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Tag: ViacomCBS

  • ViacomCBS rebrands to Paramount; unveils global expansion plans for Paramount+

    ViacomCBS rebrands to Paramount; unveils global expansion plans for Paramount+

    Mumbai: ViacomCBS has announced that it will rebrand to become Paramount Global effective from 16 February.

    In addition to the name change, the media company has detailed plans to accelerate the global momentum behind Paramount+, unveiling new content, enhanced product offerings and continued international expansion at its investor event.

    “Paramount is an idea: A promise to be the best,” said the non-executive chair of the company’s board of directors Shari Redstone. “That promise has always been at the center of what we aspired to build as the steward of more than a century of cinematic excellence, and with businesses and brands that have defined and redefined entertainment for generation after generation. We have made enormous progress, and I have never been more excited about the future of this company.

     

     

    Paramount+ will make its debut in France as an exclusive bundle with CANAL+ Group giving subscribers immediate access through the country’s largest provider. Paramount+ will also be available on an a la carte and direct-to-consumer basis in the French market.

    With Paramount+ and SkyShowtime, the global media company will have streaming services available in more than 60 markets across the UK, Latin America, Canada, Australia, South Korea, the Caribbean and all major markets in Europe by the end of this year. In 2023, the company will look to Asia, Africa and the Middle East, building on Paramount+’s strong momentum to grow its presence in every region of the world.

    Additionally, Paramount+ subscribers in the US will be able to upgrade their subscription to a bundle that includes the Showtime service through two plans, starting in summer.

    The company added 9.4 million global streaming subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2021 led by Paramount+ to add up to 56 million total subscribers and 84 per cent growth in streaming subscription revenue. Its streaming revenues for the quarter stood at $1.3 billion a growth of 48 per cent year-on-year. Its streaming revenue for 12 months ended on 31 December 2021 stood at $4.19 billion.

    “Paramount’s iconic peak represents a rich history for our company as pioneers in the golden age of Hollywood. Today, as we embrace the Paramount name, we are pioneers of an exciting new future,” said president and chief executive officer Bob Bakish.

    “We see a huge global opportunity in streaming, a much larger potential market than can be captured by linear TV and film alone,” continued Bakish. “We’re excited about our ability to not just compete, but thrive, creating significant value for both consumers and shareholders. How? Because we’re broader in four key areas: our diverse content, streaming model, a mix of platforms and global reach. As we look forward, the size of the opportunity we see is matched only by our ambition to seize it.”

    “We are continuing to leverage our global footprint and long-standing relationships to expand Paramount+ into new markets with enormous potential quickly and economically,” commented president and CEO streaming Tom Ryan.

  • Discovery was greatest global commissioner of TV shows in 2021: Ampere

    Discovery was greatest global commissioner of TV shows in 2021: Ampere

    Mumbai: The greatest global commissioner of TV shows in 2021 was Discovery, with a record-breaking 556 first-run TV show titles commissioned in the year, according to market-leading data and analytics firm Ampere. This extends Discovery’s lead of 46, recorded in 2020, to 153 titles by year-end 2021.

    ViacomCBS pipped Netflix for second place with 406 titles compared to Netflix’s 403. Three other contenders – Disney, the BBC and Comcast – came close with 387, 373, and 353 first-run shows respectively, it said.

    This group of six pulled further ahead of their global rivals through 2021 with each supporting the expansion of their own subscription video on demand (SVoD) services. WarnerMedia also accelerated through the year but not enough to rank in the top six.

    However, for 2022 it is those shows commissioned but not yet released, the in-production slate, that will be key, noted Ampere study. Discovery’s typical commissions (largely documentaries) have a shorter production timescale and are lower cost and less high-profile than titles on Netflix’s still predominantly scripted slate. Netflix is set to release most of its 243 in-production TV titles in 2022 (with an additional 106 films) which will push the streamer’s overall slate of original releases to over 2,000 titles.

    It should be noted that the above figures for 2021 exclude the US majors’ growing SVoD film slate.  The US majors combined commissioned 74 film titles specifically for SVoD. However, adding Netflix’s 203 commissioned films in 2021 would push the global streamer into first place, albeit via a less direct comparison.

    Through their in-production TV show commissions for their VoD platforms, studios’ intentions are laid bare. Among all the TV shows currently being produced by Disney, 58 per cent are now originals for its streaming platform, Disney+. WarnerMedia follows closely behind with 85 titles for HBO Max, representing 48 per cent of shows it currently has in production. Titles destined for VoD make up 39 per cent of ViacomCBS’s current slate and 28 per cent of Comcast’s.

    The year 2022 will see further additions to these slates as the studio-backed VoD services continue to expand both their original catalogues and subscriber bases, both domestically and, increasingly, internationally.

  • Discovery Inc invests in advanced TV ad company OpenAP

    Discovery Inc invests in advanced TV ad company OpenAP

    Mumbai: Discovery Inc has joined FOX, NBCUniversal, and ViacomCBS to buy a minority stake in OpenAP, the advanced advertising company which is working on a goal to “bring simplicity and scale to audience-based campaigns in television. The decision comes as media companies worldwide look for improved ways of audience measurement.

    The joint venture created by several media industry giants, centralises data activation on behalf of premium national TV publishers, bringing efficiency and scale to audience-based campaigns.

    The recent announcement furthers Discovery’s strategy of building a technical framework that enables cross-platform audience-based buying and creating collaborative support for alternative currency standards, it said in a statement. The factual-life entertainment giant will join OpenAP’s board of directors with chief US Advertising sales officer Jon Steinlauf, and executive VP digital ad sales and advanced advertising Jim Keller, both representing the company.

    “Discovery is excited to take an active role shaping the future of advanced audience buying,” said Discovery’s executive VP digital ad sales and advanced advertising Jim Keller. “Given our current momentum, influence, and growth of audience-based sales, we believe Discovery can help further the work OpenAP has been doing to initiate meaningful change in the market.”

    The investment signals an expansion of Discovery’s existing relationship with OpenAP, having integrated with the central TV identity spine, OpenID in April last year, and more recently partnering with OpenAP on the launch of XPm, the publisher-backed cross-platform measurement framework. For OpenAP, it will help further its ability to grow the overall market for audience-based advertising and expand the breadth and scale of its services across cross-platform identity, measurement, and planning.

    “Discovery has long been a pioneer of TV entertainment with its iconic portfolio of content and direct-to-consumer experiences people love. The last two years have demonstrated the force of change that can happen when we take an audience-first approach to reimagining TV advertising for media owners, advertisers, and consumers alike,” said OpenAP CEO David Levy.

    In a joint statement, FOX senior VP, data strategy and sales innovation Dan Callahan, NBCUniversal president, and chief business officer Krishan Bhatia, and ViacomCBS COO – advertising revenue John Halley at ViacomCBS, stated that Discovery’s commitment further validates OpenAP’s mission and builds on the success and scale of our collective organisations work to build a more advanced model for TV advertising that focuses on audiences.  “OpenAP has been a catalyst for bringing programmers and marketers together to change the model, and we’re proud to now have Discovery join us to accelerate these efforts,” they added.

  • #Retrace2021: Inching towards a connected future of audience measurement

    #Retrace2021: Inching towards a connected future of audience measurement

    Mumbai: It was for the first time since the 1960s, that Nielsen’s measurement lost a “seal of approval” from the industry that uses it, as leading advertisers and TV networks sought alternate means of counting their audiences. The TV measurement company had long faced criticism from the Video Advertising Bureau (trade organisation representing the advertising sales departments of networks and distributors) over undercounting the TV viewing during the pandemic, and the exclusion of broadband-only homes. The months-long feud culminated in the suspension of accreditation of Nielsen’s national and local TV ratings service by the Media Ratings Council, effective mid-September 2021.

    Also read: Nielsen loses accreditation for TV measurement service

    Matters were further compounded by NBCUniversal launching a measurement RFP in August, calling for “measurement independence”. In September, even as Nielsen CEO David Kenny acknowledged the gap and bias in measurement as a result of the exclusion of broadband-only homes representing nearly 30 per cent of TV households in some local markets, ViacomCBS announced its partnership with software and data platform, VideoAmp for TV measurement data. The move opened the way for other networks to explore alternative means of counting their audiences.

    Also read: ViacomCBS teams up with VideoAmp for TV Measurement after Nielsen loses accreditation

    At the centre of this growing dissatisfaction with the panel-based measurement system was the Connected-TV revolution and the under as well as misrepresentation of the large universe of the audience that has either completely cut the cord or is consuming both linear and CTV across devices and platforms. The industry was clamouring for a unified identifier that could bring about fundamental changes in the current measurement system which oversimplifies viewing across CTV by extending linear TV measurement standards to it and/or combining two viewing data sets that do not have common metrics.

    Hopes were now pinned on Nielsen ONE, Nielsen’s single cross-media product providing reach and frequency metrics by delivering a holistic, deduplicated view of both content and ad performance regardless of screen, device or platform.

    Laying the groundwork for implementing the new flagship currency across local, national and digital measurement towards the end of September, Nielsen announced the “Impressions First Initiative” for impression-based buying and selling in local markets across the US, as well as the integration of Broadband-Only Homes into local measurement in January 2022. The impression-based currency will deliver a more complete, precise and representative audience measurement, along with the added benefit of enabling cross-platform audience measurement, it said. 

    Going full-throttle on its digital transformation, in October Nielsen unveiled a new brand campaign, including a new identity, reflecting the company’s focus on delivering digital-first and global-first media solutions in three areas—measurement, audience outcomes and content services. The shift signaled the combining and enhancing its measurement solutions into the single cross-media measurement solution, Nielsen One.

    Announcing the year’s biggest development and the culmination of a long wait, on 21 December 2021, Nielsen unveiled the first iteration of Nielsen ONE, ‘NielsenONE Alpha’ with Disney and MAGNA as participants. The newest deduplicated ad-measurement will continue to evolve with new feature additions, enhancements, and model improvements leading up to the launch of the final product in the fourth quarter of 2022.

    Aligning India with the global digital shift  

    While the connected TV/OTT ecosystem in India is not as well developed and deeply entrenched yet, it is relevant here to recall Barc India’s intent to initiate ‘one video view’ measurement, announced in September 2020 by ex CEO Sunil Lulla. At the height of the TRP scam that broke out around the same time, a section of the industry had expressed doubt regarding some stakeholders derailing the ratings agency’s efforts and intentions to bring forth a unified, cross-platform measurement system.

    Also read: Nielsen to launch new commercial metrics to track individual ads on TV

    The TRP committee formed in the aftermath of the scandal recommended measures to reinstate faith in the current rating system by strengthening corporate governance within Barc India at the board level through independent technical oversight, term limits, and wide representation that minimises conflicts of interest. The 39-page report also pushed for the formation of multiple rating agencies in competition to Barc India and creating a specialised regulator to oversee all of them.

    Even as it addressed the pitfalls in linear TV measurement, the four-member panel led by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati laid down the framework for a comprehensive transformation and democratisation of the country’s rating systems and standards in line with the global shift towards digital.

    Considering the increasing convergence between STBs and smart media devices and the emergence of hybrid boxes capable of both CAS compliant linear TV viewing and internet streaming-based OTT viewing, the committee recommended a Return Path Data (RPD) mandate in all future STBs deployed by Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs). It also noted the emergence of smartphone-based apps capable of interacting with such hybrid boxes as paving the way for additional avenues for RPD data capture and relay.

    Further, it suggested the government/regulator examines incentives and policy interventions including FDI norms in the media audience measurement technology space so that India emerges as the hub for global innovation in this sector.

    Acknowledging the growth in digital advertising as well as the trend of linear TV viewing over interfaces other than traditional televisions and beyond the threshold of conventional households, the committee stressed the need for regulatory interventions to foster innovation while allowing for value chains to evolve, keeping pace with global trends and local market dynamics.

    “A hallmark of digital innovations over the past few decades has been disintermediation within value chains and disruption across industry domains, leveling the playing field and spurring competition. The world of linear television ought to be no exception to such disintermediation between buyers and sellers of media. There are no reasons why new models of advertising such as platform-based advertising, location-based advertising, programmatic advertising, etc must not emerge,” it said while adding that the guidelines prescribed must not privilege any one business model over another, nor create barriers to the emergence of more efficient business models.

    The above recommendations are both practicable and necessary considering the pace at which television viewing is evolving in India. As per mediasmart’s India CTV Report 2021, CTV viewing in India is on a significant uptick and increased by 31 per cent, compared to 81 per cent globally. Even though India is still a young market, it has tremendous potential for CTV adoption by consumers. In April 2020, 21 per cent of CTV viewing households were cord-cutters (households who cut the cord within the past five years), whereas 22 per cent were cord-nevers (households with no cable/satellite subscription in the past five years).

    Ormax Media research pins the Indian OTT audience universe at 353.2 million people, translating into a penetration of 25.3 per cent. According to various other estimates, the figure including YouTube is roughly 500 million. As regards CTV adoption, Madison’s Q2 report revealed that smart TV shipments grew by almost 65 per cent, claiming an 80 per cent share of the total TV shipments. Their massive adoption was fuelled by starting price points as low as Rs.15000.

    Given that TV as a medium still has considerable scope for growth in India, preparing for a connected future may seem like a long shot at this juncture. However, the Indian market which is often typecast as ‘underdeveloped’ is also a curious one where the digital revolution is being brought about by smartphones that have outmaneuvered PCs as the primary or base medium. With the current regulatory regime that seems to accelerate the clear segmentation of audience between Free Dish and streaming services by allegedly disincentivising Pay/Cable TV, we might be in for more surprises. 

  • Amazon ropes in Kelly Day to lead international streaming business

    Amazon ropes in Kelly Day to lead international streaming business

    Mumbai: Amazon has appointed Kelly Day in a newly created role as vice president, Prime Video international. She will oversee streaming operations outside the US and report to Prime Video and Amazon Studios senior vice president Mike Hopkins.

    She will begin her new role in January 2022.

    Day was previously at ViacomCBS leading international streaming services and led the global rollout of their premium subscription video-on-demand service Paramount+ in 2021 and the international expansion of their free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service Pluto TV.

    “Overwhelming day as I announced the end of an amazing chapter at ViacomCBS and the beginning of something new and exciting at Amazon. To my friends and colleagues at VCBS, I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished at Paramount+ and Pluto and forever grateful to have had the opportunity to work with all of you. Looking forward to starting 2022 and joining the incredibly talented team at Amazon Prime Video,” said Kelly on LinkedIn.

    Kelly joined ViacomCBS in 2017 as president of Viacom Digital Studios. She has 25 years of experience in launching digital brands and businesses. She has served on the board of directors of Blue Ant Media and NATPE. She’s also had stints at Discovery Communications and America Online (AOL).

  • ViacomCBS quarterly global streaming revenues cross $1 billion mark

    ViacomCBS quarterly global streaming revenues cross $1 billion mark

    Mumbai: ViacomCBS global streaming revenue surpassed $ one billion for the first time in the third quarter 2021 with a growth of 62 per cent year-on-year. The company added 4.7 million net subscribers during the quarter reaching nearly 47 million subscribers. This includes the streaming platforms Paramount+, Showtime, BET+ and Noggin.

    The company saw 79 per cent growth YoY in streaming subscription revenue. It generated 48 per cent YoY growth in streaming advertising revenue, largely driven by Pluto TV, which grew global monthly active users (MAUs) to over 54 million and revenue by 99 per cent YoY. In terms of monetization, global streaming subscription ARPU increased 8 per cent year-over-year.

    The company’s total revenue was up by 13 per cent for the quarter ended 30 September at $6.6 billion. The pace of subscriber growth has slowed compared to the previous quarter when the company added 6.5 million new additions across its streaming services.  

    The company attributed the growth of subscribers and consumption on Paramount+ on its diverse global content offering including “A Quiet Place Part II,” “Paw Patrol: The Movie,” the return of the NFL, and the New CBS Fall Season.

    “The strength and momentum of both Paramount+ and Pluto TV are clearly evident, and demonstrate the power of the strategy we laid out at our investor event earlier this year,” said ViacomCBS president and chief executive officer Robert Bakish. “To that end, I want to remind you of three key enablers driving the ViacomCBS strategy, all of which we’re seeing in action. First, an incredible breadth and depth of compelling content which is critical to attracting and retaining consumers globally; second, robust distribution and marketing, which ensures we can build the broadest reach and awareness; and third, a strong and flexible financial engine to enable streaming investment, drive RoI and maximize shareholder value.”

    Adding further, he said, “As the leading free ad-supported streaming TV service on the market, Pluto TV is winning in both scale and engagement, and it will be a $1 billion revenue business this year.”

  • ViacomCBS teams up with VideoAmp for TV Measurement after Nielsen loses accreditation

    ViacomCBS teams up with VideoAmp for TV Measurement after Nielsen loses accreditation

    New Delhi: Media and entertainment major ViacomCBS on Tuesday announced its partnership with software and data platform, VideoAmp for TV measurement data, possibly leading the way for other networks as they explore alternative means of counting their audiences.

    The announcement comes weeks after the US industry watchdog Media Rating Council (MRC) suspended the accreditation of Nielsen’s TV rating service. The suspension of the decades-old TV rating service followed a long standoff between Nielsen and the networks over the former’s services, including discrepancies in the data shared by the company during the pandemic. It was for the first time since the 1960s, that Nielsen’s measurement lost a “seal of approval” from the industry that uses it, leading advertisers and TV networks to seek alternate means of counting their audiences. 

    According to the partnership announced on Tuesday, VideoAmp will provide ViacomCBS with an alternative currency to plan, transact and measure national media campaigns accelerating the company’s multi-currency strategy. ViacomCBS which owns CBS, cable networks including Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, and ad-supported streaming services Pluto TV and Paramount Plus will leverage VideoAmp’s proprietary commingled TV Viewership dataset to guarantee linear media transactions against age and gender demographics.

    “The measurement marketplace needs diversification. VideoAmp is an innovator who can help us accelerate our vision around the future of currency. We are excited to leverage their platform to bring better insights and better measurement to advertisers and their agencies,” said ViacomCBS COO of advertising revenue John Halley in a statement.

    Additionally, the media and entertainment company will utilise VideoAmp’s data as an underlying currency to create and guarantee delivery of media campaigns against customised advanced audience segments through Vantage, ViacomCBS’ advanced advertising platform. Vantage is a sophisticated data-targeting platform, offering predictive modeling, continual optimisation, and insights to help advertisers understand their audiences and how best to reach them. 

    Meanwhile, VideoAmp aspires to redefine the way media is valued, bought, and sold. “The VideoAmp dataset is known for its scale as well as its proprietary methodology of combining STB and ACR data into a unified dataset, which enables a de-duplicated view of media delivery and advertising performance against any audience across traditional TV, streaming video, and digital media,” said the data platform in a statement.

    “We are thrilled to be partnering with ViacomCBS as an alternative currency as they go into a new broadcast season. We truly value ViacomCBS and its forward-thinking strategy when it comes to a new era of media transaction, measurement, and, ultimately, the currency options that power it. We want to unlock value for publishers in a privacy-safe way that keeps their audiences at the forefront, regardless of the channel they’re using,” said VideoAmp CEO and co-founder Ross McCray.

  • Brian Robbins to lead Paramount Pictures as chairman & CEO: Reports

    Brian Robbins to lead Paramount Pictures as chairman & CEO: Reports

    Mumbai: ViacomCBS Inc, the parent company of Hollywood-based Paramount Pictures, is expected to name Brian Robbins as next chairman and chief executive officer of the film studio. Currently serving as ViacomCBS’ president of kid and family entertainment, Robbins will succeed Jim Gianopulos, who has run the company since 2017, reported The Wall Street Journal.

    In addition to leading the studio, Robbins will reportedly retain his roles at Nickelodeon and Paramount+ streaming service.

    The move comes as ViacomCBS is bolstering its presence in online streaming against the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, etc. Paramount+ currently has 42 million subscribers and aims to have a subscriber base of 65-75 million by 2024.  According to media reports, Gianopulos will stay aboard to assist with the transition of the leadership team.

    Robbins took the reigns of Paramount’s kids channel Nickelodeon as president in 2018. Prior to that, he served as president of Paramount Players, a production division of the studio that develops, produces and markets feature films from original source material and in collaboration with Viacom flagship brands Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and BET.

    Paramount is likely to announce the change soon.

  • ViacomCBS restructures its global leadership

    ViacomCBS restructures its global leadership

    New Delhi: Global media and entertainment major ViacomCBS has announced that it will unify the company’s US and international businesses under a simplified global leadership structure. Effective immediately, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins were promoted to the role of president & CEO, with global oversight for their respective brand groups, MTV Entertainment Group and Nickelodeon.

    In addition, CBS president and CEO George Cheeks will expand his role to include responsibility for a global content strategy across ViacomCBS’ FTA networks around the world.

    McCarthy, Robbins, and Cheeks will continue to report to ViacomCBS, president and CEO, Bob Bakish and work closely with ViacomCBS Networks International, president and CEO Raffaele Annecchino. International brand leadership will be realigned under this new structure.

    In addition, ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group president, Dan Cohen will add distribution of ViacomCBS International Studios content to his group’s mandate, which will now oversee all ViacomCBS content licensing and distribution globally. Barbara Zaneri assumes the title of chief program acquisitions officer for ViacomCBS, to reflect her expanded role leading all acquisitions globally across linear, streaming and pay. Zaneri will continue to report to McCarthy and partner closely with leaders across ViacomCBS and VCNI.

    “These changes enable a truly global approach to brand management, content acquisitions and licensing across ViacomCBS’ networks around the world,” said Bob Bakish. “With a global reach of 4.1 billion cumulative homes in over 180 countries, our globally aligned leadership structure will ensure that our internationally recognized brands and content are ubiquitous across every platform and every market.”

  • Is Comcast eyeing a mega-streaming deal?

    New Delhi: The world is moving towards streaming at a pace like never before. And, the media titans are eyeing every opportunity they can get to consolidate their digital entertainment businesses and brace up for the streaming war.

    After AT&T and Amazon, it is now the turn of the US cable giant Comcast to make its move to turbocharge its streaming operations. According to media reports, the company is mulling a mega-deal with one of the two media giants- Roku or ViacomCBS.

    However, the question that Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts is wrestling with is- whether to build something internally or buy to become a streaming powerhouse, reported The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The merger seems unlikely, but Roberts is evaluating his options, which include a potential tie-up with ViacomCBS or acquisition of Roku Inc, the business daily reported citing unidentified persons.

    All three companies have declined to comment on the matter and issued no statements so far.

    The US cable giant Comcast had branched out from its cable and broadband into entertainment in 2009 with the acquisition of NBCUniversal, whose streaming service Peacock is yet to catch up with the likes of Netflix or Disney+. However, its broadband business has continued to grow. As the first wave of the pandemic ravaged the world last year, its broadband business added nearly two million customers and the unit’s revenue rose 10 per cent to about $21 billion.

    An acquisition of streaming giant Roku at this stage could help it to step up its streaming game against the industry titans – Netflix, Disney, and Amazon. Roku’s valuation has more than tripled in the past year to $53 billion.  

    On the other hand, a transaction with ViacomCBS which owns streaming service Paramount+ could provide the much-needed boost to its streaming operations, but it is too early to say.

    However, several analysts say, the latest buzz could be just ‘speculation’ as a merger at this stage seems unlikely. One of the reasons is that Comcast has been largely focussing on developing the software behind its Xfinity cable boxes, called X1, and its Flex streaming boxes which resemble Roku. The other being its potential partnership with Walmart to further the Smart TV technology.

    The reports come close on the heels of two major media deals that happened over the last few weeks. First AT&T announced its decision to spin off entertainment giant WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery becoming the world’s second-largest media firm by revenue after Disney. The new entity Warner Bros. Discovery is now led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Soon thereafter, Amazon made its most ambitious move in the entertainment business and announced that it is buying MGM Studios.

    So, whether or not Comcast is considering a transaction with ViacomCBS or the acquisition of Roku, it has definitely stirred many questions on the cable giant’s next step.