Paramount+ expanding offerings in Canada, Australia and Europe

Paramount+ is forging ahead with expansion and diversification plans into Canada, Australia and Europe despite a celebrity analyst bashing the streamer.

The streamer will add a partially ad-supported tier in Canada and Australia in April 2024. It will then add its premium ad-free plan to European markets. France gets the offering in March 2024, with the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria later in 2024.

For “basic with ads” plan, consumers will pay $6.9o in Canadian and Australian dollars in those respective markets. The new premium plan will sell for €10.99 across Europe. This plan was previously rolled out to Latin America, Canada and Australia. 

“Our pricing strategy and a market-by-market approach to our offering is key to providing customers choice, flexibility and value. The ‘Premium’ tier has demonstrated great success in Canada, Australia and Latin America, and I am confident this offering will enable us to reach new subscribers in Europe, as well,” noted Marco Nobili, executive VP and international GM of Paramount+, in a statement. “As we launch ‘Basic (with ads)’ in our international markets, we can also offer our incredible content at an even more competitive price to ultimately increase our reach and expand our advertising offerings to partners.”

The moves come even as celebrity analyst Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners made headlines saying he thought launching Paramount+ was a “critical mistake.” Greenfield has also expressed uncertainty about international growth plans for Paramount+.

Paramount, like many other direct-to-consumer streamers have been hemorrhaging money in recent years, raising questions about how market fragmentation, pricing, ad-supported tiers and other issues might affect streamers.

Many streamers have cut back on production budgets to save money while others had take a strategy of removing content to improve their balance sheets. 

A bright spot in the streaming business appears to be advertising-supported options. With the advertising and marketing industry shifting from linear and digital advertising, streamers, which have plenty of ad inventory available, could end up benefiting. 

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Some streamers have even discovered that ad-supported offerings end up generating more revenue than paid subscriptions do.