Paramount+ is undergoing a strategic shift, moving away from its Taylor Sheridan-centric approach and aiming to diversify its content to attract a broader audience, particularly women and genre enthusiasts. The streamer's new management, led by Jane Wiseman, is focusing on developing destination series that will broaden the platform's appeal, even as it learns from Sheridan's success. Paramount+ has reported over 81 million subscribers, but it trails behind Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max in the streaming wars. To make it more competitive, the platform is developing destination series that will broaden its appeal, especially to more women and genre viewers.
Wiseman's team is prioritizing female-fronted adult dramas, romance and family stories, soap opera-type fare, and thrillers that are serialized. They are also interested in YA stories and microdramas, a bite-size vertical video format that typically overindexes on romance. Additionally, Paramount+ is exploring "grounded genre" ideas, big-concept genre stories with relatable human drama, to appeal to a wider international audience.
The platform is also avoiding half-hour comedies, as CBS sitcoms like 'The Neighborhood' and 'Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage' begin streaming on Paramount+ the day after they air on linear television. Paramount+ is taking a selective approach, focusing on a small number of high-quality projects rather than a large volume of deals, to maintain its exclusivity and appeal to its target audience.
Despite the shift, Paramount+ will retain the blockbuster series that Sheridan made for it, even as any fresh Sheridan series will be written and produced exclusively for NBCUniversal platforms. This gives Paramount+ a generous offramp, allowing it to retain Sheridan's fans while also offering nonsubscribers compelling reasons to create an account. The platform's new strategy is a calculated move to position itself for long-term success in the highly competitive streaming market.
