Paramount Global sets Indian launch for Paramount+

Earlier today, Bob Bakish announced Paramount Global’s aspirations to distribute the company’s flagship streaming platform, Paramount+ in India through Viacom18 assets. The company has also asserted that the 100 million subscriptions globally are inclusive of Indian subs numbers as well. The company also revealed its plans to hard bundling the platform with Jio as the road to market plans.

As of today, Viacom18 operates multiple streaming services in both AVOD and SVOD models in Voot, Voot Kids and the newly incorporated Jio Cinema. Voot Select, the subscription tier also streams the multiple titles from Paramount Global’s brands such as ShowTime, CBS Studios etc., currently as well. However, the company hasn’t revealed how Paramount+ is going to be lined up for launch and distribution in India as of yet.

Bakish has asserted, “ India is a fundamentally attractive market, a market that is already at scale and has a tremendous future ahead of it in the context of media. Viacom 18 has been a significant player in the market since its inception. Given the capital infusion, Viacom18 is poised to become an even more significant streaming player in the Indian streaming market”.

When quizzed about Cricket rights for India as Reliance is in running for IPL rights, Bakish has confirmed that Paramount+ won’t have the cricket even if Reliance are to bag them. He also expressed optimism that hard bundled Paramount+ will be benefitting from the cricket rights even though consumers won’t have to necessarily pay for Paramount+ for cricket.

The company also unveiled the plans to launch Paramount+ in multiple European markets and South Korea later this year.