ViacomCBS to re-brand as Paramount, targets 100 million streaming customers by 2024

For more than a century, the name Paramount has been synonymous with some of the world’s most well known cult classics and even pioneered through the Golden Age of Hollywood. 

In a surprise move this morning, ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC) in the US revealed that it was officially changing its corporate name to Paramount Global, or more simply, Paramount. 

ViacomCBS results from a successful merger two years ago between Viacom and CBS to create the conglomerate that we know today. Since then, the Company has put all its resources into re-branding the CBS All Access streaming service into Paramount+, where the service is home to all of the Company’s entertainment brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Showtime.

The move to re-brand the Company was to encompass and emphasise the Company’s growing scope in the media landscape. In the memo where the re-branding was announced, plans were discussed to move and expand its streaming service, Paramount+, in the US and abroad. 

“It has been one year since the spectacular launch of Paramount+ and two years since the successful merger of Viacom and CBS. In that time, we have shown the world what we knew from the start: that together, aligned around a shared vision and shared strategy, we create a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts,” president & CEO Bob Bakish and Shari Redstone, non-executive chairman of the Company, said in an internal memo.

The announcement came as the Company revealed its final quarter results ahead of an investor day for ViacomCBS. Paramount+ reported that they had added more than 7 million subscribers in the final quarter of 2021, the best quarter in its history, while ViacomCBS now has 56 million subscribers across all of its streaming services. The revised guidance projected that the service will sign up 100 million new users by 2024.

Netflix, its biggest rival in comparison, reported net subscriber additions of 8.28 million for the same period, adding to their total subscriber count of 214 million. 

Although we are witnessing one of the fastest-growing streaming services, Paramount+ still only holds a fraction of the number of subscribers compared to streaming giants Netflix and Disney+.

“We want you to take note of the extraordinary progress we have made over the last two years and all the momentum we have gathered,” said Mr Redstone.

For the fourth quarter of 2021, total sales were up 16%, driven solely by streaming, with the company generating $1.3 billion in revenue, up 48% for the year prior, while advertising sales remained flat. Shares slipped 2% on the back of the earnings report, closing at $35.03. 

Shares of Paramount will trade on the NASDAQ under the new ticker code PARAA (class A common), PARA (class B common) and PARAP (preferred stock), which will begin trading on 17 February 2022.

Throughout 2022, the Company hopes to release some in-demand titles that will get users signing up to its platform. These titles include the creators of “South Park”, Trey Stone and Matt Parker, to make original movies for the service, a prequel to “Yellowstone” called “1883”, a reboot of the classic “Beavis and Butt-Head’, and a spinoff of “NCIS” for Australian audiences.