Paramount’s Upfront Plans: Broadcast, a Streaming Shift and “Super Franchises”

The last time an upfront presentation was held at Carnegie Hall in May 2019, it was CBS holding court, touting the “strength and stability” of its broadcast schedule.

Three years and a global pandemic later, and things have changed. This time the presentation will be led by Paramount Global, the corporate owner of CBS (not to mention the former Viacom networks, and the Paramount+ streaming service). And all will be on full display.

“We think of it as our inaugural coming out party,” Paramount ad sales chief Jo Ann Ross tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview, noting that all of Paramount’s brands, from CBS and the MTV Networks, to Pluto and Paramount+, will be featured.

Of course, CBS will still get its moment, with Ross noting that “the broadcast network was kind of reset and refreshed this year in terms of their scheduling.” You can read about CBS’ fall schedule, with its pared back comedy lineup and new unscripted nights, here.

But it is the combined portfolio that, in the words of Ross, makes the company a “must-buy” for marketers and advertisers.

“We are a known entity, people know where to go within the Paramount universe to get the audience they want, and to hit the demos they want to hit,” Ross says. “We are selling convergently where we can, and we also have leaned into streaming very heavily.”

Streaming will be a significant topic during the upfront, with Paramount pitching both its free ad-supported platform Pluto, and its subscription offering Paramount+.

“The clients want to be there,” Ross says, adding that “there is definitely a shift [in ad spend] from linear … I’m not going to call it a seismic shift, but the fact that we have these three buckets if you will, makes us a must-buy. It would be very hard to buy around us.”

And the company will lean further into its cross-platform strategy with one of its biggest linear TV hits: Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, which spawned its first spinoff 1883 on Paramount+ last year. And on Tuesday the company announced the next spinoff: 1932, which will star Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.

Paramount is planning to create “Super Franchises,” which will allow brands to be “ubiquitous” across the franchise programming, regardless of where the consumer watches it. Yellowstone is just the first of what the company hopes will be many.

“We are looking at more opportunities down the road where you can buy across the board, and that is what we have done with Yellowstone, and I assume we will do something similar with the Taylor Sheridan universe, as we continue to get into business with him, and we are looking at other opportunities across our business as well,” Ross says. “Because we own the IP along with Taylor, we are able to do a lot with it… and have the images be ingrained in the programming.”

“Taylor Sheridan nows what he is doing, we are extremely lucky to be in business with him,” Ross adds.