Media giant ViacomCBS recently extended its newest streaming service, Paramount Plus, into Australia and New Zealand, and has dramatically increased the number of movies available for viewing.
“We are poised to become as powerful a player in streaming as we are in television,” Beverley McGarvey, chief content officer and executive vice president of ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand told the Los Angeles Business Journal.
In addition to providing Paramount Studios films, the report said, Paramount Plus started March 4 in the U.S. and Latin America with network brands including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV.
ViacomCBS expanded its public film library offerings to 1,000 films in June, and projects the release of one new film per month in 2022, the report said.
According to entertainment website Concrete Playground, Paramount Plus offers 20,000 titles, including series episodes and films.
The website said the company's popular offerings include films from the "Harry Potter," "Indiana Jones" and "Dark Knight Trilogy" franchises, and the TV series "Why Women Kill," "The Twilight Zone" and "SpongeBob."
Streaming is the delivery of a movie or music in real time (immediately) without having to download it to your computer and watch later, according to the BBC's Webwise.
The Business Journal said the new service is an expanded and rebranded version of the CBS All Access subscription service, which offered live streaming and video-on-demand for 9 million subscribers.
Based in New York, Viacom is a mass media and entertainment conglomerate that, according to Wikipedia, operates 170 networks serving 700 million subscribers in 180 countries. The company consists of Paramount Pictures film studio and the CBS television network.
Viacom has seen its numbers grow by 6 million subscribers during this year’s first quarter to a total 36 million users, with revenue soaring yearly by 65% and doubling to a total $816 million.
“In (quarter one) we accelerated our expansion in streaming with the launch of Paramount+, further enhancing ViacomCBS’ ecosystem of premium, pay and free services,” ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said in the company's May 6 earnings report, according to the Business Journal. “The strong consumer response we have seen is evident in today’s numbers.”