Bob Bakish, President & CEO of Paramount Global, highlighted the company's emphasis this year on expanding its streaming services while bolstering its traditional business. Paramount’s premier streaming platform, Paramount+, witnessed an uptick in audience demand metrics during the second quarter of 2023. The data from Parrot Analytics reveals that Paramount+’s global streaming originals demand share surged to an all-time high of 5.0% this quarter, surpassing Hulu to clinch the 5th position.
The role Paramount’s primary franchises - the Taylor Sheridan verse and Star Trek - played in elevating demand for its originals cannot be understated. These two franchises accounted for seven of the 10 most in-demand Paramount+ originals worldwide, and eight of the top 10 in the US last quarter. Since we’ve previously covered this topic, we will instead aim to spotlight the significant impact of Paramount+’s movie library on its recent growth.
Despite its limited collection, movies account for 47.0% of the overall demand for Paramount+ content. When compared with major SVOD platforms, this percentage is only outdone by Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, all of which boast more extensive libraries. A key strength of Paramount+'s movie library is the inclusion of renowned Paramount Pictures hits, with movies like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Top Gun: Maverick, Titanic, and Top Gun being the platform's most in-demand.
The platform’s appeal is further amplified by its exclusive housing of recent Paramount blockbusters in the US market, such as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which despite underperforming at the box office, is still generating interest and 2018’s Mission: Impossible - Fallout in the US market. These helped Paramount+ to attract more subscribers.
In a pattern parallel to its TV offerings, a significant portion of the demand for Paramount+’s movie collection is attributed to its iconic IPs and franchises like Transformers, Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, and older Indiana Jones movies (which, as a Lucasfilm property, now falls under Disney with the release of The Dial of Destiny).
While the recent growth is encouraging, Paramount+ still has some way to go before joining the top three streamers: Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
