Paramount CEO: Postponing big movies during pandemic ‘turned out to be the right decision’

Paramount CEO: Postponing big movies during pandemic ‘turned out to be the right decision’

Paramount Global is encouraged to produce successful content after recent box office hits, including Top Gun: Maverickand on the Paramount+ streaming service as Hellomanagement said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Thursday.

“Nowhere is our popularity more evident than at the box office,” chairman and CEO Bob Bakish told analysts. “Don’t look away Top Gun: Maverick, which was already the biggest movie of 2022 and our fifth number-one title of the year. In fact, Top Gun: Maverick It recently grossed $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office and became one of the top 10 national films of all time. Here, we leveraged our portfolio of brands, including CBS and MTV, to execute a massive corporate consumer campaign that resonated with audiences around the world.

It also showed the company’s other four #1 movies at the box office in 2022, namely donkey forever, crying, the lost city s sonic the hedgehog 2he said his success was not given but required “the right strategy and strong execution” on the part of the company. “In the early stages of the pandemic, we were very selective with our releases, withholding some films until market conditions improved. Though we couldn’t release it Top Gun: Maverick s the lost city Previously, we held back because we knew these phenomenal stories would bring audiences back to theaters. It turned out to be the right decision. Paramount continues to shine at the box office with numbers that have surpassed even our expectations. And we are excited about the future. We ended this spectacular year with the year of Damien Chazelle BabylonWith Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, it opens in theaters in December.

The Paramount CEO also spoke about the studio’s 2023 lineup, “based on new commercial photos from some of our most popular and emerging franchises, transformers s Ninja Turtle dAnointings and Dragons s paw patrolto name a few.”

Bakish also praised the success of originals such as Hello Manage earnings for Paramount+ and its customers. “Viewers hungry for amazing stories are also flocking to our flagship streaming service in greater numbers,” he said. “The variety and quality of our content is unparalleled, especially at Paramount+.”

Then the executive pointed to the data indicating the address of the transmitter. “Paramount+ is the #1 premium service in the US in terms of subscriptions and net subscriber additions, both this quarter and this year. And according to other third-party data, Paramount+ is also the most popular premium streaming service in the US aggregated among Switchers. This means that people who have opted out of the service in the last 12 months are more likely to add Paramount+ than any other service, but it reaffirms that we are gaining market share.

Overall, Bakish stated, “Our content consistently engages and engages a large audience. When I say audience, I don’t mean just kids or teenagers, I mean the whole family, on the backside, on the whole country, on the EE soil. UU., Sino El Mundo, Solo La Audiencia de Transmisión, Sino Televisao. , theatrical and broadcast audiences. The reason is that we not only create popular content, we also make content popular using our powerful platforms.”

Also on Thursday’s call, Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra reiterated his goal of spending $6 billion on streaming content by 2024, with streaming losses peaking in 2023. of subscribers growing, “our investment in content is working,” he argued. . .

When asked if Paramount+ could increase its subscription prices over time, something Netflix has consistently done despite high inflation. “Prices will be part of the equation. And while we don’t have an imminent price change, it will happen in the future,” he replied. our value proposition versus competing services, which I will mention.” I think we offer a very strong value position today.”

And Bakish was asked about the massive cricket rights deal signed by Paramount’s Viacom18 joint venture in India, making it the new online home of Indian Premier League cricket for the next five years, while Star Disney’s India will remain the broadcaster. of sports on TV. . “This is a deal that our joint venture in India did… they recently had a deal where they imported the Bodhi tree. [the investment company backed by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar] as an investor and capital infusion,” said Bakish.

The executive added: “And I will leave that to the joint venture. But what they said is that the streaming rights could be part of the streaming offering for the Indian market. [the] The team plans to release in 2023. We’ve also said that Paramount+ will release together, essentially as another form of our package tier.”

Source: Hollywood Reporter

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