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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: Super Bowl fifty eight almost upon us, big day for

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Speaker 2: sports fans and for ad lovers too. How are you

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Speaker 2: going to watch? Well across Paramount properties, CBS, Paramount Plus,

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Speaker 2: Nickelodeon for the kids, even now joining us to discuss

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Speaker 2: the Sunday Super Bowl and much much more. Paramount Global

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Speaker 2: CEO Bob Backish live from Las Vegas, and anticipation of Sunday.

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Speaker 2: And I'm interested in NFL on CBS. Of course, you've

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Speaker 2: had a record regular season. We're anticipating record eyeballs for Sunday.

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Speaker 2: What about those ads? Bloomberg Intelligence think you might be

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Speaker 2: raking in as much as seven hundred million dollars? Is

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Speaker 2: that the right sort of a Mountbob.

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Speaker 3: So, Caroline, it's been an incredible season for the NFL.

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Speaker 1: On CBS.

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Speaker 3: We set the high watermark for ratings since the property

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Speaker 3: returned in nineteen ninety eight. We set the all time

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Speaker 3: record for a divisional playoff game. And to your point,

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Speaker 3: we set the high watermark for ad sales for a

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Speaker 3: Super Bowl. And it's looking like on Saturday on Sunday

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Speaker 3: we'll set an all time viewing number with any luck.

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Speaker 3: So It's an incredible year to be the NFL on CBS.

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Speaker 2: We're a technology show from a technology perspective. Just how

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Speaker 2: much of a feat is it to be able to

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Speaker 2: put this across audio properties, to be able to have

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Speaker 2: SpongeBob doing his thing, whether it's on Nickelodeon, but also

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Speaker 2: to be consuming it via cable or streaming.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So the infrastructure around the Super Bowl to ensure that

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Speaker 3: the world's audiences can see it is truly extraordinary. I

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Speaker 3: mean the number of cameras, remote cameras, et cetera. I

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Speaker 3: think it's like one hundred and forty or something like that.

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Speaker 3: And to your point, where we obviously have the main

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Speaker 3: feed on CBS here in the United States, we have

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Speaker 3: the first ever alternate telecasts of a Super Bowl on Nickelodeon,

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Speaker 3: which is going to be super fun. And to your

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Speaker 3: point on tech, we're actually going to do all the

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Speaker 3: graphics and enhancements real time. When we did the last

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Speaker 3: Nickelodeon game last year, we did that very quickly, but

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Speaker 3: it wasn't real time. The tech has now allows us

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Speaker 3: to do it real time, so that's super cool. And

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Speaker 3: then of course we have it on Paramount plus streaming simultaneously.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, a lot of infrastructure, a lot of people

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Speaker 3: behind the scenes, but we're feeling great about it. And

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Speaker 3: we've been doing Super Bowls longer than anyone else, so

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Speaker 3: we'll get it done.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about anyone else. Let's talk about how well

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Speaker 2: sports content is so hot right now and everyone wants

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Speaker 2: to think about how we can offer it through a

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Speaker 2: streaming product. I look at Disney, Fox and Warner Brothers,

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Speaker 2: the announcement this week you've shown, and I think about

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Speaker 2: how super Bowl actually twenty twenty one was. How you

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Speaker 2: announce Paramount Plus and the breadth of content, but how

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Speaker 2: do you tackle the focus on sports coming from rivals.

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Speaker 3: So we love sports here at Paramount Obviously it's a

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Speaker 3: key component of CBS. I think about it as a

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Speaker 3: slice of the wheel. It's part of our programming offering.

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Speaker 3: Same with Paramount Plus. You know, we talk about Paramount

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Speaker 3: Plus as news, sports and amountain of entertainment. Obviously the

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Speaker 3: NFL is a key part of that. But I want

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Speaker 3: to emphasize that we like a broad product. We've looked

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Speaker 3: at sports only plays in digital, both a standalone basis

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Speaker 3: and with partners, and we continue to believe that broad

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Speaker 3: is better. We see that in people coming in for

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Speaker 3: sports properties, subscribing for things like the NFL. But if

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Speaker 3: you look at the sports viewer on Paramount Plus, believe

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Speaker 3: it or not, ninety percent of their engagement i e.

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Speaker 3: Time spent is with non sports programming. So again, bring

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Speaker 3: them in with sports, but key to the model is

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Speaker 3: elongated and entertain them quite frankly with other stuff as well.

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Speaker 3: We firmly believe that leads to accessing a bigger TAM,

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Speaker 3: bigger market, and it is better for the business model.

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Speaker 1: And so we like Brad.

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Speaker 4: And Bob, just what you were saying about the profile

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Speaker 4: of the consumer on the platform. I use the platform

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Speaker 4: for Champions League Football, and you have such a long season.

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Speaker 4: With the Champions League, you have your in studio talent component,

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Speaker 4: but you're also the ability to show multiple games in

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Speaker 4: the same evening. You have choice, and then at the

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Speaker 4: end of the season you have a big finale and

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Speaker 4: the NFL kind of works the same way. Right, you

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Speaker 4: had a great regular season, as Caroline points out, but

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Speaker 4: proportionately for your business, what's more important the big standalone

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Speaker 4: single event this Sunday or the traction you get over

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Speaker 4: the duration of a season.

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Speaker 1: So a couple of things.

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Speaker 3: As you said, you know, the NFL this season set

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Speaker 3: a record for CBS in terms of viewership since nineteen

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Speaker 3: ninety eight, which is pretty extraordinary. And clearly the divisional

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Speaker 3: playoff game, which also set an all time record, was important.

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Speaker 3: But I think it's the arc of the whole thing.

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Speaker 3: And frankly, there's nothing like the Super Bowl in the world,

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Speaker 3: and obviously that's a big event for us.

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Speaker 1: But you mentioned UEFA two. We love YUEFA.

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Speaker 3: As you know, the UEFA season is going to start

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Speaker 3: right after the American football season, and that is also

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Speaker 3: a great product for fans of Paramount Plus, and we

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Speaker 3: just extended that deal and the new format for UEFA

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Speaker 3: includes a more exciting so I call it playoff format.

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Speaker 3: So again, great product, and we do see people consuming

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Speaker 3: that product alongside entertainment product. So we love sports, we

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Speaker 3: love the NFL, we love YUEFA, and we love it

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Speaker 3: as a part of Paramount Plus.

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Speaker 4: Sounded interesting what you said about the consumption of non

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Speaker 4: sports content. Halo season two prime example of that. You

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Speaker 4: talk it's about UEFA following the Super Bowl. How much

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Speaker 4: will you be putting into advertizing this weekend? So why

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Speaker 4: you've got to all those eyeballs. You can say, hey,

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Speaker 4: this is what else Paramount Plus is offering in the

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Speaker 4: coming weeks and months.

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Speaker 3: Great point, we are using the Super Bowl as a

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Speaker 3: showcase for Paramount Global. I'm sitting here at our CBS

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Speaker 3: set on the strip in front of the Bellagio. We

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Speaker 3: had CBS Mornings going from here today and yesterday, and

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Speaker 3: we have other properties operating here in Vegas. We are

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Speaker 3: also using the Super Bowl as a promotional platform.

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Speaker 1: So you see a new Pluto look and.

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Speaker 3: Feel brand campaign rolling out, You see Paramount Plus spots.

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Speaker 3: You see the Bob Marley movie which is opening on

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Speaker 3: for Valentine's Day weekend. So yeah, we're showcasing Paramount Global

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Speaker 3: to the biggest audience in the world on the biggest

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Speaker 3: weekend in the world. And frankly, it's great to be

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Speaker 3: in Vegas.

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Speaker 1: It's a lecture, Bob.

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Speaker 2: People see value, a lot of value in your content,

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Speaker 2: and people therefore see value in your company. And we

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Speaker 2: know there's been plenty of reports of a fording billion

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Speaker 2: dollar offer for the business. Are you for sale?

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Speaker 3: So look, as a management team and our board of directors,

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Speaker 3: we are focused on shareholder value creation. The most predictable

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Speaker 3: route to that is execution. So we are a laser

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Speaker 3: focused on execution, driving Paramount Plus, elongating earnings in the

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Speaker 3: traditional media sector, opening movies, et cetera. But simultaneously or

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Speaker 3: in parallel, we continue to look at other options as

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Speaker 3: we have been, including transactional ones.

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Speaker 1: So again a lot of activity.

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Speaker 3: But I think what's important about it is it really

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Speaker 3: shines a light on the incredible value of Paramount Global.

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Speaker 3: We have an unmatched content engine in terms of our

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Speaker 3: studios new production, whether that's episodic series or films, as

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Speaker 3: well as irreplaceable libraries across demographics, whether it's kids with

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Speaker 3: Nick Gloadian adults, etc. So it's an extraordinary asset. We're

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Speaker 3: focused on maximizing the value of that asset again day

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Speaker 3: to day through execution, but also continue to look at

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Speaker 3: other roots.

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Speaker 2: And this is a sensitive one, Bob, but we've had

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Speaker 2: analysts come on the show and say, you know, there

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Speaker 2: are just too many players in the space and you've

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Speaker 2: got to be huge. You can't even just be medium

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Speaker 2: sized from your perspective with Paramount Plus and streaming, are

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Speaker 2: you getting to profitability? I know you've got your earnings

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Speaker 2: around the corner.

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Speaker 1: But how soon can.

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Speaker 2: You sort of deliver that because I know you spoke

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Speaker 2: to that in the third quarter for example.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So I'd tell you a couple of things.

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Speaker 3: One, if you're right that narrative is out there, there

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Speaker 3: are people with that point of view.

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Speaker 1: But I'd point to.

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Speaker 3: Our third quarter call where we continue to show Paramount

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Speaker 3: plus is a growing service, continues to have the most

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Speaker 3: net ads of any streaming service since we launched point

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Speaker 3: one point two is. On our third quarter call, we

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Speaker 3: talked about the fact that we expect and I therefore

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Speaker 3: with my word choice here because as you point out,

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Speaker 3: our fourth quartercolls in two weeks, but we expect twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty two was in fact our peak streaming investment, not

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, which we guided to.

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Speaker 1: That says we're.

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Speaker 3: Head of plan on the path to profitability for streaming,

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Speaker 3: and we're very excited about twenty twenty four. But I'll

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Speaker 3: have to leave it at that until our earnings call

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Speaker 3: in a couple of weeks, where we'll have more to say.

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Speaker 4: Bob, a Global CEO, has to pass a lot of

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Speaker 4: data quantify the impact of Taylor Swift For me on

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Speaker 4: this Sunday Super Bowl.

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Speaker 3: Look, Taylor's obviously a phenomenon. She's a force in music.

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Speaker 3: For all of us that have seen her tour, it's incredible,

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Speaker 3: and she has without a doubt been incremental to audience

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Speaker 3: on the NFL. There's different points of view on how incremental,

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Speaker 3: but she's a great addition, widening the net of the

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Speaker 3: NFL viewer even further. We're looking forward to having her

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Speaker 3: here in Vegas this week at the game, and I

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Speaker 3: think it'll be just an incremental thing. But the main

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Speaker 3: point is the NFL on CBS and Paramount Plus is just.

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Speaker 1: An extraordinary property.

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Speaker 3: As I said, we set the high watermark already for

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Speaker 3: Super Bowl in terms of ad revenue. It's looking like

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Speaker 3: we will set the high watermark on viewing and is

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Speaker 3: Taylor part of that. Yeah, she probably is an incremental

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Speaker 3: part of that. But it's just great.

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Speaker 2: I'm tuning in for Usha too. Got to be said

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Speaker 2: Paramount Global CEO Bob Backish, is so good to speak

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Speaker 2: with you. Thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Indeed,