Paramount+ Review 2024 – The Best Streaming Service for Movie Buffs?

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Video streaming services have become so prevalent nowadays that even the traditional media conglomerates have started offering them. This shift has birthed several new streaming platforms, with existing ones needing help to keep pace and remain relevant.

The competition got even tougher as the video streaming market exploded with increased demand for live videos and shows on-demand. In its quest to stay afloat with ongoing trends, CBS ALL Access transformed its name to Paramount+ after existing in the industry for seven years. This rebrand came with lots of changes. 

This review explores all you must know about Paramount Plus as it strives to retain a leadership position in the online streaming industry. It extensively explores Paramount Plus’ Pricing, available programs, and supported regions and platforms.

What is Paramount+: Your Gateway to Premium Entertainment

The service previously focused on streaming live CBS local content, including on-demand programs from CBS. But in 2016, it expanded to streaming exclusive content. This marked the start of its journey to gradual mutation, which ultimately led to its rebranding in 2021. Some programs that aided its journey to modification included Big Brother, Star Trek Discovery, and The Good Fight.

Later, it started featuring content from other sources to add depth and variety to its library. The improved or enriched library aimed to draw and hold new subscribers’ attention, increasing the platform’s customer retention rate. Although Paramount Plus has some original contents in its library, they are little in ratio to those from external sources. One of the major factors that influence customer retention is affordability. Let’s take a look at its Pricing.

Availability by Country: Where Can You Access the Service?

Paramount Plus Subscription Plans and Pricing 

Paramount+ has two categories of subscriptions, one with ads and one without ads. The ads version of Paramount Plus costs $5.99 monthly and $59.99 annually. Users who subscribe to this version can access sports programs like the UEFA Champions League and NFL games from the CBS library. 

However, the Ad-supported plan needs the 4k graphics streaming capability with low video resolution since it is not a premium plan. Moreover, it’s riddled with ads, especially on shows or programs frequently on demand. Fortunately, ads don’t pop up while streaming movies.

The premium version of Paramount Plus is priced at $11.99 monthly, higher than the ads version, with a margin of $6. Also, it costs $119.99 annually. For a subscriber to enjoy the benefits of the premium version, they have to consider parting ways with a $60 difference annually compared to the ad version. 

Moreover, it is not called the premium version for nothing. Once subscribers pay for this version, they are entitled to many goodies not found in the ad version. This includes full access to the Paramount Plus showtime library, no annoyingly intrusive ads, and the ability to stream on better Resolution or more crisp images.

Price Comparison With Other Platforms

Peacock

This platform is priced at about $4.99 monthly, cheaper than Paramount+ in the ad’s version by a dollar. Meanwhile, the ads-free version costs $9.99 every month.

Hulu

The price for the ads version of Hulu services is about $7.99 monthly ($2 more than the Paramount Plus ads version), while the ads-free version is $14.99 ($3 more than the Paramount premium version).

HBO MAX

Their service monthly subscription is pegged at $9.99 monthly for the ad-supported version, whereas the ads-free version costs $15.99 ($4 more than Paramount Plus on both the ads-free and premium versions).

Paramount Plus Programs – A World of Exclusive Entertainment Awaits

In 2015, when Paramount Plus was previously CBS, All Access declared plans to stream a Star Trek program with new concepts. The production goal was to launch by 2017, and it succeeded. In 2017, Paramount+ launched the “Star Trek Discovery” program, the first Star Trek series since “The Star Trek Enterprise” stopped in 2005. A series of other Star Trek programs came afterward, namely “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek Picard.” 

In addition, “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” launched in 2017. A reality TV titled Big Brother was also projected to stream on Paramount Plus in 2016. The show was finally founded as “Big Brother Over the Top.” By 2020, another Star Trek series tagged “Star Trek Lower Decks” rolled out. Star Trek Lower Decks is an animation series for adolescents and adults. They are not meant for kids.

Also, SpongeBob, a popular animated series, streamed after CBS All Access rebranded to Paramount Plus. The animated movie premiered in March 2021 and was titled “Sponge on the Run.” Popular programs like Criminal Minds, The Game, and The Godfather that attracted many subscribers also streamed on the Paramount Plus platform.

A popular game franchise known as Halo was integrated into Paramount Plus. It was a form of adaptation of the original game franchise owned by Xbox game studios. Seal Team and Evil were moved from the CBS local stream library to that of Paramount Plus. This was achievable because, despite its rebranding in 2021, Paramount+ still had access to the CBS library.

Paramount Plus has been keen on expansion since its rebrand. The platform publicly declared 150 international original streaming programs as its target by 2025. After its announcement in August 2021, the production of a program with a 14-movie length duration commenced. The program is meant to adapt to the “South Park” animated series.

Due to its acquisition of rights to air previous popular shows, Paramount Plus subscribers can watch CSI (including CSI Miami), Hawaii 5-0, Clarice, FBI Most Wanted, FBI, All Rise, MacGyver, The Equalizer, Twin Peaks, and The Twilight Zone.

Integration of Sports Programs on Paramount Plus

In late 2019, Paramount Plus bought the right or license to stream sports events like the UEFA Champions League and its “younger sibling,” UEFA Europa, in November 2019.

The arrangement was supposed to last till 2024, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, Turner Sports backed out. And as a result, the deal got suspended. At the time, Turner Sports was the only sports service with the right to air the program. 

Devices and Platforms That Support Paramount Plus

Various devices, including Smart TVs, support Paramount+. Some of the television devices that support Paramount Plus services include the following:

Regions Supported by the Paramount Plus Streaming Services

Paramount Plus is available in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, and several European, Central and South American countries. On June 16, 2022, Paramount Plus debuted as a content hub in South Korea. Six days later, it opened for business in Ireland and the UK through Amazon Prime Videos and its native platform. 

Paramount went into a joint partnership with Comcast to create a program titled SkyShowTime, which aired in several countries across Europe. The program’s rich content was derived from the NBC Universal and Sky Studios library. The program launched in 2022 and aired until the first quarter of 2023.

Yearly Review of Subscribers – Reflecting on the Streaming Community’s Growth

A year after its launch as CBS All Access in January 2015, Paramount Plus became popular in video streaming and recorded over 100 million subscribers. This marked a huge success rate for barely a year-old platform. By December 2016, the number of users on Paramount+ had increased to about 1.2 million subscribers. The growth in number of users wasn’t as impressive as the previous year, as it stalled and continued at a slow rate. 

But the subscriber database grew better in 2017, with a record of almost 1.5 million users on the platform. However, this record differed from the initial growth when the program launched. By March 2018, the number of users climbed to over 2 million subscribers. This can be attributed to the platform’s acquisition of rights to stream certain programs in 2017. It also created original content and featured programs from other platforms, enhancing the richness of its content library.

Within five months of August 2018, Paramount observed a spike in users, reaching 2.5 million subscribers. Its content library continued to attract new users to the platform. As of February 2019, the subscriber database has reached 4 million subscribers, an impressive statistic in retrospect. The following year, in 2020, an additional 4 million new subscribers joined the platform, taking the total number of users to 8 million by December.

By the last quarter of 2021, an impressive 24 million new users joined the Paramount Plus platform, taking the total number of subscribers to 32.8 million. At this rate, heads were turning towards the platform. Subscribers from other platforms noticed Paramount Plus as its content library content expanded with more programs and varieties to entice new users. As of June 2023, Paramount had 60.7 million users, the highest recorded since its first launch in 2014.

Performance Analysis (Prime Features)

4k Resolution

Paramount Plus can stream on 4k Resolution via the premium subscription versions on some devices. For context, 4K is the number of pixels in an image from the horizontal position, that is, 4000 pixels. The higher the pixels, the sharper the image or video will be. Also, the device used to stream this video should be able to support this feature. 

Dolby vision

Dolby Vision is a feature that helps to enhance the high dynamic range of videos. As the name implies, this feature was developed by Dolby Laboratories.

HDR

HDR stands for high dynamic range for videos. This feature is responsible for balancing the ratio between brightness and deep contrast of the video. It ultimately gives a very crisp and sharp image. Note that image is also used when describing video qualities because videos are known as “Motion Pictures.” Paramount Plus supports the HDR feature. This feature creates a more realistic video representation at a high-definition rate. It means the videos will look more natural.

Dolby Atmos

Atmos is an advanced technology in audio systems in devices that gives the impression of sound that surrounds the immediate enclosed environment. It’s called 3-dimensional sound or audio because it comes from a 3-dimensional source. Paramount supports this feature, too, but it depends on the device.

HD (1080p)

HD is the number of pixels when viewed from the vertical section across the device screen with pixel numbers up to 1080. It usually comes with 1920 pixels horizontally on the screen. Some factors decide the availability of these features. The first one is the device being able to support these features. The second factor is whether the movie or program streamed supports such features.

Not all movies or programs are streamed with these features in the Paramount+ platform. For instance, programs like Star Trek are streamed in HD, which is enhanced with HDR. But when it comes to specific programs or movies like the Star Trek Discovery, that is streamed on 4k. It largely depends on both the device and the content that is streamed. 

Offline

Just like other competitors, subscribers can watch content offline on Paramount Plus. They can do this by downloading the content online and watching it later when offline. On Paramount Plus, this feature is found only on mobile devices. A setback to this feature is the user cannot exit the app while the download is in progress. On the good side, once downloaded, the user can access the downloaded content for the next 30 days.

Kids profiles

It provides a section for kids. The programs in this section are rated for children below 13 years of age.

User Interface (UI)

The user experience of the interface on Paramount could be smoother, as some subscribers have complained about it. Most of the complaint comes from navigating through the UI. Some complained about the lack of options to select names of actors and movie directors for specific movies. 

Others complained about the playback options, expressing their frustrations of being taken back to the beginning of the program when all they wanted to do was go back to a specific frame. Paramount Plus still has a lot of grounds to cover in this category before being able to come toe-to-toe with serious competitors like HBO MAX or Apple TV+.

Paramount+ and VPN – Expanding Your Streaming Experience with Security

As mentioned, Paramount Plus is accessible in multiple countries, including the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, and various European, Central, and South American nations. However, if you’re outside these regions, it may be quite challenging, and that’s where using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service comes in handy.

High-quality VPN services like NordVPN, Surfshark, and PureVPN can offer a workaround for this legal restriction. With thousands of servers in several prominent countries, these VPNs will provide an IP address that masks your true location. This way, it appears like you’re operating from the permitted jurisdictions.

For example, if you’re using an Australia-based server to stream on Paramount Plus, your IP address will appear to be streaming from Australia. This allows you to stream content on the platform, regardless of location.

How Does Paramount Plus Compare With Other Similar Services

Other Streaming Services to Elevate Your Entertainment

For more options, we recommend checking out our reviews of other platforms:

• Apple TV+ Review 2023: How Good is Apple’s Streaming Service?
• HBO Max Review 2023: Is It Worth the Subscription?
• Crackle Review 2023: Everything You Need to Know
• Sling TV Review: Read This Before You Sign Up
• Discovery+ Review 2023 – A Closer Look at the Streaming Service

Verdict: Is Paramount Plus Worth It?

Paramount Plus has largely been successful and continues to blossom amid stiff competition from Apple TV+, HBO MAX, and Netflix. The platform has amassed 60.7 million subscribers as of June 2023. It boasts a substantial library of familiar franchise content, which may appeal to those who enjoy classic shows and movies from networks like CBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon. The service’s ability to maintain an impressive customer retention rate suggests that many subscribers are satisfied with its offerings.

Paramount Plus appears to have gained popularity in European countries, indicating that it has found success in certain regions. It’s worth noting that Paramount+ faces stiff competition in the US market from established streaming giants like Netflix, HBO Max, and Apple TV+. If you’re in the US and are already subscribed to one or more of these services, you might want to consider Paramount+, thanks to its unique content offering and ease of use.

Frequently Asked Questions