One month ago was when we said goodbye to the niche service CBS All Access. That service lacked lots of value for the average consumer as it was just a cheap way to watch new and old CBS content. And what replaced it was a name combination of the soon-to-be 120-year-old studio with everyone’s favorite streaming-related keyword: “plus”. So I’ve decided to do a review of the newly rebranded service and share what they should do in the future.
Review
I was happy that the service at least launched a few originals (a reunion miniseries, The Real World Homecoming: New York; a controversial Spongebob spin-off, Kamp Koral: Spongebob’s Under Years; a mockumentary series about the search of Harold Heavens, For Heavens’ Sake; an expanded version of CBS’s 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes+; and a documentary about the early days of the pandemic, 76 Days) with most of the renewed CBS All Access originals to premiere their new seasons.
Though I was disappointed that the service launched as the UI was a reskinned version of the former service itself. The same thing goes for the newly separated CBS app and website as it had the same features.
Another thing was the exclusive streaming deals the Viacom side of the company had been doing. To give you an example, the multi-year deal with Nickelodeon and Netflix is now considered useless as Nickelodeon would now focus on making and streaming content for Paramount+ than creating new content for a rival service. Then there were the exclusive deals for Yellowstone to stream exclusively on Peacock and South Park to stream on HBO Max for the next 3 seasons exclusively which both shows could have given the service an advantage (especially with the Yellowstone spin-offs premiering as Paramount+ Originals).
Yet the service didn’t have a watchlist which will be very important later on when more content comes in.
Feedbacks
I've asked a few people on their opinions on Paramount+ and here's some of them
Conclusion
The question now is do you need Paramount+? The answer is determined by your own preferences. If you were already subscribed to CBS All Access, then Paramount+ will still suit you well. If you’re more towards binge-able originals, however, you may need to wait until fall (or even next year if you’re interested in the Halo series) for a bunch of originals to watch. If you’re a movie fan, you should subscribe later in June as the Epix deal takes place with Paramount+ sublicensing over 2,500 movies. But if you are interested in watching a classic show owned by ViacomCBS, then what are you waiting for?
Right now I’ll give the service a 7/10 for having a great back catalog but needs to improve in most areas. I really hope the service improves after I re-review the service on June 4 and again in September.
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