Paramount+ with Showtime premium tier debuts to fortify Paramount Global’s platform strategy

Go big and go broad – that is Paramount Global’s strategy as it formally raises the curtain Tuesday on the Paramount+ With Showtime premium tier on the company’s primary streaming platform.

Paramount+ will begin offering its new top tier of service that now encompasses Showtime’s large library of content for $11.99 per month. That’s up $2 from the previous top-end Paramount+ package. But it’s less than the cost to consumers today for both services, even with Paramount’s previous discounts for those who subscribed to both services. The company’s ad-supported Paramount+ Essential Plan (without Showtime) is going up from $4.99 to $5.99 per month.

While Paramount+ and Showtime have been offered in bundles before, the formal integration of the familiar Showtime logo with its much younger streaming sibling is a milestone for the pay-TV industry. Showtime is a foundational cable TV brand that came on the scene in 1976, four years after HBO’s debut.

Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Paramount Streaming, is focused on building out Paramount+ as the broadest possible “whole-household” service that encompasses everything from children’s content (Nickelodeon), news, sports and late-night (via CBS) to movies (Paramount Pictures) and high-end streaming dramas via Paramount+ (“Tulsa King,” “1883,” “Star Trek”) and now Showtime.

“Streaming is a scale game,” Ryan told Variety. “In order for us to drive large adoption of subscribers and retention of those same subscribers, having a broad offering is very important. Paramount+ has been the fastest-growing paid service in the U.S. now for over two years since it launched. We’re confident that aggregating and putting Showtime into it is the right path forward.”

Paramount Global has a lot of its future banked on the growth of the Paramount+ platform. The company’s stock plummetted about 50% in May amid market turbulence and a weak 2023 earnings forecast. Shares were up 1.4% at the close of trading Monday to $15.57.

For now, Showtime will still exist as a standalone linear cable channel that can be purchased through a traditional cable operator, DirecTV or Dish Network in the U.S. Over time, the Showtime linear channel will also be rebranded and Paramount+ original content will be added into the channel’s linear schedule.

Showtime “is an iconic brand that is known for complex characters and powerful worlds. It’s known for high-quality premium shows, and that brand is at home with Paramount+,” Ryan said. “Subscribers of Showtime will get a tremendous amount of additional content that they can watch, all in the same app. Broad aggregation is the only way to really win in streaming. You need to have a service that appeals to everyone in the household and at the scale to keep people subscribing year-round.”

Paramount Global has its own evidence that a broader mix of content keeps users more engaged. Among existing subscribers who previously took Paramount+ and Showtime at a bundled discount (albeit via separate apps), those viewers watched 40% more titles overall that those that only subscribed to Paramount+. Bundle subscribers also spent about 20% more time on the service overall than those who paid only for Paramount+.

The biggest subscription drivers for Showtime in recent months have been the buzzy ensemble drama “Yellowjackets,” which just wrapped its second season in May, and “Your Honor,” starring Bryan Cranston.

“This is competitively priced compared to some of the other big streamers out there,” Ryan said. “When you think of the breadth and depth of content that we have all in one app for $11.99, it’s tremendous value.”

The marriage of Showtime and Paramount+ will undoubtedly mean changes in scripted content allocation priorities for both imprints. Ryan emphasized that Paramount’s goal is to “harmonize” all of the company’s content production efforts.

“In leveraging the content engines, we’ve got this notion of One Paramount where we’re really trying to make the most of our different studios and distribution platforms,” he said. “What Paramount+ is doing with the integration of Showtime underscores the importance of that strategy and the success we’ve had with Paramount+.” Variety