Paramount+ Tops US Subscriber Growth in 2021

• Paramount+ topped United States subscriber growth in 2021, leaving competitors behind.
• The streaming service acquired over 750,000 subscribers in a single day on February 7, 2021, for Super Bowl Sunday.
• According to a report, over 30% of the new subscribers came from Amazon channels.

According to a new report, Paramount+ acquired 27 million subscribers in the US in 2021, way more than any of its contemporaries in the market. Of course, this streaming service had the advantage of replacing CBS All Access, which first launched in 2014.

The Antenna’s Year in Streaming Report (accessed via The Wrap) said the streamer saw a huge swell in sign-ups during last year’s significant events. For instance, more than 750,000 people signed up for Super Bowl Sunday on February 7, 2021. This made it the biggest day of user acquisition for any similar service in that year.

Another possible reason for the surge in subscribers is the ad-supported tier that Paramount+ provides. Media analyst Evan Shapiro noted that “31% of their subscribers are coming from Amazon channels. That’s enormously influential. Amazon Channels is a very good market, the [rate of cancellations, called churn] tends to be a lot lower for new services, specifically because it’s like a bundle.”

While Paramount+ had the biggest growth in the US in 2021, Disney+ dominated streaming worldwide - which also announced adding an ad-supported plan soon. This included India, one of their biggest markets globally, where it is available on Disney+ Hotstar. Out of the ten services Antenna tracked in 2021, only five offered an ad-supported option – Paramount+, Hulu, HBO Max, Discovery+, and Peacock.

Paramount+ wants to keep boosting its subscriber growth in 2022 as well and has several exciting projects lined up. After launching the second season of Star Trek: Picard, it will premiere the much-awaited live-action TV show Halo on March 24. A week later, it will debut the live-action animated series The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder, and on May 5, it will premiere the Star Trek: Discovery spin-off called Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

According to Antenna, 2021 saw an overall upsurge in new streaming customers by 27%. Most of these subscriptions came from newer players such as Peacock, Apple TV+, and Discovery+. Meanwhile, HBO Max suffered a loss of 4.2 million subscribers after it ended its partnership with Amazon in September 2021.