Paramount Global, the company formerly known as ViacomCBS, is forging ahead in the future of streaming. During its investor event in February where the company announced its name change, Paramount announced its continued global expansion this year, and in 2023, the company is eyeing to target key markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. 

On the heels of the company’s big announcement, Catherine Park, Senior Vice President, Head of Office & Streaming for Asia at Paramount Global revealed in an interview with Television Asia Plus that the company is accelerating its streaming efforts in the region.

Paramount+ Asian expansion

“We have surpassed our expectations for our streaming plans,” Catherine shared. “Last year, we launched Paramount+ in 25 markets and expanded PlutoTV to 26 markets. With SkyShowtime and Paramount+, we target to have streaming services in more than 60 markets by the end of this year and expect to hit 100 million global subscribers for streaming by the end of 2024.” 

Paramount+ will be making an entry into Asia with the upcoming launch of the platform in Korea in June 2022. Catherine revealed that Paramount is currently evaluating the feasibility for Japan and across Southeast Asia. Aside from this, Paramount is looking to expand its other streaming products such as PlutoTV, depending on market needs, for instance, where an AVOD proposition makes more sense. 

Premium and local content in the pipeline

With Paramount’s push into Asia, Catherine said that the company will be creating 50 new international scripted originals this year. Kickstarting their foray into Asia is the recently-announced Yonder, Paramount’s first South Korean scripted original series co-created with TVING as part of their partnership with Seoul-based entertainment company, CJ ENM. 

“We aim to create more premium local content to contribute to our global pipeline, whether produced by Paramount or co-produced with partners,” Catherine said. “In terms of content and genres, we don’t focus on specific genres but rather, we aim to cater to what would resonate with our local audiences.” 

While Paramount’s content strategy is guided by local consumer data, the company is open to trying diverse stories in various formats and genres. But as consumer needs are constantly changing, Paramount is open to exploring new forms of entertainment be it gaming, metaverse content and even XR content such as live events–all in the name of owning consumers’ viewing time and interests. 

In addition to new content, Paramount is also looking at local remakes of some of its hit titles such as NCIS, The Shore franchise, Why Women Kill, The Affairs, and Dynasty. 

While various streaming platforms have their own content proposition and business models, Paramount’s entry into the region brings to the table a breadth of its diverse content, streaming models, platforms, and global reach. Catherine said, “We don’t apply a one-size-fits-all approach worldwide, and we tailor our market entry with a focus on local content development to be the best global platform for non-English content as well.” 

Global opportunities in streaming

With its main focus on streaming, Paramount sees a huge global opportunity to capture audiences and create value for its viewers and partners. With this in mind, Paramount continues to grow its business and cement its future as a player in the streaming space with entertainment-defining brands, more new content, and enhanced product offerings. Catherine said, “In Asia, while we are focusing on accelerating our streaming efforts, we continue to also optimise our channel business as well as our consumer products and location-based entertainment, all of which remain important for us.” 

Catherine observed that in 2022, consumption habits for media and entertainment is rapidly transitioning to on-demand as there have been many OTT players–both global and local—in every market. With the competition, Catherine said that it’s a necessity to invest in original and exclusive content for subscriber acquisitions, as well as volume to retain subscribers. She noted that it is increasingly difficult to not just be profitable but also sustain profitability.

“I think we will see more consolidation or bundling of subscription services, and local players will need to seek ways to expand their subscriber base beyond their local markets or to pursue co-productions with regional or global players in order to recoup production cost from other than their home country,” she shared. On the other hand, Catherine believes that consumers will be “spoilt for choice” with many streamers offering different content. Case in point–consumers will opt in and out of various products more freely, depending on what new and exclusive content is offered, whether for ad or subscription-based. 

With this, Catherine said that OTT players will need to try to diversify content genres and the method of offering, as well as their content-dropping formats to cater to fast-changing consumer tastes. Catherine said, “Players will focus on creating a cosmic view of franchised content to build up super fans and leverage other businesses such as merchandising to fuel fandom.” 

A version of this story appears in the March-April 2022 issue of Television Asia Plus.