ViacomCBS Sees 71 Percent Year-Over-Year Increase in Domestic Streaming Subscribers

February 25, 2021 Topic: Technology Region: Americas Blog Brand: Techland Tags: ViacomCBSStreamingEntertainmentRevenue

ViacomCBS Sees 71 Percent Year-Over-Year Increase in Domestic Streaming Subscribers

ViacomCBS offers a separate streaming service from Showtime, as well as the free, ad-supported Pluto TV.

ViacomCBS this week announced that its domestic streaming subscriber count has risen to 19.2 million, a 71 percent year-over-year jump. Worldwide, the company’s subscribers hit nearly 30 million. The company “delivered robust global streaming & digital video revenue and user growth across its premium, pay and free services,” they said in their earnings release.

As for the company’s free streaming service, Pluto TV, reached a monthly average user number of 30.1 million domestically and 43 million worldwide. 

ViacomCBS posted revenues of $6.874 billion. The performance beat analyst estimates for EPS, but was slightly below in revenues, per Seeking Alpha.  

The earnings release came prior to a planned presentation where ViacomCBS will lay out its strategy for the Paramount+, which will succeed the existing CBS All Access service in early March. 

The company announced a 71 percent year-over-year growth in global streaming and digital video revenue, to $888 million. 

“We started 2020 with clear goals: unlock the power of our combination, build robust operating momentum and accelerate our streaming strategy — and we delivered,” the company’s CEO, Bob Bakish, said in the release. 

“In Q4, despite the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, we finished the year with strong advertising and affiliate results that demonstrate the strength of our core businesses and achieved incredible growth across our linked streaming ecosystem, reaching nearly 30 million global subscribers and over 43 million Pluto TV global MAUs. At today’s streaming investor event, we look forward to showcasing our opportunity to expand our position and bring ViacomCBS content and brands to streaming audiences around the world.”

There was heavy advertising during the recent Super Bowl, which was broadcast on CBS, of Paramount+, which will offer a large amount of content from across properties owned by ViacomCBS, including Paramount Pictures, CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, and others, plus a large library of popular older movies. 

Those commercials featured several “characters” from across those properties, including Snooki, SpongeBob Squarepants, Beavis & Butt-head, “Star Trek”’s Captain Picard, and different CBS football announcers, gathering on top of a mountain. 

ViacomCBS has described its Paramount+ plans as a “House of Brands” strategy, which is similar to the one deployed very successfully by Disney in its launch of Disney+, which has separate sections for Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic, and other Disney-associated properties. 

CBS All Access launched in 2014 and has been around longer than many of its streaming rivals. But it never launched internationally, and despite such popular series as “The Good Fight” and multiple “Star Trek” series, it’s generally been seen as a streaming also-ran. ViacomCBS also offers a separate streaming service from Showtime, as well as the free, ad-supported Pluto TV. 

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for the National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters