NEW YORK—ViacomCBS reported very strong growth in its streaming operations in Q2 2021, with global streaming revenue rising by 92% from a year earlier and streaming ad revenue doubling (up 102%) as subscriptions to its streaming platforms grew by 6.5 million in Q2 2021 for a total of 42 million.
“In a quarter of strong business performance, including growth in advertising and affiliate, streaming was a standout,” said Bob Bakish, president and CEO of ViacomCBS. “We continued to accelerate our global streaming momentum and delivered phenomenal results across our flagship streaming services. For the second consecutive quarter, Paramount+ fueled more than 6 million additions to our global streaming subscription base, which now reaches over 42 million. This growth was driven by the power of the service’s differentiated content strategy and expanding content slate. Looking ahead, we're excited about our opportunity to build on this momentum, as we scale Paramount+'s content offerings across genres and expand our reach with global audiences.”
The company noted that Paramount+ led the subscriber growth and that Paramount+ originals drove strong subscriber sign-ups and engagement, with the top drivers of sign-ups being the new “iCarly series,” “Infinite,” “UEFA Champions League,” “The Challenge: All Stars” and “Why Women Kill.”
In addition total viewing hours and watch time per active subscriber grew quarter-over-quarter, the company said.
ViacomCBS also reported “strong growth” in signups and engagement for Showtime OTT and noted that global expansion and domestic growth helped global Pluto TV monthly average users exceed 52 million in the quarter.
Revenue at Pluto surged 169% year-over-year, more than doubling for the fourth quarter in a row and domestic watch-time per user grew 45% year-over-year.
To build on that growth the company announced that Paramount+ will launch in Australia and New Zealand this August and in key European markets, including the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria in 2022 as part of new Sky partnership.
