Paramount+ coming to Europe in 2022
The war of the streaming services continues. And there’s a new contender on the field: Paramount+. The «Mission Impossible» and «Star Trek» studio is set to bring its streaming platform to Europe in 2022.
The film studio Paramount Pictures and the media group Sky have joined forces. This will allow Paramount to bring Paramount+, its in-house streaming service, to Europe in 2022. Last March, it launched in the U.S. only.
In the initial rollout, Paramount+ will launch in the UK, in Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The new shark in the waters
Paramount has not yet named an exact launch date – apart from the year 2022. Pricing also remains unknown. However, it is likely to be similar to that in the United States: $4.99 per month (cheapest option, with ads) and $9.99 per month (ad-free version).
Those who already have Sky Cinema, on the other hand, can rejoice. Sky and ViacomCBS – the parent company of Paramount – released a joint press release in which they announced that Sky Cinema subscribers will enjoy Paramount+ free of charge. Paramount movies and series will reportedly remain in Sky’s catalogue and be available to non-Sky subscribers through Sky’s video-on-demand service.
According to Raffaele Annecchine, president and CEO of ViacomCBS, this deal is key to bringing Paramount+ quickly to Europe and making it commonplace. It should allow Paramount+ to quickly grow into a serious and influential streaming service. Just a few months after its U.S. launch (and in some other markets), Paramount+ already had around 42 million subscribers.
To put this into perspective: the industry leader Netflix has 209 million subscribers (source in German), followed closely by Prime Video with 200 million subscribers and Disney+ with 103.6 million subscribers worldwide.
Paramount vs Warner Bros. and the like
The European launch would not yet put Paramount on the streaming-service podium. It would, however, jump ahead of Warner Bros.’ HBO Max with 43.5 million subscribers and Apple’s AppleTV+ with 40 million subscribers.
This may prove a nuisance for Warner Bros. in particular. After all, the film studio signed a five-year deal with Sky in 2019. Under the agreement, Sky will retain exclusive distribution rights for HBO content in Europe.
The deal may have put money in Warner Bros.’ pockets in the short term. However, it prevents HBO Max from launching earlier in the important European market. The CEO of WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar, confirmed this in March. If the deal remains as is, HBO Max is unlikely to launch in Europe before 2025. This may prove to be too late; the streaming service market may well reach the point of saturation before then.
Paramount, meanwhile, is positioning itself to be competitive. Its major brands include blockbuster franchises and series such as «Mission Impossible», «Star Trek», «Terminator», «Spongebob», «The Good Fight» and «Top Gun».
I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»