(Reuters) – When the fact collection “The Challenge: War of the Worlds” launches on 4 continents in June, ViacomCBS Inc goals to take a look at a key part of its streaming technique – utilizing localized content material on broadcast TV to entice subscribers to its Paramount+ streaming service, an government with the leisure conglomerate advised Reuters.
The media large is launching 4 variations of the present and airing them on its broadcast TV networks within the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Argentina, and streaming episodes on Paramount+ globally the next day, Chris McCarthy, chief content material officer for unscripted leisure and grownup animation at Paramount+, mentioned in an interview forward of his presentation to buyers on Tuesday.
Contestants shall be actuality TV stars from these nations, and the winner from every model will compete in a ten-episode “War of the Worlds” that may air on Paramount+ globally starting in August. The collection is a derivative of a present that has aired on ViacomCBS-owned MTV for 38 seasons.
ViacomCBS is betting that cheap content material that may be localized for various markets will assist it compete in a global problem of its personal: the race by U.S. streaming companies to declare subscribers exterior the United States, a market that’s changing into extra essential as streaming companies mature.
Production prices for unscripted tv are solely 10% to 30% these of a scripted collection, and the reveals are simpler to localize for global markets, in accordance to McCarthy. Streaming rivals together with Netflix Inc have been pushing into the style lately.
To additional scale back prices, ViacomCBS will produce all 4 worldwide variations of “War of the Worlds” – through which contestants vie for prize cash via a collection of puzzles and bodily challenges – and the ultimate global competitors on the identical location in Argentina. Production prices are two-thirds what they’d be if every of the 4 broadcast channels produced them independently, McCarthy mentioned.
Reality competitors helps to retain viewers who subscribe to the service for reside sports activities, he added.
“Live sports and reality competition are really the same viewer,” McCarthy mentioned. “And when we look at the average cost of that same consumer, it’s much lower when we put those two things together.”
ViacomCBS has plans to launch Paramount+ in 45 markets by the tip of 2022, and is enjoying catch-up to rivals.
As of Nov. 17, Paramount+ and Showtime OTT had 48 million global subscribers. AT&T Inc-owned HBO and HBO Max had a mixed 73.8 million subscribers on the finish of 2021; Netflix has 221.8 million subscribers and Walt Disney Co’s Disney+ has 129.8 million subscribers, in accordance to the businesses.
Paramount has dedicated $2 billion to streaming content material this yr and $5 billion by 2024 – a determine dwarfed by the investments of Netflix and Disney+ however in line with Comcast Corp’s plans for U.S. content material spend for its Peacock streaming service over the following couple of years.
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Reality TV is a staple at ViacomCBS, three a long time after its MTV cable community created the style with “The Real World.” “The Challenge” was a “Real World” spinoff that was initially known as “The Real World/Road Rules Challenge.” New seasons nonetheless premiere on MTV earlier than transferring to Paramount+, despite the fact that the newest spinoff – “The Challenge: War of the Worlds” – is not going to air on cable.
If the technique for “The Challenge: War of the Worlds” is profitable, McCarthy mentioned, ViacomCBS is probably going to replicate it with nearly all of its competitors collection, such because the tattoo artist present “Ink Master” or the drag queen competitors “Queen of the Universe.”
Within the style of unscripted tv, competitors collection like “The Challenge” do one of the best job of driving subscribers in mature markets just like the United States and Australia, mentioned McCarthy.
In rising markets like Mexico, the place “telenovela” cleaning soap operas are nonetheless in style on broadcast TV, “docu-reality” collection akin to “Jersey Shore” and its spinoffs together with “Acapulco Shore” carry out properly on broadcast TV, cable and streaming.
The energy of “docu-reality” in rising markets is why ViacomCBS is launching seven new global variations of its “Shore” franchise on Paramount+ in Argentina, Columbia, Croatia and different markets.
An episode within the “Shore” franchise prices between $100,000 and $300,000, mentioned McCarthy, in contrast with $2.5 million to $10 million an episode for a scripted present, on common.
“If you get one really, really successful unscripted that’s a runaway hit, the economics of that are going to be massive because production costs are so low,” mentioned CFRA analyst Tuna Amobi.
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Kenneth Li and Matthew Lewis)
