Streaming Services: Power Rankings Summer 2023, and What's Up With Paramount+

[Benjamin Olson]

Paramount+ has deals with Walmart+ and Delta Airlines who offer its services and its making a deal with Amazon Prime to offer the ad supported tier of Paramount+.

Here in the US I have had the ad supported version of Paramount+ through Amazon Prime since it was CBSAllAccess, so presumably the deal currently being made has to do with other markets. I got it because subscribing to and unsubscribing from an Amazon Prime channel is trivially easy if you have a Prime account.

But unless you are a Prime subscriber who is pretty sure you just want to do Paramount+ for a month or two (or a trial period) and really appreciates that convenience or gets some sort of special deal I would NOT recommend this version of the service. Finding specific shows, including just released ones you would think they'd want to promote, is needlessly difficult; they are haphazard in where the ads drop (first season of Picard, Seven of Nine had a big entrance right before an intended ad break, but they dropped into ads a second and a half or so early, ruining a dramatic moment with an awkward cut); and for the last two months the subtitles have been wildly out of sync to the point where I have had to turn them off and watch at a higher volume than I would like. I can't vouch for these things not being the case on Paramount+ proper, but it seems unlikely that they are so careless.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Since it is still too soon for the fall streaming power ranking, I am posting Strike Update 2 here-

First, the good news. The AMPTP finally came to the WGA with an offer. The bad news? Well, it was a "You should be so lucky to take this offer, and no, there will no negotiations." In short, it wasn't a real offer, but a lecture and an opportunity for the AMPTP to issue a press release (the "We're not the baddies, really" press release).

....that said, while it wasn't a serious attempt at opening up the negotiations again or resolving the strike, it did at least have some proposals that indicated movement on a few issues, including AI and sharing data from the streaming services. And it did have the major movers and shakers behind it (Iger, Sarandos, Zaslav, Langley). So it was mostly cloud, but with a small silver lining.

The general outlook remains grim, as to this point the studios have been able to extract additional profits by lowering costs while continuing to rely on the pipeline they have built up. However, they are starting to feel the bite- both in terms of promoting new movies, as well as looking forward to the Summer of 2024.

Personal prediction- expect to see real movement by the end of September. Remember that even if a deal is agreed to in principle, the devil is in the details and those will have to be hammered out and ratified in votes by the membership which takes time. If a deal is not reached by then, it will start to have dire impacts on next year's slate of movies.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm guessing we won't just see Netflix -- which was very farsighted in this area -- pushing international content hard over the next few months.

 

[payn]

Whats up with Prime cancelling League of Their Own and The Peripheral?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Whats up with Prime cancelling League of Their Own and The Peripheral?

I guess they're finally worrying about ratings. Super-disappointing, though.

 

[payn]

I guess they're finally worrying about ratings. Super-disappointing, though.

Prime is getting to the point its so awful I want to cancel my account even though I use the Amazon shipping mostly. Although, I do think The Peripheral suffered under what I call the prime template (terrible episode pacing).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Prime is getting to the point its so awful I want to cancel my account even though I use the Amazon shipping mostly. Although, I do think The Peripheral suffered under what I call the prime template (terrible episode pacing).

Yeah, every time someone talks up Prime, I try to find the show they're talking about. I can usually find it, eventually, but it's just so buried, despite Amazon theoretically having more information about my preferences than any other entity on Earth. They should be chasing me around with the stuff I want to watch, given that they know exactly what to pitch to me on their regular storefront.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Yeah, every time someone talks up Prime, I try to find the show they're talking about. I can usually find it, eventually, but it's just so buried, despite Amazon theoretically having more information about my preferences than any other entity on Earth. They should be chasing me around with the stuff I want to watch, given that they know exactly what to pitch to me on their regular storefront.

Prime's video service seems curiously uninterested in such innovations as a "modern user interface," or "allowing people to watch the shows that they want to watch," and, as far as I can tell, exists primarily to annoy people so much that they eventually give up trying to find something to watch so that they end up ordering toilet paper instead.

 

[payn]

Yeah, every time someone talks up Prime, I try to find the show they're talking about. I can usually find it, eventually, but it's just so buried, despite Amazon theoretically having more information about my preferences than any other entity on Earth. They should be chasing me around with the stuff I want to watch, given that they know exactly what to pitch to me on their regular storefront.

The only thing I like about Prime is the black Friday offerings. I get P+ and Starz for 2 months for 4 dollars. So, its deals on streaming thats not even Prime, lol.

I will admit I enjoyed Reacher, but its produced by another studio and not prime at all!

 

[Zardnaar]

The only thing I like about Prime is the black Friday offerings. I get P+ and Starz for 2 months for 4 dollars. So, its deals on streaming thats not even Prime, lol.

I will admit I enjoyed Reacher, but its produced by another studio and not prime at all!

Think we liked The Boys and Bosch. Otherwise it's mostly for movies and older content eg random 90s shows.