Last week Paramount+ had the most downloads it's ever had in a single day. In the past, new movies or TV shows led to a short-term bump, but not this time.
We estimate that on Saturday, downloads hit 169,000, the highest they've ever gone since the app relaunched in March of 2021. Paramount has seen quite a few spikes, but the closest one to this Saturday's was less than a half!
So, what's the reason for this spike? Paramount+ was streaming the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, European soccer's ultimate game. Also, Paramount+ offers a free trial. That's an important component here.
Also also, the downloads did not come from Europe, an incorrect but understandable guess. Why? Because Paramount+ isn't available in Europe yet. It's expanding into the UK and other countries later this month. So all of those downloads were from the US.
One thing I'm planning to watch is whether those downloads turn into revenue. Big events are a great way to capture downloads, but as HBO Max learned last year, offering a free trial on top of big content is not a good way to make money, which is why they dropped that offering.
It's too early for Paramount+ to strictly optimize for revenue, but if it continues to find the right content to stream, it just might. And overall, that's what I expect to see from all streamers as the industry normalizes.
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