ViacomCBS’ Streaming Strategy Reaches Major Milestone
Jul 30, 2020
CBS All Access adds 3,500 episodes from BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Smithsonian Channel, plus new original series and exclusive live sports.
CBS All Access is now home to content from across the ViacomCBS portfolio of entertainment brands.
The move, announced earlier today, marks a significant expansion of the streaming service. The addition of series from BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Smithsonian Channel means CBS All Access’ library includes more than 20,000 episodes and movies. It will continue to add original and library content to its slate—including new spinoff series Kamp Koral and Star Trek: Lower Decks, which will build on the iconic SpongeBob SquarePants and Star Trek franchises, respectively.
The expansion is a milestone in ViacomCBS’ plan to transform CBS All Access into a super service and the subscription streaming home for all of ViacomCBS. The service will relaunch in 2021.
“Today marks the beginning of the evolution of CBS All Access into the subscription streaming home for ViacomCBS,” said Marc DeBevoise, chief digital officer of ViacomCBS and president and chief executive of ViacomCBS Digital, in a release. “By bringing the valuable IP and creative capabilities from across ViacomCBS together in one service, we have a fantastic opportunity to introduce even more consumers to this incredible offering.”
ViacomCBS’ has a unique ability within the streaming entertainment ecosystem to appeal to diverse audiences with a broad and deep content library, major live sports, and nationwide local news coverage. CBS All Access is the only large provider with all major live sports, including CBS network-delivered NFL, NCAA, PGA, and exclusive streaming rights to women's soccer and UEFA. Subscribers can also watch live channels like CBSN, CBS Sports HQ, and ET Live. Its local coverage spans 99% of the U.S. In 2021, the super service will grow to 30,000 hours of content—which is at least double the amount of content on competitors like AT&T’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
"We have over 120,000 hours of content. That is more than anyone else in the industry, bar none."
“Audiences want entertainment on demand and news, sports, and live events,” ViacomCBS President and CEO Bob Bakish said during an earnings call earlier this year. “We’ll be the service that gives them what they want, how they want it, all in one place, and at a great value. This will be a compelling foundational service for some, and differentiated complement for others.”
The expansion of CBS All Access is an essential piece within ViacomCBS’ overall streaming strategy. Its owned and operated platforms include Pluto TV, a free, ad-supported TV streaming service, Noggin, a global subscription app for children’s content, SHOWTIME, a premium on-demand offering, and BET+, the brand’s premium subscription streaming service.
“Today in the U.S., on our owned and operated services across free and pay, we have over 120,000 hours of content. That is more than anyone else in the industry, bar none,” Bakish said in a keynote conversation at the virtual 2020 APOS Media Conference last week. “We have hits across every genre and every demographic.”
CBS All Access launched in 2014 and was the first subscription video on demand (SVOD) service created by a traditional broadcast network. In an interview with the ViacomCBS Newsroom, DeBevoise said they have a first-mover advantage in distribution, engagement, and audience insights.
“A lot of our competitors are being carried on one platform and not on another. We're effectively across all the major platforms already,” says DeBevoise. “We are everywhere. We have millions of subscribers. We have a service with high engagement.... On top of that, we know what works and what doesn't in regards to content.”
Programming at Scale: New Originals and Familiar Favorites
CBS All Access will continue to add programming from across ViacomCBS’ portfolio in the next few months. The strategy will enable the company to leverage its most popular franchises and deliver subscribers content across genres including drama, animation, sci-fi, comedy, reality, kids, and crime procedurals.
“We have a content catalog that creates this deep-dive experience for users,” says DeBevoise. “As time goes on, they’re only going to be able to dive deeper.”
This year, new ViacomCBS originals on CBS All Access will include Star Trek: Lower Decks, Big Brother Live Feeds, Star Trek: Discovery, and limited event series The Stand. In 2021, the service will also debut SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff Kamp Koral, and it will be the exclusive home to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.
“A lot of what we're talking about is which franchises do we want to build off of to really make the service shine and stand out from the competition,” says DeBevoise. “SpongeBob is a perfect example of that. We’re building out that entire franchise to become a key part of the service.”
With the expansion, CBS All Access also gains all seasons of BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood and Hit the Floor, Comedy Central’s Chappelle’s Show and Strangers with Candy, MTV’s Laguna Beach and Snooki & JWoww, and Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and Rugrats.
The additional content will be available alongside more than 17,000 episodes of CBS primetime, late night and daytime shows such as FBI, The Amazing Race, All Rise, and Young Sheldon. CBS All Access also includes all seasons of the hit series Survivor, NCIS, and Hawaii Five-O, plus classic favorites like Star Trek, Cheers, and Medium.
Unmatched Breadth: Live and Local TV
The service’s live offering spans news, sports, and entertainment. CBS All Access live streams annual events including the Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, and the Tony Awards.
"In our service, there's always going to be something happening live."
“In our service, there's always going to be something happening live,” says DeBevoise. “We have the NFL season coming up. We have the Super Bowl this year. We have The Grammy's every year. These big events drive people to watch the service, and then we can encourage them to watch similar programming.”
CBS All Access is one of few streaming services with a major live news offering that includes global, local, and national coverage, as well as sports and entertainment.
It is currently home to every CBS Sports event, including NFL on CBS, Super Bowl LV, NCAA Basketball, the PGA Tour and golf tourneys like The Masters Tournament, college football including tournaments like the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the National Women’s Soccer League, and Hockey East.
Earlier this month, ViacomCBS announced a deal with the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) to become the exclusive English language streamer of UEFA Champions League games. As part of the agreement, CBS All Access will live-stream all nearly 300 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League season games beginning with the Round of 16 playoffs in August.
A New Interface for an Enhanced Experience
CBS All Access’ redesigned user interface includes enhanced discovery and personalization features.
Branded hubs for BET, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Smithsonian Channel were introduced so that subscribers can explore content by brand. DeBevoise says the service will continue to evolve these hubs as more content is added to the platform into next year.
“We like to take an approach of curation and personalization. Content will be curated to show the right content at the right time, and there will be a deeper amount of personalization, especially on the homepage,” says DeBevoise. “The service will start to cater the experience for each user.”
