Read a new user’s first impressions of the Paramount+ streaming service
Paramount+ is an intriguing option at the lower end of the streaming price spectrum, but is it worth your time?
When considering a streaming service to round out one’s collection, Paramount+ comes into the discussion quite a bit. With a starting price point of $8 per month, Paramount+ is one of the cheaper on-demand streaming services on the market, but is it a case of getting what you pay for when you sign up? How useful is a Paramount+ subscription? I took advantage of the streamer’s free trial to help curious consumers answer those questions and more.
Everything you need to know about Paramount+:
Easy free trial
Paramount+ doesn’t make you do any guessing or math to figure out its free trial. All new customers get the same seven-day free viewing period, and customers can choose the ad-supported Essential plan or the ad-free Paramount+ with SHOWTIME tier.
Impressive content mix
When I signed up for Paramount+, one of the things that pleasantly surprised me was the varied content library the streamer offers. There’s plenty of meat and potatoes to be found here, with shows from Taylor Sheridan like “1883” and “1923,” the new series “Landman,” and plenty of others, along with titles like “NCIS” and next-day streams of CBS primetime titles.
There’s a lot more to explore on Paramount+, however, from classic shows like “Star Trek” and “The Twilight Zone” to kids’ favorites such as “SpongeBob SquarePants” and other series from Nickelodeon. It even houses blockbuster movies from the Paramount movie studio.
Paramount+ also gives viewers on both subscription tiers access to live sports. Any NFL games airing on your local CBS station on Sunday afternoons can be streamed at home or on the go with the service, making it indispensable for fans, especially followers of AFC teams who are more likely to appear on CBS generally. Paramount+ also carries NWSL, UEFA Champions League and English Football League soccer, along with soccer matches from other international leagues, golf and even auto racing.
Standardized user interface
There’s nothing revolutionary about the Paramount+ user interface, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The home page features familiar content rows such as recommended shows and movies, continue watching, featured shows, and others that are populated with tiles for content viewers will most likely want to see.
Paramount+ makes an effort to group similar shows together in its “Collections” tab. All the shows from the Star Trek franchise are grouped together in one collection, while another might combine “Frasier” with “Cheers” for continued variations on the same theme. Paramount+ keeps the standard “TV Shows” and “Movies” tabs, and keeps its live sports segmented in an easy-to-use interface as well.
Adding shows and movies to the “My List” tab is very easy with Paramount+. You can add titles to your curated streaming list by pressing the + symbol available on all content tiles within the Paramount+ interface, then go to the My List section in order to call them up in seconds.
One large issue I had with Paramount+ on essentially every platform I used was crashing. No matter whether I tried to watch on a laptop, a smart TV, or my mobile phone, I consistently saw the streamer crash during playback, or while trying to load initially. Maybe it was just a problem unique to me, but it was consistently irritating.
Plenty of ads, even on ad-free plan
I opted for the ad-free Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan for the purposes of this trial, because I wanted to see how many pre-roll ads for its own content Paramount+ includes. The answer? A lot.
Almost every episode I turned on played at least one 30-second spot for another Paramount+ title, usually for something by Sheridan or a CBS show. This isn’t something unique to Paramount+; most “ad-free” streaming plans now force viewers to watch a commercial for other content found on those streamers before playback of their chosen title begins.
Still, it felt like I saw more of these ads on Paramount+ as compared to other streaming services. I could usually click the “back” button and try to restart playback to skip these ads, but doing so often caused the Paramount+ app to crash.
Final thoughts
Paramount+ really surprised me with the depth of its library, as there’s truly something for the whole family available on the streamer. You can even get a good selection of prestige TV titles if you sign up for the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME tier and unlock the SHOWTIME library.
There’s nothing mind-blowing about the user interface, but to me, that means that Paramount+ didn’t try to unwisely reinvent the wheel with its UX. In my personal experience, the app’s frequent crashes leave a lot to be desired, but once again that experience could be a problem between my internet connection and the Paramount+ app.
All in all, Paramount+ is a very good, if unspectacular streaming service. It offers a good mix of content, an underrated live sports lineup, and a simple-to-use interface for a starting price point of $8 per month.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. Get free access with a Walmart+ subscription.
Paramount+ includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.