When Paramount Skydance makes its upfront pitch to advertisers in Los Angeles on Thursday evening, CEO David Ellison’s “streaming convergence” project is expected to be front and center alongside its new and returning programming.
By mid-2026, Paramount+, Pluto TV and BET+ will be merged onto a single unified technology stack, which is expected to boost the company’s ability to make better content recommendations and help advertisers plan and measure viewership more holistically.
“We’re a 112-year-old company sitting on one of the most valuable, largest libraries in the world. Because of the way that the infrastructure is set up, a lot of that doesn’t get surfaced today,” Chief Revenue Officer Jay Askinasi told TheWrap in an interview. “We’re working hard on bringing that forth and making sure that our marketing partners and consumers will have easier access to the depths of this company, above and beyond the new stuff that everyone knows and loves. We’re about to become even bigger and more ubiquitous because we’re going to use data and technology to bring forth the real value of this asset that I don’t think our industry has seen yet.”
As part of that effort, BET+ will be absorbed into the larger Paramount+ ecosystem starting in June.
“There’s a really loyal audience there. I think BET+ will benefit from being within the more modern, more scaled tech and data infrastructure that will be inside of Paramount+,” Askinasi said. “As a standalone, it wasn’t getting all the benefit of the big Paramount+ service. The plan is to rise all boats and create a more seamless consumer experience versus having lots of disparate entities across the Paramount ecosystem.”
Pluto TV will also have a “complete evolution,” with Paramount set to increase investment in the free ad-supported streaming platform to boost its catalogue of on-demand content and overhaul its user experience.
“There’s more investment going into Pluto right now than there has been in the last 10 years,” he said. “We’ll have unified identity, we’ll be built for mobile and we’ll have a better data-rich experience potential for commerce and shoppable experiences. Over 65% of Pluto is actually Paramount library content and a lot of what exists across CBS and the cable networks is all in the AVOD ecosystem through Pluto.”
In addition to tech improvements, Paramount launched a new ad format called “streaming fixed ad units,” which give buyers premium, 30-second placements for the company’s biggest IP and tentpole events, including the first seven days of new episode premieres of Paramount+ shows.
“In streaming, that’s still rare. We’re trying to take the best of what the linear television ecosystem has to offer and match it with the modern streaming approach and scale,” Askinasi said. “That’s been a huge driver of conversations.”
Marketers will also have access to live, in-game programmatic buying for select commercial ad units within marquee sporting events. The feature has already launched with the UFC and will roll out to Paramount’s other sports offerings starting in the fall.
The company is also launching Paramount Media Labs, which is designed to help better connect its marketing partners with its IP through efforts including brand integrations, sponsorships and co-marketing.
Additionally, Paramount is also actively involved in developing standards for agentic ad buying, where AI systems purchase ads automatically. The company is building an AI-powered “seller agent” that will evaluate thousands of opportunities, with final decision-making being overseen by humans.
It also launched a beta for Precision+, an AI-enabled performance advertising product that uses viewer data to help drive sales. As the product evolves, it will introduce new types of ad formats and more data signals to improve targeting.
The new efforts come as Paramount touts a deduplicated audience of more than 200 million viewers across its platforms and is expected to spend in excess of $1.5 billion on content in 2026. Paramount+ alone has a total of 79 million subscribers.
In the six months since the closing of the Paramount Skydance merger, the company has greenlit over 20 new or returning series for Paramount+. It’s also doubling down on existing franchises and fan-favorite hits such as “Survivor,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “NCIS,” “South Park,” “The Daily Show” and more.
It also comes as Paramount is set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion deal set to close by the third quarter, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. EMarketer has previously forecast that Paramount’s ad revenues could reach $449 million for 2027 if the deal goes through, compared to $403.2 million under no deal. The assumption is based on the deal being finalized in 2026 and a bundle launch by the third quarter of 2027.
“It’s not going to impact anything in this year’s negotiations. We are still going through regulatory as is well documented,” Askinasi said. “Clients ask, quite frankly, not as often as you think, because they know we can’t do much about it. But we’re super excited about the potential opportunity, the marketplace is excited about it and we’re all hopeful.”
In addition to Los Angeles, Paramount will hold upfront dinners in Chicago and New York. Askinasi, who previously attended the event as a client from Roku prior to joining the company in October, said there’s no plans to return to the traditional upfronts week with the rest of its competitors.
“[The dinners] create the opportunity to have a real business discussion with our customers — both the marketers and the agencies — that the other networks don’t have because it’s a one to many approach,” he said. “It’s not easy. But you don’t have that many opportunities to have a few hours together with some of your biggest customers, surrounded by our IP and our executive leadership team and that’s unique. Despite it being more work, it’s super valuable and has proven to be really great.”
