Paramount+ saw its first price increase this year with the launch of Paramount+ With Showtime, and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish says it won’t be the streamer’s last. The goal is to hike the cost of Paramount+ With Showtime once again at some point in the next two years.
“Our plan is to raise price again, this isn’t our only price increase. Whether we do that in ’25, or we do that in ’24, we’ll see,” Bakish said during a session at a Goldman Sachs-sponsored conference Wednesday. “Again, early days, as we evaluate the cost impact of the price increase, but we believe there’s a lot of room to run there.”
In February, Paramount revealed that the monthly price of the premium Paramount+ tier with Showtime will rise to $11.99/month, from $9.99 at present. The essential tier without Showtime and with advertising will climb from $4.99 to $5.99 monthly. Those price hikes came with the rollout of the Paramount+ With Showtime launch in June. So far, Bakish says Paramount has not seen a negative impact on sub count due to the raised cost.
“We just effectuated our first price increase. It is very much performing according to plan,” Bakish said. “There was some question out there, if it would adversely affect churn in a significant way and if we’re bringing down subscriber acquisition. And the fact matter is, we’re not seeing that. So that proves that we have pricing power in the marketplace, given the content we’re bringing to bear on the platform.”
On Aug. 7, Paramount said Paramount+ added 700,000 paid subscribers to its Paramount+ subscriber base to reach 61 million in Q2. Results reflecting the effect of the price increase and the switch to Paramount+ With Showtime will come when Paramount reports its third quarter earnings later this fall.