Here’s why your Paramount+ bill is about to go up
Paramount+ subscribers will soon see their monthly rates go up, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Slated to go into effect later this year, the price hike is due in part to the streaming platform’s ongoing integration with Showtime—a move that will result in a write-down of more than a billion dollars for parent company Paramount Global.
The platform’s premium plan (which includes Showtime content) will jump from $9.99 per month to $11.99. The essential plan, which is supported by advertising, will go up $1 a month, from $4.99 to $5.99.
By contrast, Netflix’s ad-support subscription tier starts at $6.99 a month; Hulu’s starts at $7.99; HBO Max’s starts at $9.99.
Paramount Global’s most recent earnings report, released (March 13, 2023), reported almost 10 million new subscribers in the last quarter of 2022, owing to the breakout success of content like Top Gun: Maverick and Yellowstone.
But the report also reveals pain points affecting the streaming industry at large, thanks to a combination of a downturn in advertising and dicey macroeconomic trends. CEO Bob Bakish and CFO Naveen Chopra acknowledged that Paramount Global would have a negative cash flow in 2023, which indicates the “Peak TV” bubble of high-velocity content creation might be in trouble (although it’s worth noting that Peak TV has already far outlived its predicted demise).
Fully integrating the company’s two content platforms—which will relaunch as “Paramount with Showtime”—is eventually expected to save Paramount Global $700 million a year on content costs. The company does, however, expect to see a reduction in overall subscriber numbers after the two services combine.
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