Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in
Speaker 1: which we talked with some of the brightest minds working
Speaker 1: in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety.
Speaker 1: It was little over a year ago that Viacom CBS
Speaker 1: promoted Tom Ryan to oversee all of its streaming operations,
Speaker 1: and he's got quite a growth story to tell. When
Speaker 1: the company reported third quarter earnings earlier this month, his
Speaker 1: division had crossed the one billion dollar mark and revenue
Speaker 1: for the first time. But it's still early days in
Speaker 1: the streaming wars and just about anything could happen, so
Speaker 1: we're happy to check in with Tom on this latest
Speaker 1: episode of Strictly Business, so stick around. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Strictly Business podcast. For my guest today is President
Speaker 1: and CEO for all Things Streaming at Viacom cb S,
Speaker 1: Tom Ryan. He first had Tom on this podcast back
Speaker 1: in and it's gonna be great to catch up because
Speaker 1: a whole lot has changed for him in over three years.
Speaker 1: This conversation was recorded November eighth at the Future of
Speaker 1: Television Confidence. I wanted to compliment you on a great
Speaker 1: third quarter. Look really good. You added four point three
Speaker 1: million subscribers, globally and that currently stands at forty seven
Speaker 1: million Pluto fifty seven sorry, fifty four million monthly active users.
Speaker 1: And so I wanted to start with how do these
Speaker 1: numbers track with your expectations? Um? Are you ahead of
Speaker 1: where you thought you would be? Yeah, we're we're exceeding expectations.
Speaker 1: So we're really happy with the numbers that we released
Speaker 1: last week across both free and pay and uh, you
Speaker 1: know we've got a unified streaming group via com CBS
Speaker 1: right now. UM, so we're really focused on the opportunity
Speaker 1: to build a unique strategy across both free and paid streaming.
Speaker 1: That's that's great. I mean, yes, you guys are are
Speaker 1: in a number of different businesses on the streaming side,
Speaker 1: and I was curious first and foremost about in terms
Speaker 1: of your strategy here. I wanted to start with movies
Speaker 1: because that's a big part of at least what you're
Speaker 1: doing on the on the paramount plus side. And it
Speaker 1: feels like I'm seeing a variety of different strategies for
Speaker 1: lots of different titles. Clifford, the animated property just came
Speaker 1: out day and date. Others you've done sort of the
Speaker 1: forty five day thing, do you guys have a sense
Speaker 1: of of what the strategy is or is it you're
Speaker 1: just trying lots of different things. Yeah, So we think
Speaker 1: in this era in particular, it makes a lot of
Speaker 1: sense to be as flexible as possible when it comes
Speaker 1: to releasing UH movies in streaming and so we're fortunate
Speaker 1: um that is part of via com CBS. Not only
Speaker 1: are we building leading streaming services, but we also have
Speaker 1: a major movie studio and so that allows us to
Speaker 1: really leverage everything the Paramount Pictures does for streaming and
Speaker 1: so UM as we think about the different ways you
Speaker 1: go to market, as you mentioned, there's a there's actually
Speaker 1: three different ways in addition to the traditional way. There's exclusive,
Speaker 1: which we've done with Infinite, which we released earlier this year.
Speaker 1: There is day and date, which we've done with UH
Speaker 1: with paw Patrol with Clifford. And then there's a fast
Speaker 1: follow to theatrical like forty five days both post the actual,
Speaker 1: which we did with A Quiet Place too. And we've
Speaker 1: seen success in all of those models. So you know,
Speaker 1: with movie goers, you know, it really being a moving
Speaker 1: target about how you know, how uh confident people are
Speaker 1: to go to movie theaters. These days, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and and it really varies by demographic and by location. UM,
Speaker 1: we think it's important to maintain flexibility, but we've seen,
Speaker 1: you know, just great results when we when we've gone
Speaker 1: day and date. For example, there was concern that there
Speaker 1: could be cannibalization, but you know, with Paw Patrol, we
Speaker 1: we vastly exceeded expectations both theatrically as well as our
Speaker 1: streaming targets for the movie. So does that mean that
Speaker 1: there will could there be a point where there will
Speaker 1: be a one size fits all or you're saying you're
Speaker 1: comfortable sort of matching the strategy to the particular film's needs.
Speaker 1: I think for the moment, you know, Paramount Plus is
Speaker 1: eight months old. We launched in early March. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: a an evolution to a certain degree of CBS all access,
Speaker 1: but it's vastly expanded. It brings all of Viacom, CBS
Speaker 1: is content and resources to bear and so we absolutely
Speaker 1: do want to hone our strategy as we move on.
Speaker 1: But we think that you know, having seen success in
Speaker 1: each of the different methods that we've released movies in, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, this flexibility is important to have right now,
Speaker 1: and we may well find that we're gonna maintain, you know,
Speaker 1: a flexible model and approach into the future. Got it.
Speaker 1: Also something that struck me listening to the third quarter
Speaker 1: call is kids content in particular is really resonating on
Speaker 1: your platform. The Nickelodeon library is doing great. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Paw Patrol, Clifford. We haven't even talked SpongeBob or the
Speaker 1: new I Cardly, is this actually sort of becoming the
Speaker 1: identity of paramount plus because you guys obviously marketed a
Speaker 1: lot of different ways news and sports, but it does
Speaker 1: feel like kids is sort of stepping out front. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, we just released Paranormal Paranormal Activity next to Kins.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't say our identity is that of a
Speaker 1: kid's service per se, but uh, I would say that,
Speaker 1: you know, kids is an area where we think that
Speaker 1: we can be one of the leaders in streaming. It's
Speaker 1: a plate we've think it's an underserved category. It's a
Speaker 1: category that plays to buy a com CBS strengths with Nickelodeon,
Speaker 1: the robust catalog that we have, UM, the originals and
Speaker 1: the reboots that we're able to do UM on that catalog, UM,
Speaker 1: and it really sort of fits nicely into our strategy
Speaker 1: of being a whole household service. So what we're looking
Speaker 1: to do with Paramount Plus is to have a service
Speaker 1: that really, um you know, has something for everyone in
Speaker 1: the family, from the dad who loves sports, to the
Speaker 1: mom who might be into scripted dramas or some of
Speaker 1: our original movies UM or to the kids who are
Speaker 1: coming in droves for all that we have to offer
Speaker 1: from on the kid's side. So it's it's a place
Speaker 1: that we've seen lots of early success. We've also got
Speaker 1: great franchises and kids UM and as anybody with a
Speaker 1: parent with a with a kid knows, any parent with
Speaker 1: a kid knows, I should say, um, you know, the
Speaker 1: last thing you want to do once your kids gravitate
Speaker 1: toward a streaming service UM is and subscribe from that
Speaker 1: streaming service. So it really has great benefits in terms
Speaker 1: of retention. Got it. Another thing that UH coming up
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter big test for new originals from
Speaker 1: you guys, yellow Stone, South Park, new iterations, new UH spinoffs,
Speaker 1: or I should say, of these franchises, how important are
Speaker 1: these shows for Paramount Plus for the for these to
Speaker 1: work because you don't have the core yellow Stone or
Speaker 1: south Park on the service, those have been licensed out
Speaker 1: to rivals, and you know, does that make these all
Speaker 1: the more important to work? Well, I should start by
Speaker 1: saying that the service is working, as you noted at
Speaker 1: the top of this call, across our paid services where
Speaker 1: at forty seven million global subscribers already, Paramount plus is
Speaker 1: the driver of our paid UH subscription growth and again
Speaker 1: has only just launched eight months ago. So we're very
Speaker 1: very early innings UM with Paramount plus UM, and I
Speaker 1: think streaming is just early innings to begin with. UM.
Speaker 1: It's true that some of our products have been licensed
Speaker 1: out UM Viacom CBS has long been in the licensing
Speaker 1: business UM, and many of the decisions that were made
Speaker 1: in order in terms of licensing content UM elsewhere we're
Speaker 1: made well before we launched Paramount plus UM. But as
Speaker 1: our business is evolving and streaming is a top priority
Speaker 1: of the company, our approach to licensing is evolving as well,
Speaker 1: and so we're you know, still in the licensing business
Speaker 1: of course, but increasingly we are holding our i P
Speaker 1: for our own streaming services UM, and we're leveraging UM
Speaker 1: that i PU not just catalog, but also investing in
Speaker 1: you know, reboots and spinoffs and other new original content
Speaker 1: based on those franchises. So, um, we think it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a great and evolving strategy and um,
Speaker 1: we've got you know, it's it's you know, the the
Speaker 1: amount of I P and franchises that we have across
Speaker 1: the combined by A come CBS is so massive. I
Speaker 1: think we've got a huge opportunity here and we're already
Speaker 1: seeing the fruit, uh, the fruit of that work being
Speaker 1: coming very important to the services results thus far. Do
Speaker 1: you feel though that Viacom CBS has sort of a
Speaker 1: defining hit at this point? And and could these new
Speaker 1: versions of Yellowstone or South Park b that I mean,
Speaker 1: I've seen some of the work that's not yet been
Speaker 1: released shirt I mean Taylor Sheridan, Um, you know, we're
Speaker 1: creating a universe on Paramount Plus around all of this
Speaker 1: new content that he's creating from Mayor of Kingstown which
Speaker 1: release releases very soon um to hye eight three and beyond.
Speaker 1: So yes, I think that we're going to have you know,
Speaker 1: lots of fantastic new shows that are created not just
Speaker 1: by him but by many others. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we're investing significantly in content. So you're going to see
Speaker 1: a lot coming to Paramount Plus in the months ahead
Speaker 1: and to date, as you said out here eight months now,
Speaker 1: I've mentioned the success you've had with some kids content.
Speaker 1: Are we overlooking anything in terms of what you see
Speaker 1: as as the real success stories for Paramount Plus? Uh
Speaker 1: in these first eight months, well, I mean we have
Speaker 1: not been uh shy about saying how successful sports has been.
Speaker 1: Um So, we have seen you know, record uh consumption
Speaker 1: of of UH of NFL games recently. We've also had
Speaker 1: lots of success with European football or soccer. Um So,
Speaker 1: sports has been a great area of success for US.
Speaker 1: Um Our movies have performed extremely well. Our originals in
Speaker 1: terms of scripted dramas and other shows as have also
Speaker 1: done well. So um you know, kids is just one
Speaker 1: part of the story, got it? You know? Just the
Speaker 1: whole notion of a hit in the streaming game these
Speaker 1: days has been redefined I think by Netflix with what
Speaker 1: it achieved with Squid Games. And I was curious, do
Speaker 1: you think Viacom CBS can achieve that kind of international
Speaker 1: hit with the increased emphasis you're starting to put on
Speaker 1: locally produced content in Latin America or elsewhere. Absolutely so.
Speaker 1: Bicom CBS is one of the biggest creators of content globally, UH,
Speaker 1: not just creators of content here in America that we export,
Speaker 1: but creators of content UM in many different parts of
Speaker 1: the world. UM. And at the same time, we also
Speaker 1: have a global streaming strategy. Streaming is a global mega trend.
Speaker 1: We're rolling out our streaming services around the world. We're
Speaker 1: already in twenty five countries for Paramount Plus and growing,
Speaker 1: and we're already in twenty six countries for Pluto tv UM.
Speaker 1: We did a couple of M and A transactions very
Speaker 1: recently where we acquired significant portions of additional broadcasters in
Speaker 1: South America, making us one of we already were, but
Speaker 1: that just reinforced us as one of the biggest creators
Speaker 1: of Spanish language content, which, as you know, UM travels
Speaker 1: really well around the world and has been responsible for
Speaker 1: some of the biggest hits in UH in streaming. So
Speaker 1: we think that we are incredibly well positioned both from
Speaker 1: a distribution perspective as we continue to scale up these
Speaker 1: streaming services across free and pay around the world, but
Speaker 1: also you know, from a content creation perspective, UM on
Speaker 1: a on a not just on a U S, but
Speaker 1: on a local basis where we can export to all
Speaker 1: the different countries that are streaming services are present um
Speaker 1: in order to you know, really have the type of
Speaker 1: global scale and success that you need to be a
Speaker 1: global streamer today. Yeah, I mean, because that really is
Speaker 1: the name of the game, isn't it. And when you
Speaker 1: guys have had some impressive growth, but right now as
Speaker 1: it stands, in the streaming game, there are some bigger,
Speaker 1: much bigger I should say, global services, and you guys
Speaker 1: are certainly pledging to spend a lot of on content.
Speaker 1: I think that the figure on the latest call was
Speaker 1: five billion by the end of which is a huge
Speaker 1: number for Viacom CBS. It shows how serious you guys are,
Speaker 1: and yet it pales in comparison to what some of
Speaker 1: the other spending estimates are like. And so the simple
Speaker 1: question is is this truly enough to compete and sort
Speaker 1: of crack that first tier of streaming services. I mean,
Speaker 1: we think that we are very well positioned. I mean,
Speaker 1: not only are we going to be committing or we're
Speaker 1: already committing, and we will continue to increase the commitment
Speaker 1: of billions of dollars of content. But we've got a
Speaker 1: massive library across book via Com and CBS now combined. UM,
Speaker 1: all of that together we think positions us for great
Speaker 1: success and streaming. Well, I think something else that will
Speaker 1: help was this deal you guys just announced with T Mobile. Uh.
Speaker 1: It seems like there's a number of deals that you
Speaker 1: guys have in place with Amazon channels, with Sky all
Speaker 1: that should help paramount plus scale. But I do wonder
Speaker 1: when you strike these kind of deals, is there were
Speaker 1: a risk of too much trade off in terms of
Speaker 1: the data and the revenue that you lose to the partners,
Speaker 1: you know, in exchange for scale on these deals. UM. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we think that broad and ubiquitous
Speaker 1: distribution really leads to scale. So the strategy really is
Speaker 1: to manage this diversified portfolio of distributors UM, and in
Speaker 1: doing that we maximize and optimize growth. UM. So it's
Speaker 1: true that a service UM in certain cases has less
Speaker 1: visibility into channels user than a D two C user,
Speaker 1: but there's advantages. One UM is that our portfolio strategies
Speaker 1: yielded a very large directed consumer base, and we've got
Speaker 1: excellent visibility on those users today. UM and too. It's
Speaker 1: important to extend the service to users wherever they are,
Speaker 1: and we're growing paramount plus faster as a result of that. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, we're also UM you know, one of the
Speaker 1: or i'd say we're the biggest partner in the channels
Speaker 1: space as others are abandoning UM. That is a distribution
Speaker 1: method UM. As for revenue, I think it's critical that
Speaker 1: Paramount Plus is fully distributed and aligning our incentives with
Speaker 1: distribution partners means that those and partners, those distribution partners
Speaker 1: invest in our growth. And that's exactly how we were
Speaker 1: able to scale Pluto to TV so quickly we launched
Speaker 1: that seven years ago. It's going to be a billion
Speaker 1: dollar business this year in just seven years after launch,
Speaker 1: largely through shared success and aligned interest with distribution partners
Speaker 1: which were also bringing to Paramount plus UM. And as
Speaker 1: for T Mobile, it is massive promotion UM, but it's
Speaker 1: not that's not limited to just certain tiers. That's available
Speaker 1: to any T Mobile or Sprint postpaid customer UM. And
Speaker 1: it's actually driving direct to consumer users. So there's really
Speaker 1: no data tradeoff for us there. But with with Amazon,
Speaker 1: it sounds like you see there's some value to the
Speaker 1: fact that a lot of the other rivals of yours
Speaker 1: are are stepping out of that space for their own reasons.
Speaker 1: But it sounds like you think there's actually some strength
Speaker 1: in in staying on there and facing less competition. We do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we think they've been a great partner and they've helped
Speaker 1: us um scale and again where there's aligned incentives and
Speaker 1: a and a shared approach to growing the business, to
Speaker 1: whether we think that they can be an important part
Speaker 1: of our continued growth. We'll be back in just a
Speaker 1: minute with more from Tom Ryan of Viacom CBS. We're
Speaker 1: back talking with Tom Ryan, who oversees streaming services like
Speaker 1: Paramount Plus and Pluto TV for Viacom CBS. I referenced
Speaker 1: earlier this notion of you know, tears in terms of
Speaker 1: the amount of competition you've got out there. I'm curious
Speaker 1: though there's been it feels like there's new data every
Speaker 1: month about the consumer appetite for subscription streaming services. What
Speaker 1: is your take on that now? And do you feel
Speaker 1: that Viacom CBS has sort of earned a spot among
Speaker 1: you know, a limited number of players. Yeah, so, I
Speaker 1: mean it's funny. I mean, well, first of all, you know,
Speaker 1: streaming is still in its infancy in my opinion, UM.
Speaker 1: And that's across both free and pay. But you know,
Speaker 1: when you're talking about UM paid, it's it's funny because
Speaker 1: as an entrepreneur when Pluto was independent, UM, one of
Speaker 1: the things that I would say when I would come
Speaker 1: on your podcast or speak at other conferences was that,
Speaker 1: you know, people would be interested in free streaming services
Speaker 1: because they're only going to subscribe to one or two
Speaker 1: paid services. And at the time, this was just three
Speaker 1: four short years ago, that was true. UM. I was
Speaker 1: wrong though. I mean, people are now subscribing to four
Speaker 1: or five paid services, and that could go significantly northward
Speaker 1: from here. And the reason is that people are finding
Speaker 1: great value and paid streaming services as more and more
Speaker 1: high quality paid streaming services come to market um at
Speaker 1: affordable pricing, which paramount plus has in spades, UM. And
Speaker 1: as people are increasingly just streaming and connecting their tea
Speaker 1: these to the Internet. I don't know if you can
Speaker 1: buy a TV that doesn't have a smart operating system
Speaker 1: and uh, you know sort of prompts you to connect
Speaker 1: to the internet. UM. And so there are you know,
Speaker 1: massive winds at the back of streamers. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to say that like every streaming service is going to
Speaker 1: be successful. I think what unites what we do via
Speaker 1: com CBS both across Free and Pay with Pluto and
Speaker 1: Paramount Plus is that these are broad based services that
Speaker 1: are for the whole household and have all the benefits
Speaker 1: of scale that come with that, UM as well as
Speaker 1: the retention benefits of being services that get used by
Speaker 1: multiple people in the household. UM. So you know, we're
Speaker 1: the space is evolving very quickly. UM. People are paying
Speaker 1: for more streaming services. They're also using you know, freed serve.
Speaker 1: It has an impact the what I said back years
Speaker 1: ago either about free free as in hyper growth to
Speaker 1: people are just streaming a lot more and the like
Speaker 1: this rising tide is gonna list lift um boats. It's
Speaker 1: not kind of lift all the boats, but the best
Speaker 1: boats will rise significantly as a result. And we've got
Speaker 1: the best boat and free and we're building the best
Speaker 1: boat or one of the best boats, I should say,
Speaker 1: and pay. And what's interesting about your strategy is you
Speaker 1: kind of bolt the boats together, like you know, Pluto
Speaker 1: serves Paramount Plus. There's some integration there. Describe what the
Speaker 1: strategy is there and why it's the way to go. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: I mean the strategy behind creating a unified streaming group
Speaker 1: was so that we could actually take this unique strategy
Speaker 1: across free and pay um and bring it to market,
Speaker 1: but with a unified team that's building our streaming platforms together,
Speaker 1: rather than building them as you know fifetoms UM with
Speaker 1: different teams and different goals UM and with the intent
Speaker 1: of making the one plus one of free and pay
Speaker 1: equal free UM. So you know what we've been doing,
Speaker 1: and again this is very early days. This streaming group
Speaker 1: was created a year ago when I was pointed to
Speaker 1: my new role, and we've built a unified streaming executive
Speaker 1: team and we've got of course there's folks who were focused,
Speaker 1: you know, just on one service versus another, but increasingly
Speaker 1: we have our entire streaming group focused on the opportunity
Speaker 1: to grow the overall business as much as possible. And
Speaker 1: you know, interlinking this ecosystem where we can move users
Speaker 1: from one service to the next, we think is really
Speaker 1: important and we've already seen some great early success. Example
Speaker 1: would be UM the channels that we put for Paramount
Speaker 1: plus UH and for Showtime, O T t Onto Pluto TV,
Speaker 1: where we'll put premium content in front of the paywall
Speaker 1: as a linear channel on Pluto t V. UM and
Speaker 1: those uh, those channels on Pluto TV have driven more
Speaker 1: starts for subscriptions or more trials UM for our paid
Speaker 1: services than when we put the same content for free
Speaker 1: in front of front of a paywall, of course, on YouTube,
Speaker 1: which has billions of users. So it's showing you how
Speaker 1: effective this um already is in its infancy. And we've
Speaker 1: got a very significant roadmap of other things that we
Speaker 1: want to do to bring these services together and make
Speaker 1: them again make the one plus one equal three. And
Speaker 1: I follow your logic, but I also wonder if there's
Speaker 1: just some simplicity in, for instance, one brand to market
Speaker 1: instead of paramount plus showtime. Pluto and Viacon still is
Speaker 1: other things, UM, So what what do you make of
Speaker 1: the simplicity argument. I think the simplicity argument UM makes
Speaker 1: sense on the surface, but when you dive deeper, you
Speaker 1: see that there's great reasons to actually maintain different services.
Speaker 1: So let's take free and pay to start. Pluto is
Speaker 1: a free streaming TV service. It is instant, there's no
Speaker 1: friction you turn. I mean when we actually launched Pluto,
Speaker 1: we didn't even ask for a sign up because we
Speaker 1: wanted you to be able to sort of experience that
Speaker 1: magic of turning on the TV through your web browser. UM,
Speaker 1: and then ultimately the service largely became a connected TV business. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, having that simplicity of just letting people
Speaker 1: engage with Pluto and having it be as frictionless and
Speaker 1: as built in as possible UM is a huge advantage
Speaker 1: and one of the reasons why Pluto is the leader
Speaker 1: in its category. On the paid side, UM. You know,
Speaker 1: we think that you know, let's just take paramount plus
Speaker 1: a showtime for example. I mean, those services appealed to
Speaker 1: UM largely different users. There's very little overlap in the
Speaker 1: subscriber base, although there is some UM and so you
Speaker 1: know the but but you know, as we think about
Speaker 1: it from a business perspective, we want to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're addressing the largest possible audio. It's with paramount Plus.
Speaker 1: We offer that everything that paramounts plus offers. The content
Speaker 1: is not tiered in any way, UH, with some very
Speaker 1: very small exceptions. UM for four dollars and ninety nine
Speaker 1: cents so for you know, and that's for with ads.
Speaker 1: So that's a very very attractive price point. UM. If
Speaker 1: Showtime we're bundled in there, it would not be made
Speaker 1: available at that price. So we want and and as
Speaker 1: I mentioned, like the overlap between the two services is
Speaker 1: not UM, it is not very large. So UM we
Speaker 1: want people to be able to get Paramount plus for
Speaker 1: four ninety nine UM and if they want Showtime, yes,
Speaker 1: they can add it on. And we're doing everything that
Speaker 1: we can to make it as easy as possible for
Speaker 1: people to UM buy the two services if they're interested,
Speaker 1: and we're doing that through bundling and other initiatives. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, to to address the largest possible audience,
Speaker 1: we think it's important to maintain them as they are today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Judo clearly is a growth story. You put that brand
Speaker 1: on the map. It's why Viacom CBS bought it. Clearly
Speaker 1: the market leader. However, when you look at the third
Speaker 1: quarter numbers, it does seem that the growth is slowing.
Speaker 1: The two point one million adds was the lowest you've
Speaker 1: added since the first quarter of It was below Wall
Speaker 1: Street projections. What is going on there? UM, It does
Speaker 1: seem like there's a lot of competition in the space
Speaker 1: now and I guess that's sort of the downside of
Speaker 1: of successes. You get a lot of imitators. Uh sure, So,
Speaker 1: I mean, as you mentioned, Pluto TV is the leader
Speaker 1: in its category by a long margin. Um. If if anything,
Speaker 1: we're extending our lead. UM. So m a use are
Speaker 1: an important metric. They don't tell the whole story. Um.
Speaker 1: So we had two and a half million I think
Speaker 1: m a use quarterly growth um. But where the leader
Speaker 1: in m a use, were the leader in total viewing hours,
Speaker 1: and we're the leader in revenue um. And you know,
Speaker 1: Pluto TV has grown in three years. So the company
Speaker 1: was acquired at the end of eighteen. Beginning of nineteen eighteen,
Speaker 1: we did seventy million in revenue. This year, we're going
Speaker 1: to do over a billion. Uh you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's it's accelerating. Uh. You know, it's lead in the category.
Speaker 1: And the growth is you know, extremely significant. So m
Speaker 1: AU is important. Total viewing hours or engagement and revenue
Speaker 1: also extremely important. And you know you're seeing massive growth there.
Speaker 1: It's clearly growing like a weed. I'm guess I'm curious
Speaker 1: about the next phase of growth. And sometimes uh, you know,
Speaker 1: companies that sort of grow too fast, too quickly run
Speaker 1: into problems. UM. How are you ensuring that that Pluto
Speaker 1: doesn't do that? UM? Well, I mean listen, you know,
Speaker 1: we look at Pluto TV as a flywheel where you know,
Speaker 1: more and better content UM distributed through a simple frictionless
Speaker 1: product U ubiquitously distributed on all devices, and monetize well.
Speaker 1: UM creates this fly will where you invest more and
Speaker 1: more in it. You know, you invest more in content,
Speaker 1: more distribution, you monetize better and it just becomes a
Speaker 1: snowball that allows you to invest in and really provides
Speaker 1: a competitive mode in some ways to the leader in
Speaker 1: the category. And so yes, there's more competition today in
Speaker 1: a space that we helped a pioneer and popularize. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, the the Pluto growth and everything that
Speaker 1: we deliver because we're a shared success model for our
Speaker 1: content partners and our distribution partners. UM. You know, speak
Speaker 1: to any of them and you will see that you know,
Speaker 1: Pluto continues to you know, grow at a rate that
Speaker 1: you know pleases them all uh significantly and has them
Speaker 1: you know, partnering with us more more and more closely.
Speaker 1: And so UM, you know, I don't know that there's
Speaker 1: necessarily you know, an issue from that growth. I'd say
Speaker 1: that's our job is to to grow not just for
Speaker 1: the benefit of Viacom, CBS and our users, but also
Speaker 1: for our partners on the content distribution and advertising side, UM,
Speaker 1: to deliver, you know, against their objectives. On the programming front,
Speaker 1: I see more and more talk about some of your
Speaker 1: competitors stepping up their original programming game. What are you
Speaker 1: guys doing on this front? I wonder whether we're going
Speaker 1: to see sort of the gap between a Paramount plus
Speaker 1: and A and a Pluto start to narrow as the
Speaker 1: expectations grow. You're talking specifically on Pluto for Yeah, so listen,
Speaker 1: we've done a few things, uh there that you know,
Speaker 1: we we We've had some content that we've acquired that
Speaker 1: has not been released elsewhere, UM, such as Bajillion Dollar Properties,
Speaker 1: a comedy show that we put on which I guess
Speaker 1: technically could be considered a Pluto original in its last season, UM,
Speaker 1: which is the one that had been on Seat and
Speaker 1: we got the catalog as well. UM. And then we've
Speaker 1: released other content that hadn't been released elsewhere, UM, including
Speaker 1: you know, a documentary that got us our first Emmy recently,
Speaker 1: which is seventy six days, which created by by MTV Studios. UM.
Speaker 1: So there are cases of original content, but you know,
Speaker 1: for Pluto TV, by and large, we think about our
Speaker 1: channels as our originals. UM. People come to Pluto in
Speaker 1: order to have an effortless curated entertainment experience. When they
Speaker 1: don't feel like making decisions about what they want to
Speaker 1: watch at the precise moment that there to be entertained,
Speaker 1: they just want to throw on a channel that speaks
Speaker 1: to them. Uh. And a lot of our channels are
Speaker 1: descriptive in nature UM, so you know exactly what to
Speaker 1: expect when you go into that channel. UM. And they
Speaker 1: just want to lean back and be entertained for hours
Speaker 1: and so UM investing in making sure that those channels
Speaker 1: are well branded, have the best possible content. Increasingly have
Speaker 1: exclusive content both from third parties that we licensed from
Speaker 1: as well as from Viacom CBS. A lot of the
Speaker 1: content UH vast majority. I would say, if the content
Speaker 1: we get on Pluto from Viacom CBS UM is not
Speaker 1: available elsewhere in the faster a BOD category. So these
Speaker 1: channels are almost like our originals, UM, and we invest
Speaker 1: in them more and more UM with each month as
Speaker 1: that fly wheel spins faster and we're able to monetize
Speaker 1: better for our content partners. UM. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: we wouldn't have a more aggressive strategy and originals over time,
Speaker 1: but the business this is growing so fast and you know,
Speaker 1: the global opportunity is so large that UM, you know,
Speaker 1: unlike a paid service that really stands out with UM
Speaker 1: its originals. You know, Pluto TV UH stands out with
Speaker 1: you know, its channel offering and its distribution. Let approach
Speaker 1: to scaling and globally. How far have you gotten in
Speaker 1: terms of getting Pluto outside the US and what are
Speaker 1: the next places you'll be? Yeah, so right now we're
Speaker 1: in uh, the US, South America, and Europe. So we're
Speaker 1: in twenty six countries. We launched France earlier this year.
Speaker 1: We just launched Italy uh very recently a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. UM, and we've got more and more countries
Speaker 1: on the on the horizon. So you know, we when
Speaker 1: we started Pluto, our our mantra was you know, entertaining
Speaker 1: the planet, and we on it to be the global
Speaker 1: leader of free ad supported streaming TV. And we're well
Speaker 1: on our way at this point. So UM, time for
Speaker 1: for one last question, UM, in terms of you know,
Speaker 1: you came into this company working on Pluto and Pluto alone,
Speaker 1: and you've really sort of expanded your responsibilities. What has
Speaker 1: that been like? I mean, I would imagine operationally, maybe
Speaker 1: it's even night and day going back to your startup days.
Speaker 1: How have you sort of risen to that challenge? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean listen, I I am flexing muscle muscles. I've
Speaker 1: never flexed before. I have always been a startup guy
Speaker 1: working in small, scrappy companies, and so uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I have patient colleagues who are helping me, you know,
Speaker 1: learn to navigate a much bigger organization. But you know, fundamentally, UM,
Speaker 1: what gets me excited is building UM and I also
Speaker 1: love good underdog opportunities. When we launched Pluto TV, you know,
Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, we want we launched something that
Speaker 1: seemed crazy at the time to most people, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, a service that was free, uh you know
Speaker 1: and add supported at a time when everyone thought it
Speaker 1: was gonna the world was going to subscriptions and ads
Speaker 1: were not going to be watched anymore. UM. And just
Speaker 1: as crazy, it was you know, linear or linear lead
Speaker 1: UM at a time when the whole world thought everything
Speaker 1: was going on demand. UM, but we thought that there
Speaker 1: was some white space to be carved in, an opportunity
Speaker 1: to create a big business UM. And fast forward seven
Speaker 1: years and we've we've we've done that, and I think
Speaker 1: with paramount Plus, with all the resources that by com
Speaker 1: CBS brings to bear UM and our unified strategy across
Speaker 1: free and pay um to help us further accelerate our
Speaker 1: paid ambitions with Paramount plus. You know again, we you know,
Speaker 1: we we we you know, maybe considered an underdog here
Speaker 1: and again I like that challenge, but I think we've
Speaker 1: got a huge comtunity to build one of the biggest
Speaker 1: paid streaming services as well, and then an aggregate across
Speaker 1: free and pay. I think I think we can be
Speaker 1: one of the biggest streaming companies in the world together.
Speaker 1: So for me, it's an exciting challenge to build in
Speaker 1: a different setting. UM and uh, we're just getting started. Well,
Speaker 1: congratulations on a good quarter, wishing you luck for two
Speaker 1: and beyond. Thanks for taking some time out. Thank you Andy.
Speaker 1: This has been another episode of Strictly Business. Tune in
Speaker 1: next week for another helping of scintillating conversation with media
Speaker 1: movers and shakers, and please make sure you subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast to hear future episodes. Also leave a review
Speaker 1: in Apple Podcasts Let us know how we're doing.