Paramount+ is taking a page out of TikTok's book.
Paramount Skydance's flagship streaming service is adding a short-form vertical video feed on its mobile app. The feature is currently live on its iOS app,
Business Insider reports.
David Ellison's company is getting into short-form video by repurposing snippets from shows, like
South Park and
The Madison, two people familiar with the project said.
"Right now, it's just horizontal clips fitted into vert format," one streaming employee said.
Paramount hopes short-form clips will help users discover new shows and movies, and increase engagement.
"We're trying to drive visit frequency, keeping people engaged in the app longer," a second person familiar with the initiative said.
Paramount streaming leadership has also brainstormed bringing user-generated content to Paramount+, which would make the streamer more like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. So-called UGC isn't coming yet, though, two people familiar with the plan said.
"We're not planning on rolling out any UGC for now," the employee familiar with the project said. "We're focusing on our content first."
A third person familiar with Paramount's short-form video initiative previously told Business Insider that UGC would be "cheap and brings eyes to Paramount."
In mid-January, Paramount+ product and design head Dan Reich sent an email asking to discuss short-form clips with product chief Dane Glasgow, in hopes of fast-tracking the feature.
"We are trying to figure out how to jump-start efforts to get a million clips into our Short Form UX as quickly as possible," Reich wrote.
Ellison, Paramount's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), is the son of Larry Ellison, the billionaire who cofounded cloud giant Oracle — which is a major investor in the US version of TikTok. A person familiar with Paramount's short-form feature said there's no tie between this project and TikTok.
Leaning into interactive
Paramount streaming execs are also brainstorming interactive features, including one called "Shop the Scene," Business Insider previously reported.
A person familiar with Paramount's streaming plans said new interactive features are slated to arrive on Paramount+ in the coming months. They include stats for sports games, polling, and the shopping-focused "Shop the Scene" feature, this person said.
Hollywood has embraced short-form video as a way to improve engagement, given the popularity of TikTok, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts.
"When it comes to engagement, sheer hours are no longer enough — you need frequency," Hernan Lopez, the founder of media research firm Owl & Co, previously told Business Insider. "To get frequency, you need mobile, and to win in mobile, you need vertical."
Disney+ and Peacock both launched short-form vertical video feeds last month, and Netflix said it's looking to do the same by the end of April. Disney had planned to use AI-generated clips before its partnership with OpenAI unraveled.
In a separate article,
Business Insider also reports that Paramount Skydance has high hopes for its streaming services ahead of their planned combination with HBO Max.
Paramount's streaming leadership team outlined its 2026 goals and 2025 accomplishments in a presentation on Thursday (April 23), hours after Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders
approved its Paramount deal.
During a town hall, David Ellison's company shared global viewership stats for its top two streaming services, which have never been publicly disclosed.
The company's flagship streamer, Paramount+, generated 10.4 billion global viewing hours last year, up 22% from 2024, according to slides from the presentation viewed by Business Insider. Pluto TV, its free streamer, grew global viewing hours 21% to 9.5 billion in 2025.
Together, Paramount+ and Pluto TV had just under 20 billion global viewing hours in 2025, compared to 191 billion for Netflix, the only other major subscription streamer to share its global viewership figures.
Paramount also said during the presentation that Pluto TV had 89.6 million monthly active users as of the end of 2025, up 5.4 million from the year before.
In the presentation, the company outlined its top goals this year for Paramount+ and Pluto TV, whose tech platforms are combining through a process internally referred to as "convergence." Key technical teams supporting those streamers are also joining forces, Business Insider previously reported.
Among the top goals for Paramount+ is double-digit revenue growth driven in part by a "shift to higher value subscribers" through exiting bundles that are "non-core partnerships," the presentation said.
If Paramount gets regulatory approval to buy WBD, the company has said it plans to pair the combined Pluto TV-Paramount+ with WBD's HBO Max.
Below are Paramount's goals for Paramount+ and Pluto TV in 2026, according to the internal presentation. The slides have been reformatted with minor changes for clarity, with notes from Business Insider in square brackets.
Paramount+ 2026 Goals
- Viewing hours: Engagement growth driven by premium content and platform enhancements
- Subs/users: Focused growth in high-quality direct subscribers; offset by exit of non-core partnerships
- ARPU [average revenue per user]: Strong growth driven by pricing and mix shift to higher value subscribers
- Revenue: Double-digit growth driven by ARPU expansion and improved monetization
- EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization]: Significant improvement driven by revenue growth and efficiency gains
Pluto TV 2026 Goals- Viewing hours: Increasing engagement from VOD [video on demand] users and platform enhancements
- Subs/users: Focused growth on O&O [owned and operated] Users
- ARPU: Improved monetization through higher-quality users and engagement
- Revenue: Double-digit growth driven by improved monetization
- EBITDA: Margin stability as we invest in content and platform capabilities
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