From optional bundle to all-inclusive this summer
We suspect there are quite a few Star Trek fans in the Android Police readership, so we’re writing about this step in the streaming wars to stay one step ahead of you. Paramount Global may have made less money this year than it did last year (pdf), but it did reasonably well in a hostile economy with an influx of 9.9 million new subscribers to Paramount+, bringing the total number to nearly 56 million – Disney beat- owned Hulu by 10 million customers. But, as you would guess with tighter margins and big growth, the company wants to profit by simultaneously offering more to viewers and asking them to pay more for it.
The company announced during its earnings call (via TechCrunch) that because it would add Showtime’s catalog of on-demand content to Paramount+, it would raise the price for its Premium tier from $10 a month to $12. The Essential tier , which has no Showtime content and does include ads, will go from $5 to $6 a month.
The “Paramount+ with Showtime” integration and associated price increase will occur sometime in the third quarter.
Paramount+ advertises bundled subscriptions with the currently standalone Showtime streaming service, but both Essential and Premium tiers combined with the single-tier Showtime offering cost $12 per month. Annual plans offer 12 months of access for the price of ten.
The company is warning investors to expect fewer subscribers this quarter as consumers who stream to either service, either service separately or both services through the bundle, adapt to the news.
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