ViacomCBS will expand availability of Paramount+ to South Korea through a new wide-ranging agreement with CJ ENM.
In 2022, Paramount+ will debut in a service bundle with TVING, CJ ENM's streaming service, which will mark the SVOD’s first entry to the Asian market.
"Korean entertainment has become a cultural juggernaut with unprecedented demand, and CJ ENM is behind some of the biggest international hits that transcend borders, including Academy Award-winning film Parasite," said Dan Cohen, president of the global distribution group at ViacomCBS, in a statement. "We are excited to partner with CJ ENM to deliver world-class content that will captivate our collective audiences, expand our intercontinental footprint and accelerate the growth of our streaming services with this powerful collaboration."
As part of the agreement, Paramount Television Studios and CJ ENM/Studio Dragon will co-develop and co-produce English-language scripted series based on CJ ENM/Studio Dragon's titles for Paramount+. The companies will also co-develop and co-finance movies for theatrical and streaming releases with the plan to distribute one theatrical movie a year in various territories.
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ViacomCBS and TVING will co-finance new Korean series for global distribution on Paramount+, which will also Paramount+ will also license Korean-language series from CJ ENM. Finally, Pluto TV, ViacomCBS’s free, ad-supported streaming television service, will launch a dedicated CJ ENM branded channel on December 14 featuring K-content for U.S. audiences.
During today’s UBS investor conference, ViacomCBS Bob Bakish said prior to the deal, his company didn’t have any near-term plans for Paramount+ in Asia. He said that “you shouldn’t be surprised if you see us do other things there as well.”
ViacomCBS has already outlined some extensive international expansion plans for its streaming business and today Bakish provided a little more color on that strategy. The company has formed a two-pronged partnership with Sky, the European pay TV operator owned by Comcast. Next year, Sky Cinema subscribers in the U.K., Germany and Italy will all get Paramount+.
“For us, that’s really a compelling way to accelerate our penetration while preserving 100% ownership of our streaming business. We also think it will have very attractive characteristics from a subscriber acquisition cost standpoint and from a churn standpoint,” he said. “And importantly, we’ve preserved our rights to do straight DTC in all of these markets.”
Next year ViacomCBS will also launch SkyShowtime, a 50-50 joint equity venture with Comcast that will target approximately 90 million broadband homes in more than 20 smaller Eastern European and Nordic markets. Bakish said that ViacomCBS previously had no plan to launch in those markets for at least two years so the joint venture has moved up the timeline significantly.