Paramount+, ViacomCBS’ shiny new streaming platform, is getting a little bit of royal treatment as of late, in spite of a less than stellar launch on March 4th of this year to lukewarm reviews. People seemed unimpressed with the service’s lack of compelling content, stubborn user interface, and more than likely a good dose of new-streaming-platform-fatigue.
However, the platform’s sports content and budding roster has been doing well enough for ViacomCBS to put a few more eggs in the basket by moving some premium content onto the platform exclusively.
While sources at CBS have declined to comment, multiple sources have confirmed that the supernatural drama “Evil” will premiere its anticipated second season exclusively on Paramount+.
Additionally, both “SEAL Team” and “Clarice” are rumored to be packing for their new streaming home on Paramount+, with parts of the fifth season of the former and the entirety of the latter’s second season coming to the platform.
It’s another example of how the streaming landscape continues to shake, rattle, and roll as parent companies are moving to juice up their streaming platforms by shifting content, grabbing back the rights to their shows that were previously available on now-competing services, and in some cases even joining forces.
The development follows a tremendous upheaval in the streaming wars, as the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia brings two powerhouses together into a media Goliath now home to both HBO Max and discovery+. It remains to be seen if the brands will solidify under one new umbrella platform or remain separate in a case similar to when Disney bought out the 20th Century Fox catalog and bundled some of it inside Disney+ with other content heading to Hulu. Either way, this pooling of resources will see a new power dynamic that is sure to add a few more beads of sweat to Netflix’s brow as the reigning king of streaming sees its competitors grow in strength during the start of a pretty disappointing year.
One can expect each company to fully own the rights to its own content and provide it exclusively through its proprietary streaming service eventually. The pieces are aligning in order to bring more Marvel content under the Disney+ banner, much to the chagrin of Netflix, and Discovery has already been not-so-quietly popping TLC favorites like “90 Day Fiance,” “My Strange Addiction,” and “Say Yes to the Dress” onto discovery+ after their stint on Hulu.
Until the dust settles over content exchanges, the forging of new deals, and perhaps another earth-shattering acquisition as Amazon looks to acquire MGM in a $9 billion dollar negotiation, viewers may be in for a bit of whack-a-mole when it comes to chasing their favorite shows around from platform to platform. Buckle up!