Lately, there has been a wave of consolidation across the streaming industry. Warner Bros. Discovery recently brought a majority of Discovery+ content together with HBO Max’s catalog on the newly christened ‘Max’ platform. Disney also recently announced that it would make Hulu and Disney+ content available on a unified streaming app later this year. While some of these changes have been recent announcements, the rolling together of Paramount+ and Showtime has been on the cards for a while.
As Showtime is set to be sunset as a standalone streaming platform in June, we looked at the most in-demand shows and movies available on the platform to get an understanding of what content will be most valuable for enticing subscribers to sign up for the Paramount+ with Showtime tier and prove this bundle's value to subscribers.
From Showtime’s movie catalog, Everything Everywhere All At Once was by far the most in-demand in April. It had 50.43 times the average movie demand for the month, putting it far ahead of any other movie on Showtime. The film is still riding high from its awards season dominance earlier this year. In addition to this, other A24 films like Midsommar and Uncut Gems make up a majority of the ten most in-demand films available on Showtime.
Yellowjackets is currently the most in-demand Showtime series. With 42.56 times the average series demand in April, it has a wide lead over other Showtime series. The show is currently in its second season which has captured even more audience attention than its first season which was a breakout success. Of the ten most in-demand Showtime series, only the top two, Yellowjackets and Billions, have not yet ended. This points to a potential weakness of the Showtime catalog - a lack of in-demand current series.
One positive indicator for Paramount’s plans to roll these two platforms together is the similarity of their audiences. Original series from both Paramount+ and Showtime largely appeal to a similar audience - older and evenly split between men and women. This makes Paramount+ a natural home for Showtime as it ends its run as a standalone streaming service. Additionally, plans to eventually bring Paramount+ shows to the Showtime TV network mean that these streaming originals will find a receptive audience in the network’s linear viewers.
