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Gone are the days of ViacomCBS, the Frankenstein’s Monster-like name stemming from a corporate merger.
Beginning this week, the company—which owns the streamer Paramount+, CBS, and cable properties like MTV and Comedy Central—is rebranding to Paramount. (Technically, the name will be Paramount Global.)
- The corporate rebranding harks back to the company’s roots. Paramount Pictures, one of the oldest studios in the US, was founded in 1912 and was bought by Viacom in 1994. ViacomCBS, meanwhile, was the mash-up of Viacom and CBS Corp. from when the companies—which had merged and split once before—recombined in 2019.
- “Paramount has always represented brilliant storytelling for audiences around the globe—on the big screen, the small screen, and every device in between,” Shari Redstone, the non-executive chair of the company’s board of directors, said during an investor presentation Tuesday. “It is what we are. It is who we are. It is who we are destined to be.”
The rebrand also builds on a decision the company made less than two years ago when it renamed its streaming service from CBS All Access to Paramount+. At the time, then-Chief Digital Officer Marc DeBevoise told me that Paramount is “the most well-known brand we have globally.”
Joe Tradii, a marketing consultant and founder of JAT Consults, told Marketing Brew the new name can build off of consumer affinity for Paramount+ and Paramount Pictures for a quick transition. “Paramount’s got a lot more brand equity than ViacomCBS does,” Tradii said, adding that the name signals entertainment both “classic and new.”
And hey—it’s at least better than the last one. In Tradii’s opinion, ViacomCBS was an “awful stew of a name” that didn’t “stand for anything in the mind of the consumer.”
Full stream ahead: The new name comes as the company continues to bet big on its future as a streaming powerhouse. Paramount+—which is planning a franchise-packed programming strategy—ended its most recent quarter with 32.8 million global subscribers.—KS