trifecta of sports, live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment. And that mountain of entertainment is fortified by our flagship brands that have tremendous global recognition. And this whole thing is in one place serving the total household. And obviously the sports, start there, includes the NFL, the NCAA, major golf events, our exclusive UEFA coverage. You look at our kids library. It’s the best kids library, really the best kids offering on the planet, whether that’s Spongebob, bringing back Rugrats, iCarly and on and on and on. It’s a tremendous kids audience built of course on the success of Nickelodeon. It encapsulates the number one provider of reality TV.

And people spend a lot of time with unscripted reality television. Franchises like we brought The Real World, the original reality show back, The Real World New York as part of the Paramount+ launch. We have The Challenge. We have Love Island. We got Big Brother. We got Survivor. I mean it goes on and on and on. It also has fantastic scripted drama. People love scripted in general and certainly in the streaming space. And we bring a whole portfolio of IP to that whether that’s Criminal Minds, Yellowstone universe, Star Trek, Halo. That goes on and on and on, too. And then there’s a film offering, which is really a film lover’s paradise. About 2,800 titles in the library, and then Paramount Pay1 product, including A Quiet Place Part II coming, Mission: Impossible 7 coming, PAW Patrol coming, et cetera. So it is – has tremendous variety. It has tremendous volume. As I said, 2,800 films. It will have about 1,000 live sporting events per year. We’ll have over 50 original series in the next two years. We’ll have 36 this year. And that will join a catalog of over 30,000 television episodes. And as part of this, we’re moving from 16,000, which we have in sort of the end of CBS All Access, to over 30,000 as Paramount+.

And it’s quality. As I said, this comes from our flagship brands, whether it’s Paramount or Nickelodeon or Comedy Central or BET or CBS. And it’s also – and we haven’t talked a lot about this yet, but know that it’s also fortified by our global production capabilities. So we didn’t name check a lot of those titles in the presentation because people wouldn’t recognize them. But remember, we have a massive production footprint in Argentina as part of our Telefe broadcaster. We of course produce in the UK and other places in Europe. So it is a tremendous offering. It is for sure differentiated. We believe it’s compelling. And again, when I talk to people after our event last week, people came away going, "wow, you’re right, this mountain is a lot bigger than we thought. This is actually interesting." So we’re tremendously excited for Thursday when we actually flip the switch and CBS All Access becomes Paramount+.

Benjamin Swinburne

One other thing that was interesting, and I wouldn’t say a surprise but new to us last week, was what you’re doing on the movies side. And you guys have a lot of research into what the consumer is looking for. What is the role of movies at Paramount+? And how do you – what do you do with Paramount and its various output deals to sort of make sure you can harness that library and that Pay1 window?

Bob Bakish

Yes, so sure, a couple of things. One is it is called Paramount+. So it has a film studio, a Hollywood studio name on the door. So it was important to us that it have a quality offering for the film lover. As you guys know or as many know, we did have the Paramount – we have a big library, which we can access and we did access, including as part of the preview launch for CBS All Access last summer. But our Pay1 deal had a little more to run with EPIX. So one of the things we did is we went and did a strategic deal with EPIX that works for both of us, whereby now the Paramount Pay1 product is coming to Paramount+. A subset of that is going to come in a very short window after theatrical. And we talk about this as a 30- to 45-day window post-theatrical, titles like A Quiet Place Part II, Mission: impossible 7, PAW Patrol will come to Paramount+ exclusively.

So, they’ll be there for a while before they go, in this case, to EPIX. And we think that’s compelling. By the way, I believe that is a sustainable offering. Some of these other film moves that have made, it’s not clear to me they’re sustainable. But this move, it puts the titles in the theaters. So people want to go and get a big screen experience, they can do that. But if you look at the curve, the degradations on most film titles, they do very little business post day 30 and certainly post day 45.

So moving – even though the traditional window is 90 days. So moving to an in-house streaming window at that part, we think, works certainly for us, but also for constituents, including consumers. So we’re very excited about that. We also, as part of that deal, got access to an additional 2,500 library titles. These are high-quality library titles from the other major Hollywood studios. Those will actually come to the platform on, I believe, June 4th, so a little bit of a delay. And then add to that, we’re going to get MGM Pay1 product as well as we have made-for product made by Paramount players and made by our ViacomCBS studios more broadly. So, you put the whole thing together, it’s a killer offering for film lovers, and we are tremendously excited about it.

Benjamin Swinburne

Okay. That’s great. So it sounds like that new windowing is probably something that sticks in your mind.

Bob Bakish

Yes. I mean we’re going to put it in place starting with probably A Quiet Place Part II just because that’s – I mean, I say probably just because films still are moving around given COVID. But COVID, it looks like that’s where we’ll start. And again, I think that’s a sustainable model, Jim Gianopulos and I have talked a lot about it. And obviously we talk to theaters and the talent and other constituents in the ecosystem, but we believe that’s the right model for the future. And I believe our – as we implement it, the facts will prove that out.

Benjamin Swinburne

You mentioned, Bob, in June you’re making some more changes. Can you just talk about sort of the pricing change in June, the product change in June? And sort of why – what we should expect or what the consumers should expect as you get to that point in the calendar at Paramount+?

Bob Bakish

Yes. So the main thing that’s happening in June is – so let me back up a bit. There’s going to be two versions of Paramount+. There’s $9.99 version, which includes the CBS live linear feed and has no advertising in the on-demand product. So there’s a little bit – it’s not really ad-free because the live CBS feed has some ads in it. But other than that, it’s ad-free. Then there is going to be $4.99 product that is essentially our ad-supported product. It won’t have the live linear feed in it, which gives us more pricing flexibility and promotional flexibility, et cetera. But it will have a tremendous collection of all the originals, et cetera. So those are the two products that are going into the marketplace. The $9.99 version will be available at launch, so Thursday. As well, there’s currently a $5.99 version of CBS All Access, which is ad-supported live linear feed, that will be available and then we’ll sunset it when we bring out the $4.99 version. So, I know it’s a little confusing, but we needed to get the lower-priced version right so we can maximize the opportunity. That what’s really going on in June. I just mentioned the films because the way the EPIX deal works out, those 2,500 films will also show up in early June.

Benjamin Swinburne

And you’ve touched on this before, Bob, but – a little bit, which is your global production portfolio. But can you tell us a little bit about how Paramount+ is positioned internationally? Because there’s, as you know, there’s actually a bigger TAM outside the U.S. than inside the U.S. And I know you spent a lot of your years running Viacom’s business overseas, so your perspective would be helpful.

Bob Bakish

Yes, absolutely. We believe streaming is a global opportunity. We believe that is true both for our free service, Pluto TV as well as our paid product, which will be Paramount+. The difference for Paramount+ outside the United States is really twofold. One is it will essentially be an entertainment product because we don’t currently have deep portfolio of sports rights outside the United States. And CBS News is more of a domestic franchise than a global franchise, has some name recognition, but – so it’s going to be entertainment-oriented. And then the other element is it is going to combine Showtime. And in fact, if you look at the – we’re going to launch simultaneously in Latin America, simultaneously with the U.S. and then very quickly thereafter launch Australia and then the Nordics. And that – all those products are reflective of this entertainment focus, including Showtime and we’re also going to be pretty aggressive on price point there as part of market entry.

Benjamin Swinburne

And I would imagine in terms of other international markets where you have sizable Showtime output deals, that’s probably still something you’re working through in terms of the right move?

Bob Bakish

Well, that’s one of the contributors to deciding when you launch in a market, right. We go Paramount output deals too, and for that matter, CVS output deals. So you kind of – you got to line that up a bit. Sometimes you can start with everything. Sometimes you start with part of your overall basket that you envision and add to it over time. But that’s very much a contributor to our rollout schedule.

Benjamin Swinburne

I’m sure you’ve gotten the question because I have, Bob. There’s a lot of uncertainty in investors’ eyes about what happens with your licensing business, which is obviously substantial. And it’s across a lot of different businesses inside of Viacom. As you build out your streaming portfolio, what should we expect that business to look like over the next several years? I assume you redirect a lot of it, but does the overall business grow, decline? What can you tell us about the outlook for licensing?

Bob Bakish

Yes. Sure. It’s a popular question, as you state. So we have a significant global content licensing business. And the reason we have that is pretty simple is we have very significant content creation and library assets. So historically we’ve leveraged the content asset, both for owned and operated uses as well as third-party licensing. More recently as we have scaled our streaming ambitions and approached the launch of Paramount+, we began to tilt more in the O&O direction. And if you look at what we presented last week with respect to those 36 original series, they lean heavily on franchise IP from across the company and certainly from Paramount. So that is very intentional and is part of our strategy. And that means that our licensing business shifts a bit from third party to in-house because there is economic value transfer in-house.

As we roll international markets, back to our prior point, you will see that continue, but we envision staying in the third-party licensing business for a couple of reasons. One is it’s a big business, and we have a lot of assets. And we believe we can continue to supply it, albeit not at historical levels. Two is it gives value other than just pure financials. So if you look at iCarly, as an example, which we’re bringing a new version with the original cast under the Nickelodeon brand to Paramount+ this year, we have a version of that, the historical version with one of the big streamers at the moment, and it’s one of their top-rated shows. So it’s also a franchise development tool not just an economic tool. So we see value in the business, but we’re clearly in a place where we’re share shifting, if you will, more O&O.

Benjamin Swinburne

Yes. My seven-year-old just finished all whatever number of seasons iCarly ran. I can’t remember if that’s six, seven. So she was very excited to hear that it’s coming back to Paramount+. Are there any parts of sort of the various genres that won’t make sense for Paramount+ globally that will remain part of that third-party business? It sort of feels like you guys are kind of in everything from kids to scripted, et cetera, et cetera.

Bob Bakish

Yes. Yes. I wouldn’t say, there’s a genre cut of what business we’re in and we’re not. Again, look at the definition of Paramount+. It’s an intentionally very broad product designed to appeal to a broad range of viewers, whether that’s families with kids or younger professionals, et cetera. So we will populate it with the full set of genres. But within a genre, we will likely still choose to license some – maybe a library, maybe we’ll make a show for someone. But we already have a multiyear road map of IP for Paramount+ that we’re locked on.

Benjamin Swinburne

You and I were chatting before we went live about Pluto, which you guys acquired not that long ago. So I want to talk a bit about that business. I think revenue has more than doubled in the fourth quarter. AVOD as a space, Bob, as you know, has become an area of intense focus in the market. Can you talk a little bit about what makes that business get to the $1 billion level that you guys called out last week, and kind of the level of scale that represents inside of that $7 billion 2024 target?

Bob Bakish

Sure. So look, we love the FAST business, free, ad-supported streaming television, which is what Pluto is. Some people refer to it as AVOD as well. Difference being is it is both pre- programmed linear and on-demand. So that’s why the FAST characterization is better than AVOD. But we were the first people, as far as major media company goes, to see that opportunity. And we – when we acquired Pluto, there were a bunch of questions. "Like what is this? You should be in the SVOD business." And at the time, I felt we didn’t have the wherewithal as a company to have – to mount a first-rate SVOD service. That of course changed with the CBS merger. But we did see the FAST opportunity. We acquired Pluto and very quickly put Viacom legacy content assets on it. And within – in two years and one quarter drove MAUs from 12 million to 43 million. And time spent, engagement has grown faster than that. And monetization has grown faster than that.

Pluto, when we acquired in 2018, was sub-$100 million. It’s not $1 billion yet, but it’s big. And so – and the reason is pretty simple. It’s a very high-quality offering. It appeals to consumers who either don’t want to pay for television or want a complement to their other services. It is stocked with 150,000 hours of high quality content across all, all genres, all formats, all demographics as I said, in 2018 – or 2019 was the year we added Viacom content. 2020 was the year we added CBS content. And so that business is as I said, it may not be a planet, but it’s certainly a rocket ship. We continue to expand Pluto outside the United States. We see big opportunity there. And that opportunity exists both as a stand-alone service in the FAST segment, as well as part of an integrated ecosystem that can create value for pay product, Paramount+. So, we love Pluto. It has turned out better than we thought. And when we said back in, I guess, it was early 2019 that it would be a billion-dollar business, people, I’m sure thought we were crazy. It will, for sure, be a billion-dollar business and then it’ll keep going. But it’s a great asset. And it’s the number one asset in the space.

Benjamin Swinburne

Yes. What’s the pitch to advertisers, who are starting to move money more aggressively over to that world from linear? What does it give them that is differentiated from the linear buy?

Bob Bakish

Well, among other things, it gives them incremental reach. It’s high quality. Pluto is viewed on mobile, web and connected TV. The connected TV is the largest source of engagement, i.e., minutes. And it’s the closest thing to traditional television advertising on the planet. And so for an advertiser that wants to open a movie or what have you, it is great reach, both on a stand-alone basis and when packaged with our linear assets, and so just like I love Pluto, advertisers love Pluto. Because it helps them deliver their messages in a high-quality environment, in an environment where they’re comfortable having their messages seen.

Benjamin Swinburne

What’s the governor on growing that business? Is it convincing advertisers that it’s an attractive offering? Or is just that the inventory is growing so fast, you can’t sell it as fast as the impressions.

Bob Bakish

I mean, I guess there’s a governor on anything, but it is a very high-growth business. I mean, you’re in the 50% to 70% growth, and there – we don’t see, it was interesting through the pandemic. Obviously, advertising in the U.S., or globally for that matter, took a big hit including in the second quarter. The first quarter was almost done. We lost the NCAAs and all. But the second quarter was really the quarter where it got crushed and then we began to build out from there. But within like a month or two, Pluto was already back at pre-pandemic. And Pluto moved through its budget for 2020, even with the pandemic. So there’s tremendous demand there. And yes, it’s a function of MAUs and minutes spent through pricing and sell-out and all that. But it’s a good model, and it has plenty of road to run.

Benjamin Swinburne

What can you do with Pluto, given its broad reach, which is obviously growing rapidly globally to help drive Paramount+ and Showtime?

Bob Bakish

Well, think about it as it’s a tremendous promotional engine and funnel for our pay services. just like by the way our linear platforms are and that’s something we’re deploying, starting call it, this week to launch Paramount+ in the U.S. and initially, in Latin America. We’re using all of our assets, our linear feeds – maybe, we use our linear feeds. We’re running spots. we’re previewing shows. we’re running – using our social handles and we’re the number one entertainment company in social, and we’re using Pluto. So, it’s part of it – just like for advertisers, it’s high-quality reach, guess what? In this form, we’re in advertising. And we’re more than the advertiser running spots.

So, for example, this year, we spun up a Showtime channel. And we actually got more subset to Showtime, than the Showtime YouTube channel set. So – and why, because these people are interested in high-quality television. So yes, it’s a great piece of the equation. And one of the benefits we have of now integrated streaming organization is we have Tom Ryan running it, thinking about, well, I’m responsible for both of these things. How do we use them together versus when it was two organizations, I was there, legislating some of that, but it’s better when one person owns both.

Benjamin Swinburne

Sure. Given that it’s an internet delivered product, can you use it for provisioning, can you use it for – to enable sign-ups of Paramount+, Showtime directly through Pluto or a more direct feedback loop?

Bob Bakish

So, you’ll see us do a lot of that progressively over time. We really haven’t pulled out one – look, we’re the only major media company to embrace free, pay and premium streaming. And the reason is we see those as three lanes that help us serve the widest addressable market and in combination, they can create value lowering subscription, fiber [ph] acquisition costs, increasing lifetime value, lower insurance. And what you just referenced as far as Pluto model for signups is part of that, but also that you want to catch people who might pause their subscription, keep them in free ad-supported. There’s a range of things you’re going to see us do as we build this out over time.

Benjamin Swinburne

Let’s shift gears to on the – to the investment side of this business, Bob, the other – I’m sure you’ve heard major investor debate or question I’ve gotten is around content spending, right? And particularly, for a company like yours, that’s already spending a lot. It’s hard for us to have a lot of visibility or conviction around how much incremental spending is necessary to deliver the numbers that you guys have laid out. How did you guys think about that? How did you arrive at this sort of streaming investment levels you laid out last week and get comfortable that that’s enough to hit your targets?

Bob Bakish

Yes. So, a couple of things; one is, start with – we spend about $15 billion on content a year. That’s what we were budgeted to spend in 2020. We didn’t quite spend that, because of COVID, but that’s the zip code, right. And that puts us in a pretty unique club. You saw us including last week, talk about leveraging library assets.

Now, when we leverage library assets, they come from years and years and years in the case of paramount, over 100 years, of cumulative spending to build them. And then yes, you pay an allocation of amortization, but it’s in no way reflecting what it would actually cause you to recreate it. So that $15 billion gives us some real advantages in the form of library assets that have been built over time, and in the form of IP that people know, like, look at our – the NFL. Okay. The NFL’s on live linear and it’s on CBS All Access going to Paramount+. In fact, that is enabled by that $15 billion.

So that’s kind of point one. Point two is when we put the – well; Paramount+ is a company-wide effort. It is not, Tom Ryan’s project and he’s the only one that needs to worry about it. And what I mean by that is the slate that you guys saw last week was a function of each of the content leads for the company, delivering against the mandate of how can we bring – how can we create the most successful streaming, broad pay streaming service, leveraging our assets, and that was an iterative process over months. with Jim Gianopulos and George Cheeks, who runs CBS and Chris McCarthy runs Entertainment & Youth, and Brian [Robbins] runs Nickelodeon. Now, those originals we have to pay for. but we didn’t start by saying, okay, you have $1 billion or whatever the number is. we started by – I started by saying, “How do we make this compelling, Brian?” Take – I want a compelling version of Nickelodeon that’s going to lead kids as part of Paramount+. What is it? And that led to, “Let’s do The Spongebob Movie.” Of course, that was with Jim G also there, that led to Camp Coral, that led to the new version of Rugrats, that led to iCarly. I mean when you look at our kids offering, it’s a killer. But that’s because we have the best kids asset in the business actually working on Paramount+.

So, the second point is we didn’t actually define the launch number as here’s a number back, solve for it. We said, "Create a great product. Let’s see how much will cost us." And that number was $1 billion in 2020. It’s obviously more than that in 2021, but it’s not crazy, no. And we guided towards – the third point is a 2024 number of $5 billion, which is really a layered cake build from where we are continuing to grow volume. Is that going to be enough to be competitive?

Well, I start with, people didn’t expect us to mount the product; we mounted on it last week. And obviously, we didn’t spend $20 billion on it. The second point though, is as this thing tracks out, we’re going to see what’s working and what’s not working. Where do we want to lean in more? Where do we want to lean in less? And we certainly can spend more from a financial envelope. So, I’m very excited about the content plan that we have in place. It’s more than planned, we’re obviously in production. We have some economic advantages given our assets. I believe we have a plan that will create success. but we will, of course, monitor the plan; monitor the results and course correct as necessary to take advantage of what we learn.

Benjamin Swinburne

Yes. Is there a way and my guess is that there’s probably no answer to this yet. but is there a way to think about overall content spending at the company level over the course of these next four years? Do you think this is all incremental spend or how would you frame it for us?

Bob Bakish

No. It’s not only incremental spend, the $4 billion, if you will, $1 billion to $5 billion is not all incremental. A part of this is remix from traditional to streaming. There is incremental spend in there too. And again, that’s one, we did not give any guidance on total company spend. But obviously, we have a plan. We know what we believe it will be. And again, we’re going to execute and we’re going to fine-tune taking advantage of places, where we win and shoring up areas that might need it.

Benjamin Swinburne

I want to sneak a Showtime question and that was one, there’s certainly been a debate in the market, whether Showtime would get folded into Paramount+, you’ve decided to keep it as a standalone product in the U.S. how has showtime been performing in arguably the most competitive part of streaming is scripted drama, which is really their bread and butter?

Bob Bakish

Showtime had a fantastic year in 2020 on a financial basis and on a streaming subscriber basis including every quarter, and it’s – it had a great January and a great February too. It’s the programming lineup it has is resonating. If you haven’t seen your honor, you should see it. It’s a great show and turned out to be the number one launch for Showtime of 2020, and it was a good sub driver. And then it’s got returning franchises.

So, Showtime is doing very well. Probably, the reason it is as it has it a distinct play, it is edgier. It is more risk-taking. yes, it’s a little more coastal than Paramount+, which is a broader product, and we think it makes sense at this point in time to maintain that differentiation. Obviously, at the same time, internationally, where we don’t have a Showtime business and therefore, it’s been simpler. we’re going to run an aggregate product and we’ll see how that goes. But the Showtime brand is strong and given what some other people are doing in the premium space, if anything, I think its hand is improving over time.

Benjamin Swinburne

How would you think or how would you suggest we think about the profitability of the streaming business over the long-term? Because again, investors, I think are very focused on the margin profile of the linear business obviously, has been incredibly attractive for a long time. No one’s making money in streaming yet other than Netflix at 200 million subs. So, what’s your perspective on the scalability of these businesses as someone who’s obviously building them at Viacom?

Bob Bakish

Yes. so right now, we’re certainly in the growth leg of that business, but as we model it out, we see a nicely profitable business. We do see a business that scales clearly, the size of your sub base matters, the size of your MAU base matters. On the free side, Pluto has some advantages in that is largely from a content perspective, a rev share and an internally, library model. So, that’s pretty efficient and on the pay side as subscribers scale, we see that being profitable. It is also multi-revenue stream back to the $4.99 product. We see nice ARPU from the advertising side coming. So yes, it’s a real business.

Benjamin Swinburne

Good. We’ve got about 10 minutes left, Bob. So, I want to shift gears and focus in on a couple of kind of programming ecosystem question. So, you guys have sports, live sports at Paramount+, which is a differentiator. You actually were highlighting a lot of soccer last week as part of the offering. Talk about the role of sports for ViacomCBS over time. Do you expect to be doing more of this versus less, and how much – how important is sports to where you’re going with streaming?

Bob Bakish

Yes. So, the sports position comes from the CBS side of the house. CBS has a long legacy in sports and very strong capabilities in sports, a very strong brand in sports. So, we actually see an important role for our company in sports going forward. That’s true, both in the traditional linear side of the business, as well as now, the streaming side of the business. We have a portfolio of sports properties and partnerships that we work in, obviously anchored by the NFL, but far beyond that we continue to look at opportunity and see what incremental things we want to do. The biggest incremental thing we’ve done recently is obviously UEFA. So far, so good on that. we like how it started. And by the way, we were able to start that early, which we are very happy about.

We also own a small mixed martial arts business, but it is the number two mixed martial arts business in Bellator. We’ll look to continue to grow that. So yes, sports are important. Why are sports important? Because at least, the American consumer, because that’s what we do – we’re in the sports business, predominantly love sports. And so we see that as a way to bring consumers in. We are – our partners, MVPDs, affiliate stations, see value in our sports. Advertisers see value in our sports. And so yes, you’ll see us continue to play in that space because it works for us.

Benjamin Swinburne

The transition of sports into streaming raises obviously lots of big questions around – about the business. I don’t know, Bob, what you can say, if anything, about the NFL. There’s been a lot of press even in the last 24 hours. It looks like the deals are almost done. But whether you can comment or not, can you just talk about how the NFL might fit in longer term to Paramount+, given these look like they’re going to be 10-year deals? I’d imagine you’re trying to think about the flexibility these rights will give you as the business pivots.

Bob Bakish

Yes. So, I don’t have any new news on the NFL to talk about today. But we’ve had a longstanding mutually beneficial partnership with the NFL. We were early to the NFL on both linear and streaming, and we like that model.

We obviously showcased the NFL in Paramount+ last week. We found it is an effective piece of programming to have from a subscriber acquisition standpoint. So again, we love the NFL product. We love the NFL management. We have a very good relationship, and I’m confident we’ll be in business with them for a long time. And that, that business will span both our linear business, which will also be around for a long time as well as streaming.

Benjamin Swinburne

How does the MVPD world handle this shift that’s happening at Viacom as well as the overall industry? Because I’m sure you’ve heard some of the comments from the Charlie Ergens of the world. I’ll be speaking with Tom Rutledge later. They’re paying for your product and you’re redirecting capital into streaming. Do you anticipate any tension there, even though you’ve had a year of really strong success on the distribution front post merger?

Bob Bakish

Look, we have multifaceted partnerships with most of these distributors. And that’s really the course of action that we implemented back at Viacom legacy probably four years ago, where we said we don’t want to just license linear feeds, we want to be in the advanced ad business with them. Then once we acquired Pluto, we said we want to be in the app business, both for set-top box and broadband. And you look at major MSOs, that’s exactly where we are. So the business is broader than it used to be. Now what – we did that because we knew the landscape was changing and having a one-dimensional business was probably not in our best interest or their best interest. What’s key is that you provide value, value that obviously people are willing to pay for. Because there will always be negotiations and negotiations are negotiations. But at the end of the day, I look at the value that our portfolio of content assets provide, whether that’s the CBS assets, the cable network assets, Paramount assets, now the Pluto assets, now the Paramount+ assets. We are one of the most important content suppliers in the world full stop. We know how to get deals done. We know how to transition businesses and deal with complexity. So I’m quite confident that we will continue to be in business and probably in a broader business with these folks for years and years to come as the distribution base writ large broadens, mobile operators, over-the-top players, device manufacturers, et cetera. What’s key is to have great content, and that’s what we’re focused on.

Benjamin Swinburne

Maybe, in our last couple of minutes, I wanted to hit the advertising market. You guys had a very strong fourth quarter, outperforming at least expectations on the advertising front. You mentioned the strength of Pluto. Any update on the ad environment across your footprint? And what are you guys going to do in the upfront this year given the broad portfolio that you now have at the company?

Bob Bakish

Yes. So, ad business has been on a continuum from the sort of second quarter COVID bottom, which was super early. It’s been on a nice turnaround path, and as you saw in our fourth quarter results, returned to positive growth. And that’s obviously – and most categories are back. There’s still some issues obviously with film because no one’s opening pictures at scale and still some travel stuff. But the ad business is for sure improving with reopening. And I think the trajectory ahead given vaccines, et cetera, should provide for that to continue. So we feel good about the ad business. Also, there are some good comps for us early in 2021. Q1, we had the Super Bowl in Q1. We didn’t last year. That’s a big piece of business. Q2 – the end of Q1, the NCAAs we have, they were canceled last year. All indications are that those will go forward.

So, I think the ad business, we like the ad business. We continue to scale our digital product. This iQ product, which spans all of our high-quality digital inventory, including Pluto, including CBS All Access. So I feel good about the ad business. I think Jo Ann Ross has put together a fantastic team with real marketing problem solvers. So again, I think we’ll continue to see improvement, and that goes to the underlying fundamentals of the business. And again, people look at that. That should also contribute to the comfort of our – on valuation.

Benjamin Swinburne

Well, that’s a good note to end on. You guys have a big day coming up here on Thursday. Good luck. Anything you want to wrap up with, a final point?

Bob Bakish

Yes. Ben, look, I would just say these are exciting times at Viacom. Picking up where we just left off and where we are right now as we’re seeing the sort of traditional business benefiting from a bit of a rebound out of COVID, which we think has legs. And of course we’re simultaneously leaning into the most important growth opportunity in our business: streaming, and I believe after last week, in a very credible way. So, we’re tremendously excited about ViacomCBS as a company. We’ve proven the skeptics wrong. This company does make sense as one company. We are unlocking value. Yes, thankfully, the stock has moved. But it still has value – significant value creation ahead, and that’s what we’re focused on. So thanks for the time. Stay well. And again, I look forward to in-person next year.

Benjamin Swinburne

Yes, absolutely. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. Bob, thank you for your time, and have a great rest of the day today. Thank you.

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More Nick: 'Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years' and 'The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run' to Debut on Paramount+ on Thursday, March 4!

Originally published: Thursday, February 25, 2021.

H/T: What's on Paramount+.

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