Two streaming services are on the verge of becoming one, as merger rumours surround Paramount+ and Peacock.
After the initial streaming service landrush we’ve seen over the last decade, reality appears to be biting. Last year, Lionsgate+ exited the UK market for instance, and Peacock too was withdrawn from Sky platforms over here. Peacock is the streaming service of Universal Pictures, and it’s struggled to get a foothold against the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video. Even those three services are now making notable changes as they try to balance the books.
For Peacock and Paramount’s Paramount+ service though, there may be another option on the horizon: a merger between the pair.
Rumours of this broke (via The Verge) just before the weekend, with Universal owner Comcast and Paramount owner Paramount Global reported to have had some early talks about a joint venture.
Meanwhile of course, Paramount Pictures itself is set to be sold, it seems, and it’s unclear whether any buyer would be looking for the movie studio itself, or the Paramount+ streaming platform.
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Neither service has cracked the 100 million subscriber level that the three biggest services can individually boast. However, between them, they get close. Peacock has just north of 30 million subscribers, while Paramount+ is now boasting 63 million around the world.
Crossing the streams does have some degree of logic, and both Universal and Paramount have joined together before. For years, their films were distributed around the world via United International Pictures (UIP), which was a joint venture, and CIC Video, which was another joint venture.
If there’s substance to these talks though, nobody is really saying anything about them at the moment. Even if this were to go ahead, we’re a long way away from a deal being struck. Still, it’s an interesting indication of just where the streaming market has got to, when two major studios figure they’re best fighting together than alone.
