Paramount+ to launch short-form video as YouTube, TikTok eat into audience
Paramount+ to launch short-form video as YouTube, TikTok eat into audience
The news represents the latest attempt by an on-demand streamer to compete with social video platforms.
The new ownership at Paramount Skydance isn’t slowing down. While the company continues its hostile takeover attempt of Warner Bros. Discovery, it is keeping one eye on the future of its streaming service Paramount+. A new report indicates that the company is hard at work on bringing short-form video to the streaming service, a major evolution that would move Paramount+ closer to platforms like YouTube and TikTok, which have been eating into streaming services' audiences in recent years.
Key Details:
- Long and short: Paramount+ executives are trying to get short-form video imported as soon as possible.
- Three steps ahead: The company recognizes the need to develop personalized clip feeds for its subscribers.
- Catching up Netflix has moved into the video podcast space to attempt to compete with YouTube.
As first reported by Business Insider on Wednesday, Paramount is prioritizing the launch of short-form video feeds on Paramount+ in the first quarter of 2026. That doesn’t necessarily mean that clips will debut on Paramount+ in Q1, but an email cited by Business Insider from Paramount+ head of global product and design Dan Reich from mid-January indicates the company’s desire for haste.
“We are trying to figure out how to jump-start efforts to get a million clips into our Short Form UX as quickly as possible,” Reich wrote in the email to Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow.
Reich also wrote that he understood that the Paramount Applied Machine Learning Group has made progress on clips to be put into short-form feeds, and they may be ready for another team to test. But he also acknowledged the need to have clips ready to be put into personalized feeds; customers aren’t likely to pay attention to short-form playlists that they feel are just cut-and-paste attempts to show them ads for new Paramount+ titles, after all.
“As soon as we get the clips in, there will be increased pressure to provide a personalized feed of clips,” Reich told fellow executives.
Paramount is not the first company to recognize the need to compete with TikTok and YouTube. Netflix is also launching vertical video feeds in 2026, and has licensed a selection of video podcasts to stream exclusively. Disney+ is also at work on adding vertical video. YouTube has consistently outperformed on-demand streamers such as these in monthly viewership, and Paramount is the next company to try to adopt the tactics of its competition to build engagement.
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 League, 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.