A new Paramount Mountain spot for Paramount+ and Pluto TV’s first Super Bowl ad are on tap for Super Bowl Sunday.
The state of the streaming business can be summed up in the very beginning of the new Super Bowl commercial for Paramount+: “On Paramount Mountain, the stakes get higher.”
With the streaming business at a tipping point, as Netflix pulls ahead of the pack and everyone else is scrambling to turn a profit, Paramount Global is betting that the single biggest TV event of the year, the Super Bowl, can help propel its streaming business over the metaphorical peak.
It’s part of what Domenic DiMeglio, executive VP, CMO and head of data for Paramount Streaming, calls in an interview “a huge moment, not just for Paramount+, but more broadly for Paramount streaming.”
Paramount+ will stream the big game, hopefully driving new subscribers (though it will not be exclusive, like Peacock’s NFL wild card play), but the company is also using the game to launch new campaigns for its two streaming platforms.
The company is planning a new installment of its Paramount Mountain campaign, in what it is calling its “most star-studded chapter yet,” and is unveiling a new brand identity for the free streaming service Pluto TV, hoping to convince some of the 100 or so million viewers to give the FAST service a try in what will be its first-ever Super Bowl ad.
In the Paramount+ spot, Sir Patrick Stewart stars, joined by Drew Barrymore, Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, Jeff Probst, Peppa Pig, Master Chief and, importantly, Arnold from Hey Arnold!
After failing to tame the peak, Stewart dons old-time football gear and grabs the one character with a football-shaped head to see if that can help them get over-the-top.
“I think we we felt like we needed to raise the bar even more given that we are the streaming home of the Super Bowl, that the game is going to be broadcast on CBS, we’ll have a game broadcast on Nickelodeon and so for the company it’s just a huge moment,” DiMeglio says. “And so really when we approached the spot for Paramount+, we were like how do we top ourselves yet again?”
The spot continues a tradition of commercials featuring various Paramount talent in the big game (Paramount bought a spot last year featuring Sylvester Stallone).
