Paramount Plus relaunched last year as an overhaul of the previous CBS All Access service.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Paramount Plus had 32.8 million subscribers at the end of last year, parent company ViacomCBS said Tuesday, the first time it has ever broken out its subscriber base. Combined with other streaming services at the company, ViacomCBS has 56 million global streaming subscribers total.
For context, Paramount Plus’ membership is underneath that of market leader Netflix, at 221.8 million, and Disney Plus, at 129.8 million, in the standings of global subscribers. It’s also smaller than Hulu, which operates only in the US and has 45.3 million members. But Paramount Plus has many more paying subscribers than the likes of Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service that had 9 million paid members at the end of last year.
Paramount Plus — alongside other young streaming services like Disney Plus, HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, Peacock, Discovery Plus and others — hopes its particular mix of TV shows, movies and originals will lure your attention from cable and streaming stalwarts like Netflix, hooking you on its own vision for TV’s future. For you, these so-called streaming wars affect how many services you use — and, often, must pay for — to watch your favorite shows and movies online.
The news was announced in ViacomCBS’ quarterly earnings release.
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