Paramount Global will raise the price of its core streaming service Paramount Plus this summer, with new and existing subscribers paying between $1 and $2 more for the privilege of streaming Paramount content.
On Monday, Paramount confirmed the price of its Paramount Plus with Showtime plan will increase to $13 per month, or $1 more than the current price of the service. Paramount Plus with Showtime offers advertisement-free streaming of Paramount Plus content, and includes shows and movies from its Showtime catalog as well. The tier is not truly commercial-free, as Paramount integrates non-skippable, pre-roll promotional messaging before users can watch episodes or films.
The cost of Paramount Plus Essential — which includes commercial advertisements and lacks Showtime content — is rising to $8 per month, or $2 more than what Paramount Plus Essential currently costs.
New subscribers of either tier will see the adjusted pricing on August 20, while existing subscribers of Paramount Plus with Showtime will see the cost of their plan increase on September 20, or on their next renewal date after September 20.
A price increase was not unexpected: The summer months are typically favored by streaming services for upward cost adjustments as they seek to recoup investments made in scripted and live content. Executives at Paramount have been particularly open about their desire to roll out price increases, saying they see more opportunities to squeeze additional cash out of streamers over the long term.
Over the last 24 months, every major American streaming service — including Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Max, Starz, MGM Plus, AMC Plus and Acorn TV, to name a few — have increased the price of at least one of their tiers, usually their base offering. While Amazon did not technically increase the price of its Prime Video service earlier this year, it did integrate advertisements for all Prime members who watch Prime Video content, and introduced a separate $3 fee that subscribers could pay if they wanted to continue the privilege of uninterrupted streaming.
In some situations, price increases are part of a broader strategy to push cost-conscious subscribers to ad-supported tiers, which tend to cost substantially less than commercial-free plans. By charging customers to watch content with ads, services generate money from the same subscriber twice — once from the monthly or annual fee, and again from the ad revenue.
