‘Paw Patrol’ unleashed: behind ViacomCBS ‘plan to face Disney

August 20 (Reuters) – When “Paw Patrol: The Movie” hits cinemas and Paramount + broadcast service on Friday, it will begin one of ViacomCBS ‘most ambitious efforts to confront Disney in the streaming wars.

The release of the feature film based on the children’s animated series about a group of rescue dogs protecting their community will be backed by an “eight-figure” marketing blitz, with 1,800 TV commercials on channels such as Nickelodeon. These are partnerships with nearly 200 companies (from Kellogg Cereals to Best Western Hotels) in connections to toys and other products, many of which will feature a free trial of Paramount +.

The strategy is the highest example of a game plan that ViacomCBS has developed to develop its children’s franchises, including “SpongeBob”, “iCarly” and “Mutant Teenage Ninja Turtles”, and use its success to become a credible competitor in the war for the payment of broadcast subscribers at a time when the consolidation of the industry leaves the company at a disadvantage.

“Disney is the gold standard in terms of real franchise creation and monetization,” CFRA analyst Tuna Amobi said.

“ViacomCBS wants to do the same, but they haven’t been so aggressive in terms of getting started early and pivoting on the broadcast and taking some of the actions that can change the games we’ve seen from other companies.” especially with the way COVID affected the industry. So the movie “Paw Patrol” could be a test of fire in terms of daytime and date and theatrical broadcast. “

Friday will be the first time ViacomCBS debuts a movie in theaters and at Paramount + simultaneously, a decision the company announced in June. According to executives, the likelihood of parents taking their unvaccinated children to theaters amid rising cases of the Delta COVID-19 variant was assessed.

In the short term, ViacomCBS family films will likely debut theatrically and at Paramount + on the same date, through a very short theatrical window followed by a Paramount + premiere, or skip a theatrical premiere altogether, he said. Brian Robbins, president of Nickelodeon, the ViacomCBS children’s channel where “Paw Patrol” debuted as a television series in 2013.

“Paw Patrol,” the TV theater’s first theatrical spin-off, is among the world’s most closely linked products and retailers of any film the company has distributed, said Pam Kaufman, president of ViacomCBS Consumer Products. .

Canadian children’s toy and entertainment company Spin MasterCorp (TOY.TO), which owns the intellectual property rights to “Paw Patrol,” started the franchise in partnership with ViacomCBS ‘Nickelodeon in 2013.

It’s also the first time ViacomCBS has used all the strength of its properties and partnerships to drive people to Paramount +, the streaming service it created from the merger of CBS and Viacom. Many of the consumer product links include a free one-month subscription to the service, which costs $ 5 a month with ads and $ 10 a month without ads.

The marketing momentum around the film “isn’t just in the service of Paramount +,” Robbins said. “This is in the service of the ‘Paw Patrol’ franchise which, in turn, as this franchise grows, so should our broadcast service.”

The new franchise content is crucial to the growth of Paramount + subscribers, according to executives, because it helps get new subscribers, who then stay on the service so their kids can see older franchise content, such as the six seasons of “Paw Patrol” currently available on the streaming service.

ViacomCBS is also betting on its “Star Trek” franchise, among others, releasing its first animated series “Star Trek” for families – “Star Trek: Prodigy” – later this year on Paramount +, followed by a second display window on Nickelodeon.

Still, for “Paw Patrol: The Movie,” success in consumer product sales, box office tickets, and new streaming subscribers is far from guaranteed. Families may prefer to stay home rather than go to movie theaters or shop at the brick-and-mortar stores that promote the film in their hallways. An early childhood education film has a limited audience compared to the multi-generational offerings of Marvel and others.

And in streaming, ViacomCBS is one of the smallest, with 42 million subscribers in total compared to Disney’s 174 million. While ViacomCBS is looking for organic growth, non-executive chairman Shari Redstone has sought partners such as Discovery and Amazon through the acquisition of WarnerMedia assets from AT&T and MGM, respectively.

On Wednesday, ViacomCBS and Comcast announced a joint streaming service, SkyShowtime, to be launched in smaller European markets next year. Read more

“You want to create a virtuous cycle of creating and earning content revenue, and I wouldn’t say that ViacomCBS is still the gold standard for doing so, and that it’s probably one of the strategic reasons for the CBS-Viacom merger: create more scale and create more franchises, ”Amobi said.

Report by Helen Coster in New York Edited by Kenneth Li and Nick Zieminski

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