By: Caitlyn Dour, Ethan Jones, Kailea Martin, Rachael McNamara, Sammie Paul, and Victoria Sprowls, researched as component of their MA in Entertainment Industry Management at Carnegie Mellon University. Their research was part of a capstone done in conjunction with Paramount Global Content Distribution.
Read Part 2 of this research here.
“Does it make sense to play the role of “content arms dealer” for the industry with valuable licensing deals, at the expense of developing [owned] platforms to compete in the direct-to- consumer race?
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Image: Paramount Pictures
Image Source: Unsplash
Introduction
This report considers content and distribution strategies that allow Paramount Global Content Distribution (PGCD) to maximize subscriber growth and external licensing revenue. As the television space becomes increasingly saturated with content, PGCD needs to find opportunities to increase the value of its series in the marketplace. We examined how much and which types of content PGCD should license externally versus keep internally. We considered content and distribution strategies that allow Paramount to maximize subscriber growth to Paramount+ and external licensing revenue. Given the symbiotic nature of licensing deals among studios, the team focused on how PGCD can remain competitive in the streaming landscape with a balanced mixture of internally and externally licensed properties.
A global media company rooted in early cinematic production, Paramount Global (known as Viacom until 2019 and ViacomCBS 2019-2022) is one of the premier film and television producers in the entertainment industry. The company’s distribution division, Paramount Global Content Distribution, is a leading distributor of premium film and television content in the global marketplace. The PGCD portfolio houses films and television series from some of the world's strongest brands, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television Studios, CBS Studios, BET, SHOWTIME Networks, Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, and more (Paramount, 2022). As media consumption patterns migrated online in the early 2010s, PGCD began licensing its content to streaming partners.
In 2014, CBS, a long-standing Viacom partner, launched CBS All Access, the first over the-top (OTT) service by a major US broadcast television network. CBS All Access offered CBS’s catalog, live-streamed sports, special events, and key Viacom-licensed legacy content like the Star Trek series (Kastrenakes, 2014). On December 4, 2019, CBS and Viacom merged in a “historic moment that form[ed] one of the world’s most important content producers and providers,” ViacomCBS (Bakish, 2019 as cited in Business Wire, 2019, para. 2). ViacomCBS formally entered the streaming wars in March 2021, rebranding CBS All Access services to Paramount+ (“ViacomCBS Announces,” 2019; ViacomCBS Staff, 2021). In February 2022, ViacomCBS took the new company name, Paramount Global (ViacomCBS Staff, 2022). It is important to note that throughout this paper, we refer to three entities: the client, PGCD, its parent company, Paramount Global, and Paramount+, Paramount Global’s streaming service. Even with its own branded streaming service, the conglomerate continues licensing content to other streaming platforms. Uniquely positioned with a content library that has been a top performer in both linear and streaming, PGCD must now decide which titles and franchises are more valuable when licensed to other streamers rather than to Paramount+ in the next five years.
It is important to note that throughout this paper, we refer to three entities: the client, PGCD, its parent company, Paramount Global, and Paramount+, Paramount Global’s streaming service. Even with its own branded streaming service, the conglomerate continues licensing content to other streaming platforms. Uniquely positioned with a content library that has been a top performer in both linear and streaming, PGCD must now decide which titles and franchises are more valuable when licensed to other streamers rather than to Paramount+ in the next five years.
Image: Paramount
Image Source: Unsplash
executive summary
Step 1: To boost the overall value (derived from the monetary and viewership gains external licensing deals could provide) of Paramount content in the marketplace, PGCD should consider prioritizing external licensing deals to top-performing streaming platforms like Netflix now. Prioritizing external licensing deals with high-subscriber services in the next 2-3 years (until approximately 2026) will give the company opportunities for increased revenue and allow Paramount content to reach more viewers. The more viewers a piece of content has, the more value it can bring Paramount long-term.
Step 2: Once PGCD has successfully increased the value of its content through viewership and consumer trust in the brand, we recommend that the company leverage the marketplace value of its content to begin prioritizing internal licensing deals to feature premiere Paramount shows on Paramount+. Following Yellowstone’s lead, Paramount can capitalize on popular titles licensed externally through spin-off creations. Building these universe expansions internally on Paramount+ allows Paramount to redirect loyal fans of their studio content externally back into their streaming service, boosting internal monetization.
importance of the study
The television content landscape is shifting drastically as consumer behavior and streaming expectations evolve. The consolidation of entertainment companies will continue to affect licensing deals and content placement. As of September 2022, 113 million households in the U.S. had access to a video streaming service, and the average streaming household subscribed to approximately five (Sangari, 2022) of the 50 services available in North America (Baine, 2021). Comparing the average number of streaming services per U.S. household to the total streaming services available in North America, the amount of currently available platforms is unsustainable and likely to consolidate. While consolidation and mergers between media companies are not new to the industry, the streaming service distribution model has put increased pressure on major entertainment companies to acquire more branded studios to create content for their respective streaming services. This pressure, as well as the decreasing value of parent company share prices across the industry and consumer-reported content over-inundation (Dare to Stream, 2022), has led to an increase in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) that is expected to continue in the next five years (Alexander, 2022). In 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, and, in 2021, WarnerMedia merged with Discovery Inc. Potential future M&As would lead to a further contraction of the streaming market, which would mean that, in the next five years, there may be fewer streaming services to which PGCD can license content.
A strategic TV licensing plan can set PGCD up for success in a world where big tech companies like Netflix, Apple, and Amazon dominate entertainment. We examined the content and distribution strategies that allow Paramount+ to maximize subscriber growth and external licensing revenue.
research questions
How are entertainment media companies evaluating their content licensing deals in the face of major industry shifts? Recent M&As, streaming market crowding, and increased competition for consumer attention have changed how consumers interact with streaming content. Prime Video, Disney+, and Netflix prioritize having a vast content catalog. At launch, Disney+ boasted more than 7,500 TV episodes and over 500 films, and Netflix publicized plans to release a staggering 70 original movies every week in 2021 (Tran, 2022). However, is access to quantity more important than quality in a content-saturated landscape? In October 2022, United Talent Agency’s bespoke research department, “IQ,” found that “high-quality content” is one of the most important factors consumers consider when deciding to stay subscribed to a streaming service (Bloom, 2022, para. 10). PGCD licensed legacy series South Park to HBO Max and Yellowstone to Peacock, losing out on opportunities to market Paramount+ as the exclusive home for those high-quality, fan-favorite franchises. These shows might have driven subscriptions if they had been exclusively licensed internally to Paramount+.
As PGCD lays the groundwork for its licensing strategy in the next five years, it should carefully consider which Paramount Global titles license to other streaming services to be competitive in the streaming space and maximize revenue.
Image: Streaming
Image Source: Unsplash
data gathering
To provide PGCD with key insights and content strategy recommendations, we have investigated the following questions:
1. What are key factors consumers consider when subscribing to streaming platforms?
2. How should PGCD tailor licensing deals to strategically reach audiences that value specific content while increasing brand awareness?
3. Should PGCD continue externally licensing some of its most popular shows, or should it focus on retaining key content for Paramount+?
Survey
Our capstone team conducted an online survey of persons 18+ to build perspective on how audiences’ preferences for different TV series and streaming platforms can inform PGCD’s licensing strategies. The survey was distributed digitally through email, text, and social media. The survey spanned 26 days, opening on January 24, 2023, and closing on February 19, 2023.
Interviews
Interviewing industry professionals was integral to understanding relevant licensing opportunities and challenges, content valuation, and branding strategies. Due to the proprietary nature of content licensing, our interviewees requested to remain anonymous in this report. Over three months, we interviewed an Executive Director at Disney General Entertainment, a member of the ABC Signature Studios development team, an Executive in Content Acquisition at Hulu, a Principal Research Manager at Hulu, the SVP of Content and Consumer Insights at NBCUniversal’s Entertainment Networks, the President of ITV Studios America, and two Distribution EVPs at Sony Pictures Television. These interviews provided meaningful, qualitative perspectives that have informed our recommendation.
Second-Hand Research
To complement our primary research, we utilized comprehensive studies on consumer behavior and streaming service subscriber forecasts from entertainment research institutions like Variety Intelligence Platform and Nielsen. We leveraged insights from these sources to supplement and support our recommendations. Additionally, given the fast-changing nature of content strategy in the current media landscape, we monitored significant business and streaming developments by studying articles from trade publications such as Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline. These publications helped us evaluate real-time developments related to the streaming space and TV licensing deals from October 2022 to May 2023.
Limitations of the Study
Our recommendations are limited to what is publicly known of prominent streamers’ business, product, viewership, and content offerings as of May 2023. The valuation of TV titles has been based on a letter ranking system given to us by the client rather than financial assessments, which would extend beyond our project’s scope. “A” titles refer to shows with high viewership and impact, “B” titles refer to shows with mid-range viewership and impact, and “C” titles refer to shows with low viewership and impact. We measured audience interest in popular franchises and Paramount Global-owned titles through an online consumer survey. A sampling bias in our survey population skews towards persons who interact through digital and social media. Brands and series were presented to respondents in lists, meaning that audience interest was measured from aided responses. Regional, education level, and relationship demographics were not taken into account.
Definitions of Terms
For reader clarity, the frequently used terms are defined below:
(a) Platform Loyalist, a casual term for viewers who accept the limitations of the content offered by their primary platforms and are more easily retained;
(b) Content Adventurer, a casual term for viewers who actively track down preferred content through various methods, such as seasonally subscribing and churning from platforms;
(c) Legacy Content, library TV series that proved widely popular at the time of release;
(d) Library Content, completed shows that are not putting out new seasons;
(e) Windowing, “the process of managing the release sequence for content to maximize the returns from intellectual property rights” (Doyle [Abstract], 2016). Includes week-to-week and series drop as strategies;
(f) Licensing Deal, a granting of temporary rights to a film or TV show;
(g) Exclusive Show, a show available on a single distribution platform (OTT service);
(h) Original Show, an exclusive show with “Originals” branding by an OTT service that's typically both premiered and hosted for the life of the series by that service.
Summary
Recent changes in the streaming marketplace have led to questions about how streamers can differentiate themselves from the competition and maintain premium content offerings to attract and retain subscribers. Our survey results and research have demonstrated that while legacy franchises are important to the consumer, they are not the only factor consumers consider when evaluating streaming services. In Chapter 2, we will examine previous work in the field and consider the current state of licensing in the entertainment industry.
the marketplace
Competitive shifts in the streaming landscape are well documented in the news, often under the moniker “the streaming wars.” Trade articles announcing streaming-related news (such as new mergers and acquisitions, significant viewership on streamed shows, and licensing agreements) and pertinent quarterly earnings calls have informed our understanding of the space and recommendations. Nielsen’s Audience Insights Report from December 2022 and Variety’s VIP+ Dare To Stream report from November 2022 provided a thorough overview of the current U.S. streaming wars, pressures on entertainment companies to be profitable, and the consumer demand for content.
Image: Paramount+
Image Source: Unsplash
Current State of the Industry
Comprehensive licensing strategies have become necessary for the business model as the streaming landscape expands. Sony, one of the largest independent studios, does not have a Sony-branded streaming platform. Nevertheless, Sony has built a successful licensing-centric distribution model and recently signed an 18-month licensing deal with Netflix, set to close in the Summer of 2023 (Katz, 2021). Conversely, Netflix has become widely known for licensing other studios’ content for its own platform. While Netflix is now focused more on producing original content, “data from uNoGS (Unofficial Netflix Online Global Search) indicates that Netflix had at least 17,300 titles across all its international libraries as of October 2022” (Cook, 2022, para. 63). The size of Netflix’s library suggests that the streamer still relies heavily on licensed content to provide value to its consumers. While Apple TV+ and Disney+ initially banked on the strength of their respective exclusive internal libraries to attract subscribers, other major streaming services see value in licensing titles to and from their competitors to build robust content catalogs. HBO Max (which will be re-launched as Max in May 2023), Paramount+, Peacock, Hulu, Prime Video, and Netflix are the most prominent players in streamed content licensing deals (Hayes, 2023). Notably, in July 2020, Peacock “agreed to a content licensing deal with ViacomCBS to bring Paramount Global movies and TV shows to the Peacock streaming network” (License Global, 2020, para. 1). This deal highlights the symbiotic licensing relationship between Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) competitors.
In December 2022, Disney replaced its CEO, Bob Chapek, with its previous CEO, Bob Iger, who conceptualized Disney’s pivot to subscription-based streaming and stopped Disney’s previous strategy to license externally to Netflix. Since his return, Iger announced that the company will consider externally licensing some of its “B” and “C” tier content once more (Satin, 2023b). This shift in Disney’s content strategy indicates that licensing, even for a company with substantial intellectual property (IP), is critical to maximizing revenue and reach.
A Glimpse into the Streaming Wars
With over 200 streaming services on the market, entertainment companies are fighting harder than ever for consumer attention. Netflix is seeing subscriber growth again after a slight drop in April 2022 (Pallotta, 2022). However, this headway may be short-lived due to Netflix’s controversial stance on password sharing (Wallenstein, 2023). At the end of 2022, Netflix reported having 231 million paid memberships and making $32 billion in revenue (Walsh, 2023). Their most notable original shows of late are Stranger Things, Ozark, and Wednesday. However, Paramount Global’s NCIS (externally licensed to Netflix as of May 2023) garnered just over 38 billion streamed minutes in 2022, making it the second most-watched show on the platform (Walsh, 2023). The stellar performance of NCIS on Netflix indicates consumer appetite for licensed library content–not solely original content. The entertainment industry is prone to consolidation, and recent M&As have impacted the streaming and licensing landscape. While M&As can allow companies to combine corporate strengths and IP catalogs, they can cause confusion and build consumer distrust. HBO Max’s upcoming merger with Discovery+ could destabilize its content catalog and threaten its premium reputation. HBO Max is cutting 36 titles from their service, including 20 HBO Max originals (Gaughan, 2022). Some of this content will be licensed to other streaming services, though specific titles will cease to be available entirely. Despite the difficulties associated with the merger, HBO, HBO Max, and Discovery+ had a combined 92.1 million subscribers and reported $9.8 million in revenue in Q2 of 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery’s first quarter as a new company (Forristal, 2022).
Additionally, pressures from Wall Street for streaming to become a profitable venture have encouraged media companies to develop new revenue-building subscription strategies. Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, made headlines in early 2023 for cutting their free subscription tier for new users (Spangler, 2023). Their popular original titles include Poker Face, Bel Air, and The Best Man: The Final Chapters. Peacock also holds the license rights to Paramount Global’s current smash hit Yellowstone, which premiered its fifth season on the Paramount Network in November 2022 and recorded 643 million minutes viewed (Bell, 2022). As reported in Q4 2022, Peacock has 21 million paid subscribers (Stoll, 2023a), and “revenue at Peacock also jumped, tripling year-over-year in 2022 to $2.1 billion” (Fletcher, 2023, para. 4). While Paramount+ does not have rights to exhibit Yellowstone, Paramount Global’s most popular TV show, the streamer has the rights to two Yellowstone prequels: 1883 and 1923.
Keeping these prequels exclusive to Paramount+ proved beneficial as both have had massive success on the platform: “[1883] broke ground as Paramount Plus’ most-watched original series premiere ever following its debut… [1883] was also the No. 1 most social streaming drama series per data from Talkwalker Social Content Ratings” (Zorrilla, 2021, para. 3). Additionally, the debut of 1923 drew 7.4 million viewers to the platform, outshining any other Paramount+ original to date, including 1883 (Lu, 2023). At the end of 2022, Paramount+ had 46 million subscribers, and Paramount Global reported that its revenue grew to a total of $1.2 billion across all direct-to-consumer platforms, including subscription revenue of $863 million (Fletcher, 2022). The company’s reported revenue from 2022 was up 59% from 2021 and was propelled by an increase in paid Paramount+ subscribers (Paramount+ revenue was up 95% year over year) (Fletcher, 2022). Showtime’s pay TV linear channel has also been rebranded as Paramount+ With Showtime, and its content has been integrated into the premium subscription tier of Paramount+ (Maas, 2023). The integration of Showtime shows on Paramount+ publicly indicates Showtime’s relation to the Paramount Global brand.
Concurrent with entertainment companies’ efforts to build subscriber bases for their SVOD platforms and become profitable, audiences have faced an onslaught of choices in what they should watch and where they can watch it. Gen Z subscribes to fewer SVOD services than other generations; in 2021, Gen Z subscribed to an average of 5.5 services compared to 7.5 services for other generations (Horowitz, 2022). In 2022, the subscription gap between generations shrunk: across all generations, subscribing to 5.2 steaming services was the average (Sangari, 2022). This trend suggests that the number of SVODs to which consumers subscribe will decline, if not plateau, in the coming years. Supporting this prediction, half of the viewers surveyed by Nielsen felt that the amount of streaming video services and content available is overwhelming (Nielsen Audience Insights, Dec. 2022 p. 10 ). Understanding that consumers are inundated by content choice and are cutting back on subscriptions, our team provides licensing recommendations that work with this trend rather than against it. We suggest how strategically timing internal and external licensing, similar to windowing, may increase the value of Paramount Global’s content in the marketplace and attract new audiences to Paramount+. As media companies consolidate and streaming services begin to implement new content, windowing, and subscriber growth strategies, licensing strategies will inevitably shift.
recommendations
After gathering this data, this report suggests a two-part strategy for PGCD to increase its competitiveness in streaming.
Step 1: To boost the overall value (derived from the monetary and viewership gains external licensing deals could provide) of Paramount content in the marketplace, PGCD should consider prioritizing external licensing deals to top-performing streaming platforms like Netflix now. Prioritizing external licensing deals with high-subscriber services in the next 2-3 years (until approximately 2026) will give the company opportunities for increased revenue and allow Paramount content to reach more viewers. The more viewers a piece of content has, the more value it can bring Paramount long-term.
Step 2: Once PGCD has successfully increased the value of its content through viewership and consumer trust in the brand, we recommend that the company leverage the marketplace value of its content to begin prioritizing internal licensing deals to feature premiere Paramount shows on Paramount+. Following Yellowstone’s lead, Paramount can capitalize on popular titles licensed externally through spin-off creations. Building these universe expansions internally on Paramount+ allows Paramount to redirect loyal fans of their studio content externally back into their streaming service, boosting internal monetization.
Make sure to check out Part 2 here, which will go into more detail about key insights of the project.
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