ViacomCBS announced a new streaming bundle today for U.S. subscribers, offering access to both Paramount+ and Showtime. If you subscribe to the ad-supported Paramount+ Essential plan, the bundle will cost $9.99 per month. But if you don’t want to watch ads when you’re laser-focused on the “iCarly” reboot (yes, that exists), you can pay $12.99 per month to bundle Showtime with Paramount+ Premium. The Premium plan also includes support for 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, mobile downloads and livestreams of local CBS affiliates in 200 U.S. markets.
This deal will run through October 20, a representative from the company told TechCrunch, and those who subscribe with this discounted pricing will be locked in at that price even after the deal expires. Each bundle will cost about 38% less than if you were to subscribe to Paramount+ and Showtime separately. Showtime alone costs $10.99 per month, so the bundle could motivate Showtime subscribers to check out the newer Paramount+, which includes shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which broke records at the Emmy’s this week, “Star Trek: The Original Series” and “The Good Fight.”
Parent company ViacomCBS added 6.5 million global streaming subscribers across its various services in Q2, bringing the conglomerate to over 42 million subscribers total. The company said that Paramount+ helped fuel its 82% year-over-year growth in streaming revenue. The service rebranded from CBS All Access in March to better reflect the content available after the Viacom-CBS merger in 2019.
In August 2020, Apple TV+ launched a similar bundle, offering CBS All Access Ad-Free and Showtime for just $9.99 a month on top of Apple TV+’s $4.99 monthly fee. After the rebrand to Paramount+, existing Apple TV+ subscribers were allowed to keep their plan, but a payment processing issue in July of this year led customers to worry that the deal had expired. Meanwhile, Paramount+ subscribers were previously able to subscribe to Showtime at a $3 discount. But today’s announcement offers an even better deal.