Comedy Central Video Archive Purged From Website in Attempt to Drive Viewers to Paramount+
Paramount Global has been clearing out its web-based video archives on multiple sites, and Comedy Central is the latest victim.
The cost-cutting measures at Paramount Global have begun. Company officials are pouring through budgetary data to find areas where they can save money, and this week they found one. As first reported by Late Nighter, Paramount has removed the large library of video clips from the Comedy Central website. This comes after similar purges on the MTV and CMT websites, and in each instance viewers have been directed to watch content on Paramount+ instead.
Key Details:
- Comedy Central’s website housed clips and even some full episodes of “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report,” “South Park” and other shows.
- Visitors to each website are now prompted to sign up for Paramount+.
- Paramount is on the hunt for joint venture opportunities for its streamer, and appears unlikely to try to sell it.
In early June, the three-headed “Office of the CEO” which Paramount installed to replace former CEO Bob Bakish put forth their plan for the future of the company if the various merger and acquisition opportunities under consideration by controlling shareholder Shari Redstone fell through. As part of their plan, the trio indicated that they would seek $500 million in cost savings at Paramount.
The removal of archived content from Comedy Central is an easy place to start for the company’s number crunchers. The site housed videos from shows such as “The Colbert Report,” “The Daily Show,” “Key & Peele” and many others stretching back decades, but instead visitors to the site will now find the following message:
“While episodes of most Comedy Central series are no longer available on this website, you can watch Comedy Central through your TV provider. You can also sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of Comedy Central shows.”
Some of the clips formerly found on the site are still available to watch on YouTube, but not all. The oldest clip on the “Daily Show” YouTube channel is from 2016, but the series stretches back 20 years further than that. Worse yet, not all of the content removed has been shifted to Paramount+, which only streams two seasons of “The Daily Show” and has no episodes of “The Colbert Report” at all.
Do Website Purges Mean Paramount+ is Safe?
As disappointing as these content removals are to many fans, they likely point to the fact that Paramount intends to keep Paramount+ instead of selling it. The latter option was seemingly ruled out when the Office of the CEO said in early June they intended to seek a streaming joint venture that incorporates Paramount+, but at a townhall meeting earlier this week they indicated they had already hired bankers to help determine which company assets to sell, raising fears that the streamer could be on the block.
Instead, the executives seem determined to steer viewers to the platform with a will. That doesn’t mean Paramount+ is completely safe from its own content purges; we’re only a year removed from a dual round of content cuts from the service, and another wave could well be forthcoming as the company continues to seek extra savings.
Whether the cuts will succeed in driving extra engagement on Paramount+ remains to be seen but the streamer could certainly use some extra scale. At last report, the service had 71.2 million customers, a respectable number but not enough to make the streamer profitable. An upcoming price increase for Paramount+ should also alleviate some financial pressures, but the decline in viewership from the company’s cable networks is not going to slow down any time soon.
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. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “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.