ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish Sees 100M Streaming Subs By 2024 As Company Rebrands

New York Times bestselling author on the back of her first-ever release, Beasts of Prey, in just September of last year, this young adult fantasy author and a lover of all things monsters, mythos, and magic is making sure young Black children feel seen in the medium she loves most. “As a young child, there was virtually no fantasy [media] with kids who looked anything like me, she said. “And if there were kids who looked like me, they were the side characters.

George Floyd in May 2020, at the hands of police. Watching the horrific scene play out on social media led to collective outrage about police brutality and a U.S. justice system that does not protect nor treat all the same way.The world has been impacted in one way or another by the loss of George Floyd, and none more so than his family.

Amanda Bynes is communicating with her fans again.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe European Union’s antitrust regulator “unconditionally” approved Amazon’s proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, in part because “MGM’s content cannot be considered as must-have.” The deal is still pending approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.The European Commission on Tuesday announced the approval of the deal, announced in May 2021.

William Earl Variety is pleased to welcome thought-leaders at the forefront of the global TV industry to share their strategies for success. Angela Colla, Head of International Sales, Globo; Carol Hanley, President, Whip Media; Lisa Holme, Group SVP of Content and Commercial Strategy for Discovery, Inc.; Miquel Penella, President, Streaming Services, AMC Networks; Rodrigo Mazón, EVP & GM of SVOD, Univision; and Jeff Shultz, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer, Paramount Streaming, sit down with Variety International Editor, Manori Ravindran, for the panel discussion “Have Content, Will Travel: Strategies for Building a Global TV Audience,” airing March 29 in the Variety Streaming Room.  “Today’s streaming age is creating new possibilities for content to gain traction worldwide. In this highly competitive market, being armed with data capable of determining what titles have the strongest appeal — and why — is a major competitive advantage,” said Carol Hanley, President of Whip Media. Streaming has upended the business in a way no one ever imagined, but these companies are learning and creating strategies that will allow their businesses to expand in the years to come.

Ed Meza @edmezavarInternational feature film and commercial content group Iconoclast and Berlin-based StickUp Films have established a new joint venture to produce feature films and series for the domestic and international markets.Represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the new shingle, Iconoclast Films Germany, is aiming to produce a minimum of three film or series projects annually within a five-year ramp-up period.The company is headed by Luis Singer and Dennis Schanz of StickUp Films – the creators and co-producers of Netflix’s award-winning series “Skylines” — as well as Iconoclast executive producer Swantje Rummel.Iconoclast sees the new venture as part of its international content strategy and a logical extension of its brand. In addition to producing recent works by the likes of Gus Van Sant (“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot”), Julian Schnabel (“At Eternity’s Gate”), Harmony Korine (“The Beach Bum”) and Romain Gavras (“The World Is Yours”) through its companies in the U.S.

Kim Kardashian is doing her best to stay strong for her children amid Kanye West‘s continued criticism of her parenting skills — and their informal coparenting arrangement.

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Wilson Chapman editorJo Koy’s ABC comedy pilot “Josep” is filling out its cast with three new series regulars.Kimee Balmilero, Tess Paras and Jason Rogel have been added to the series, which stars Koy as Jo, a divorced Filipino American father navigating dating, his career as a nurse and his complicated relationship with his mother.Balmilero will play Geraldine, Koy’s married sister who runs a Filipino restaurant with her white husband. Paras plays Cheryl, Jo’s ex-wife and mother to his son Miles.

K.J. Yossman U.K.

As the surge of Covid infections in December and January due to the Omicron variant continues to recede, media and entertainment companies are starting to update their return-to-office plans.

Was it the Bumblebee bit?

Afternoon subscribers. Max Goldbart here with your weekly dose of International Insider news and analysis and it’s been as busy as ever over the past seven days. Scroll down for more.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorShares of Paramount, the new corporate name of ViacomCBS, took a dive after the media conglomerate told Wall Street that it was more aggressively equipping itself for battle in the streaming wars.The stock was down more than 15% in premarket trading Wednesday, coming a day after Paramount’s 2022 investor day presentation that detailed revised financial forecasts including a bigger capital outlay for its streaming strategy, led by Paramount Plus.Investors were apparently unnerved about the heavier investment Paramount plans to make in the streaming biz — it plans to boost spending on streaming content to $6 billion by 2024, versus $4 billion previously — and the resulting hit to profitability. Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich downgraded her rating on the stock, from “buy” to “neutral,” and cut her 12-month price target on the stock from $52 to $39 per share.SEE ALSO: As ViacomCBS Becomes Paramount, an Energized Company Solidifies Its Streaming Playbook“We commend management for taking a bold approach, but near-term headwinds will drive Y/Y declines in CY22 and CY23 OIBDA [operating income before depreciation and amortization] and pressure already depressed FCF [free cash flow] levels,” Reif Ehrlich wrote in a note to clients.In reporting Q4 2021 results, the company said Paramount Plus netted 7.3 million new subscribers to stand at 32.8 million at year end.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorIn their last outings as leaders of ViacomCBS, the executive team led by Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish finally started to sound like they have a solid plan to compete in streaming.On the day ViacomCBS unveiled its corporate rebrand to Paramount, starting as of Feb. 16, the company put on a nearly three-hour virtual presentation for investors that demonstrated how much its operations have been turned inside out to focus on streaming growth opportunities.

The CFO of ViacomCBS, soon to be known as Paramount, said Tuesday that the company is looking hard for “efficiencies” at its traditional businesses to divert as much cash it can to streaming, where investment will hit an estimated $6 billion in 2024.

ViacomCBS unveiled a slew of new news Tuesday during an investor day presentation that followed the release of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings.

Yellowstone is the crown jewel in the newly rebrand Paramount Global but the Kevin Costner-led series lives on streaming in the U.S. with rival Peacock.

ViacomCBS President Bob Bakish announced today during the conglom’s investor day that all new Paramount theatrical releases will head straight to Paramount+ after their run in cinemas starting in 2024.

ViacomCBS is rebranding to become Paramount Global, effective Feb. 16, the latest giant pivot in a rapidly transforming media and entertainment landscape. It’s the name of the company’s storied studio and its centerpiece streaming network Paramount+, which launched in March of 2021.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorViacomCBS will change its corporate name to Paramount as of Feb. 16, calling the move an effort to adopt “an iconic global name” to reflect the conglomerate’s increasingly worldwide focus.The company’s shares will trade on the NASDAQ index under the ticker symbol PARA (for Class B common shares), PARAA (for Class A common), and PARAP (for Class A preferred).The moniker makeover was announced Tuesday by ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone and president-CEO Bob Bakish in a memo to staffers.