Both Paramount+’s ad-free and ad-supported plans are making their way to Roku’s aggregated subscription video lineup, Roku announced today.
In the coming weeks, viewers will be able to subscribe to either Paramount+’s essential plan ($4.99 per month) or its premium tier ($9.99 monthly) through The Roku Channel’s new dedicated programming guide for the service. This marks the first time Roku’s created such a guide for a premium subscription partner.
Through this partnership, Roku is also upping its live sports streaming content for the premium subscription category. Paramount’s live sports arsenal includes NFL programming on CBS Sports as well as coverage of UEFA soccer games.
Rob Holmes, Roku’s VP of programming, said in a statement the platform is looking forward to providing its audience with Paramount’s “extraordinary breadth of content, IP and live news and sporting events.”
“Premium Subscriptions connects today’s highest-quality content providers to the millions of streamers on The Roku Channel, and we’re excited to introduce streamers to everything that Paramount+ has to offer directly within The Roku Channel,” he continued.
Paramount’s broad content library – most of which is the company’s IP – is a strong asset, CFO Naveen Chopra noted at a May investor conference. Chopra added Paramount doesn’t have any services “entirely dependent” on original content, and it’s also focusing on maintaining its legacy media business.
Paramount CEO Bob Bakish in May pointed to the success of Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which amassed $124 million in U.S. box office revenue during its opening weekend. As a result, Paramount extended the film’s theatrical window.
Roku isn’t short on content either through its aggregation platform. Most recently, The Roku Channel added a dedicated Spanish-language destination hub – containing thousands of hours of free movies and shows in Spanish.
Discovery+’s ad-supported tier also launched on the Roku Channel in May. Randy Ahn, head of The Roku Channel SVOD, previously told Fierce Video the Discovery+ add was the first time Roku offered an ad-supported SVOD tier within its premium subscription aggregator.
Aggregation is a particularly hot topic in the streaming industry. At a June StreamTV Show panel, Ahn said the OTT space is ripe for consolidation due to the fact “there’s going to be a limit of TV OSs out there that will be powering those aggregated experiences.”
And consumers are eager for aggregation to happen. Recent data from Hub Entertainment Research indicated most viewers think a streaming video aggregator improves the viewing experience.
Roku believes its place in the streaming industry is well-positioned, despite falling short in its second quarter results. The company added 1.8 million incremental active accounts in Q2, while boasting over $1 billion in Upfront commitments.