ViacomCBS recently changed its name to Paramount Global, or simply Paramount, in a reflection of the media company's commitment to its streaming business with Paramount+ at the center.
The February rebrand came after the company overhauled its leadership to focus on streaming.
It elevated in 2020 Pluto TV chief Tom Ryan to lead a newly created division, ViacomCBS Streaming (now called Paramount Streaming). Ryan's team oversaw the March 2021 launch of Paramount+, a rebranded version of CBS All Access with much more content.
And, in September, Nickelodeon chief Brian Robbins was appointed to replace Jim Gianopulos at the helm of Paramount Pictures (while still keeping his Nick duties). By positioning the digital-savvy Robbins as the new leader of a storied film studio, Paramount sent a strong signal to Hollywood and Wall Street that it was willing to take the necessary steps to boost its streaming business.
"Brian's background at Nick and in the digital space tells me that corporate wants young blood and someone to prioritize streaming and digital," a Paramount TV staffer told Insider after the announcement.
Leaders of Paramount's major brands — from Robbins, to the CBS CEO George Cheeks, to the Showtime chairman David Nevins — are also in charge of content for Paramount+. The service is the sun that everything else in the company is circling.
Paramount still has work to do, though, and it recently lost a rising star at the company. Kelly Day, the former president of streaming for ViacomCBS International, exited the company last year for Amazon to lead Prime Video International.
According to TV demand data from Parrot Analytics, the company is second only to Disney in corporate demand share. But this figure represents the long-term appeal of the company if it consolidates its original content exclusively for its own platforms. Right now, Paramount licenses hit shows like Comedy Central's "South Park" to HBO Max and Paramount Network's "Yellowstone" to Peacock.
This is why Paramount+, as a standalone service compared to other platforms, was No. 4 in platform demand share in Q4 2021 when considering its originals and licensed TV series, and No. 7 when accounting for originals only.
The company is in a decent position to close the gap, though.
While Paramount's stock tumbled after it laid out its streaming plans to investors last month — reflecting concerns over Netflix's own subscriber miss in its most recent quarter — Paramount+ has shown signs of life, and has 32.8 million subscribers. Of the 9.4 million subscribers the company Paramount added in Q4 2021 across its streaming platforms, 80% came from Paramount+.
And it's taking steps to better utilize its brands and franchises. "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan is making series for Paramount+, including "Yellowstone" spinoffs, for instance.
Insider looked at the most essential streaming execs at the company, as well as many of their direct reports, to find the leaders driving its ambitions.
Ryan, the streaming chief, assembled a team to run ViacomCBS' streaming division, which includes Paramount+ and Pluto TV. The execs include Tanya Giles, the former general manager of Comedy Central, Paramount Network, and TV Land, who is now in charge of programming the streaming services; as well as other longtime ViacomCBS execs including Robert Gelick, who runs product; and Domenic DeMeglio, who's in charge of marketing.
Content executives across the company have also taken on Paramount+ duties on top of their other responsibilities.
