- Three subscription models since June 2025: basic with advertising for 5.99 EUR/month, standard for 9.99 EUR and premium for 12.99 EUR, deliberately positioned cheaper than Netflix and Amazon in order to quickly build up ad-tier reach.
- Champions League from 2027/28: Paramount+ holds the broadcasting rights for the majority of the UEFA Champions League in Germany, the strategic lever that turns the platform from a niche provider into a must-have subscription for football fans.
- Warner Bros. Discovery takeover for 110 billion dollars: on 27 February 2026, Paramount and WBD announced a definitive merger agreement. HBO, Max, CNN, Warner Bros. Pictures and Discovery would thereby land under the Paramount roof, a rival on a par with Disney. Closing is planned for Q3 2026.
What is Paramount+?
Paramount+ is the streaming service of Paramount Global, one of the oldest media groups in the world with brands like CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and the film studio Paramount Pictures. In Germany the service launched in December 2022, initially without an ad tier. After the merger with Skydance Media in summer 2024, investment in original content and international markets was accelerated.
What structurally distinguishes Paramount+ from Netflix and Amazon: the platform runs the free FAST service Pluto TV in parallel, also available in Germany. Both platforms share advertising infrastructure and marketing, which creates a combined inventory for advertisers: Paramount+ as a premium environment with subscription users, Pluto TV as a mass-reach free offering. Worldwide, Paramount+ counts over 70 million subscribers.
Market position: strongest riser of 2025, and mega-merger in sight
Paramount+ is growing faster in Germany than any other streaming service. From 4% market share in Q1 2025 to 6% in Q2 2025, the largest quarterly gain of all providers. For comparison: Amazon Prime Video holds 26%, Netflix 25%, Disney+ 19%, Apple TV+ 9%.
The next growth stage is already priced in: from 2027/28, the Champions League runs on Paramount+. And if the WBD takeover closes as planned in Q3 2026, a group emerges with a subscriber base that can seriously challenge Netflix.
Content: franchise depth, sport as a growth bet
Paramount+ is not a platform that bets on one or two hits. Its strength lies in the breadth and depth of a decades-old IP archive. Three pillars carry the offering:
Originals: Yellowstone and its spin-offs are one of the most watched series franchises in the US, exclusive to Paramount+. Added to this are Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Halo and Tulsa King. The entire Paramount film catalog, Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, Transformers, rounds out the offering with well-known brands.
CBS library: as the home of CBS, Paramount+ has the most extensive offering of procedural series worldwide: all seasons of CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds. This segment generates particularly high dwell times among 40+ audiences, an often underestimated inventory advantage for advertisers with an older target audience.
Sport: from 2027/28, Paramount+ broadcasts the majority of the UEFA Champions League live in Germany, the most significant rights package a streaming service has ever acquired in this country. For advertisers, live sports inventory thereby emerges that is bookable programmatically and with higher audience accuracy than classic TV sponsoring.
Pricing model: three tiers, deliberately low entry barrier
In the basic tier, Paramount+ pursues a deliberately user-friendly ad-load strategy: films receive pre-roll advertising only, no mid-rolls. This model, low price, low ad load, high attention, is no coincidence but intent: the fewer users churn out of the ad tier, the more valuable the inventory becomes. New customers get a 7-day free trial period.
Advertising on Paramount+: infrastructure, targeting and the Pluto TV package
Conduit: frequency capping as a technical unique selling point
The central problem in CTV advertising is not reach, but over-exposure. Paramount addresses this with Conduit, a global integration that enables cross-platform frequency capping between Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Among streaming providers in Germany, this is a technical unique selling point, particularly relevant for advertisers with high reach goals and an emphasis on brand safety.
Targeting and first-party data
Paramount enables the use of clean-room technologies for GDPR-compliant matching of your own CRM or first-party data with Paramount audiences. Programmatic buying runs across all common DSPs, and demographic, contextual and interest-based targeting is bookable.
Conclusion: book cheaply now, the window is closing
Paramount+ is today the CTV channel with the best price-performance ratio in the German market: low ad-pressure level, low CPM competition, relevant audiences in premium environments. Anyone who books in 2025 secures conditions that will look very different in 2027. The Champions League and a potential merger with Warner Bros. Discovery will fundamentally change reach and demand for Paramount+ inventory.