Video streaming services are so prevalent now that it’s atypical for a media conglomerate not to offer one. CBS All Access existed before the market exploded, and Paramount+ is its replacement. In fact, it's so vital to the company's future that ViacomCBS rebranded itself as "Paramount Global." Paramount+ offers a unique combination of on-demand streaming shows and movies, alongside live sports. You can even now enjoy Showtime as part of your subscription. However, the service restricts its best features (local CBS channel streams, 4K streaming, and offline downloads on mobile devices) to premium subscribers, and needs more streaming originals to compete with top rivals.
What Can You Watch on Paramount+?
If you are familiar with CBS All Access, then you will know much of what to expect with Paramount+. The service's content breaks down into two main content buckets: on-demand content (network shows, originals, and movies) and live streams (news and sports). The on-demand series come courtesy of all the channels that Paramount Global owns, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Smithsonian Channel.
Unsurprisingly, Paramount+ is most comparable to a streaming service offered by another traditional media giant: NBC’s Peacock. That service offers a similar blend of network shows, originals, movies, news, and live sports. Paramount+ also has similarities to Disney+; whereas Paramount+ bets on the popularity of Star Trek, Disney does the same for Star Wars and Marvel content, with The Mandalorian and WandaVision being recent successes.
Starting with the on-demand content, Paramount+’s biggest draw is its catalog of current and past network shows. Drama fans can watch All Rise, CSI (CSI and CSI: Miami), Clarice, Criminal Minds, FBI (FBI and FBI: Most Wanted), Hawaii 5-0 (classic and current) MacGyver (classic and current), NCIS (NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and NCIS: New Orleans), Star Trek (Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, The Next Generation, Voyager, and The Animated Series), The Equalizer, The Good Wife, The Twilight Zone (classic and current), and Twin Peaks. If you like comedies, you can watch B Positive, Bob Hearts Abishola, The Brady Bunch, Cheers, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Key and Peele, Nathan For You, Reno 911!, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and The Unicorn. If you are looking for The Big Bang Theory, you’ll need to subscribe to Max (formerly HBO Max). Note that for some currently airing shows, you can watch only the current season of episodes.
Original dramas on Paramount+ include a 10-episode Criminal Minds series; Flashdance, which is based on the 1983 TV series; Halo, an action series based on the popular game franchise; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which follows Christopher Pike’s run as captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise; and The Man Who Fell to Earth, which is set in the same word of the 1976 film and 1963 novel of the same name. New and exclusive series for Paramount+ include a Frasier reboot; Guilty Party, which stars Kate Beckinsale as a journalist accused of murdering her husband; a reboot of the BET series The Game; and The Weekly Show with Trevor Noah (Working Title). Paramount+ will eventually receive movies from the Beavis and Butt-Head and Workaholics franchises.
All of CBS All Access’s originals make their way over to this new platform, including Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard, Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News, The Good Fight, and Why Women Kill. Some of these shows release on a staggered schedule, which means you may need to maintain your subscription for several months to see a complete season.
Other on-demand streaming services have more substantial libraries of original series. For instance, Netflix is known for Black Mirror, Bojack Horseman, Never Have I Ever, Orange Is the New Black, Ozark, Russian Doll, Stranger Things, The Crown, The Umbrella Academy, and The Witcher. Amazon Prime Video is home to Bosch, Fleabag, Good Omens, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Patriot, The Boys, Undone, and Upload. We expect the number of original shows on Paramount+ to increase as time goes on.
Paramount Global owns Nickelodeon, so the service has tons of family- and kid-friendly titles, such as Avatar (The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra), Blue's Clues, CatDog, Dora The Explorer, Drake and Josh, iCarly, Maurice Sendak's Little Bear, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Fairly OddParents, and SpongeBob SquarePants. Paramount+ will eventually include a new live-action Dora The Explorer series, a new iCarly series, a CGI-based SpongeBob SquarePants series, the family-friendly Star-Trek: Prodigy, a live-action Fairly OddParents series, and several installments based on the Avatar series.
Rounding out the library is a collection of music shows and reality series. On the music front, Paramount+ includes Behind the Music and From Cradle to Stage, a new six-part series featuring David Grohl. The service will also stream several new Unplugged performances throughout the year. New and exclusive reality series on Paramount+ include Ink Master, Queen of the Universe, Road Rules, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and The Real World: Homecoming: New York.
The Showtime merger gives premium subscribers even more sophisticated entertainment to enjoy with shows such as Billions, The Chi, and Yellowjackets. Unfortunately, like many other streaming services, Paramount+ has also begun purging its content library. Several original shows, including Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Inside Amy Schumer, Players, and Star Trek: Prodigy, have been recently removed.
Movies and Documentaries on Paramount+
CBS All Access never competed with dedicated movie streaming services, such as The Criterion Channel or Mubi. However, Paramount Pictures is a subsidiary of Paramount Global, so Paramount+ should have more success. It's up against other major players for the mainstream movie audience. Max (New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.) and Disney+ (classic Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars) also benefit from in-house studios and content partners. Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video produce many original and popular movies, too.
The movie library on Paramount+ has grown to more than 2,500 titles. That's a significant increase over the approximately 700 movies it had at launch. Some of the current titles on the service include Internal Affairs, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over; Star Trek (IV: The Voyage Home and Nemesis), Super 8, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and Trainspotting. Starting in 2024, all Paramount movies will be exclusive to the service.
Among the new documentaries on the service are 76 Days, which explores the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; Console Wars, which dives into the Sega and Nintendo rivalry; For Heaven’s Sake, a part-comedy part-drama film set in Ontario and based on the disappearance of Harold Heaven; and Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In, a biopic about the well-known former manager of Manchester United FC. You'll find a collection of nature (courtesy of the Smithsonian Channel), historical, and political documentaries, too.
Paramount+'s Sports and Live TV
CBS All Access was always a decent sports streaming option for fans on a budget because it included football, golf, and college basketball events. In addition to its NFL (local regular- and post-season games), PGA Tour (including The Masters and PGA Tour Championship), and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship coverage, Paramount+ streams lots of soccer (Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Concacaf, Liga Profesional de Fútbol, National Women’s Soccer League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Europa Conference League). CBS Sports HQ is also part of the package.
Paramount+’s sports streaming lineup is more substantial than Peacock’s, which focuses on Premier League matches, IndyCar coverage, and WWE PPV events. Peacock did stream an NFL playoff game last season, though. Prime Video has Thursday Night Football games and select WNBA games. ESPN+ offers select coverage of NHL and MLB games, but it is best suited for college sports fans and has streaming rights to tons of international sports leagues. It’s also the only option for UFC fans, though fight fans should also consider Dazn.
If you want more coverage of national sports leagues, you need to pay for a live TV streaming service, such as Fubo or YouTube TV. For specific guidance on watching these sports, we have dedicated roundups for the best NFL streaming services, the best MLB streaming services, and the best NBA streaming services, and the best NHL streaming services.
The last component of Paramount+ is its live TV offerings. Premium subscribers can access their local CBS broadcast station feeds, which means they can watch prime-time shows, such as 60 Minutes and any of CBS network series as they air. All subscribers can watch the 24-hour CBSN service. We expected some version of the free Pluto TV, which is owned by Paramount Global, on the service to compete with Peacock’s lineup of preprogrammed, continuously streaming content. However, that content is missing completely on Paramount+.
Video Streaming Services: What You Should KnowHow Much Does Paramount+ Cost?
You can get an ad-supported version of Paramount+ for $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year. This does not include access to local CBS stations, but subscribers to this tier can watch NFL games that air on CBS in their market and UEFA Champions League soccer matches. Users of this plan also cannot stream titles in 4K or download content for offline viewing. This division of features, unfortunately, carries over from CBS All Access. At the very least, all subscribers should be able to download titles for offline viewing. Notably, ads are for on-demand shows only, not movies.
Paramount+’s premium tier costs $11.99-per-month or $119 per year. In addition to not having ads for on-demand shows (as with any other live TV service, you can't escape ads on live content), this plan unlocks all the higher-end streaming features. All premium Paramount+ subscribers now automatically gain access to Showtime's library within the same Paramount+ app, which is a good bargain considering how much both apps used to cost separately. Paramount plans to shut down the standalone Showtime app by the end of 2023.
Paramount+ currently offers a thirty-day trial. A growing number of streaming services, including Netflix and Disney+, no longer offer trials. We prefer services that do.
Both of Paramount+’s tiers compare well to competitors, though it does not offer anything to compete with a completely free pick like Tubi. Free video streaming services are an excellent option if you are trying to keep your monthly entertainment costs to a minimum, but many of the services make compromises. Most commonly, these options lack higher-end streaming features or don’t offer nearly as compelling an on-demand library as paid alternatives.
Peacock’s $4.99-per-month, ad-supported option and a $9.99-per-month ad-free tier expand that service’s streaming library considerably and match Paramount+'s costs. Hulu's ad-supported ($7.99 per month) and ad-free ($14.99 per month) plans are slightly pricier. Max's ad-supported and ad-free tiers cost $9.99 and $15.99 per month, respectively. Netflix starts at $6.99 per month with ads, but to watch 4K content, you need to upgrade to its $19.99-per-month Premium plan. Amazon Prime Video is $8.99 per month.
Paramount+ is an inexpensive way to watch some live sports, but it’s not your only option. ESPN+ costs $9.99 per month. Complete live TV streaming services are significantly more expensive. Sling TV’s Orange and Blue plans start at $35 per month, for example, while Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV charge $69.99 per month and $72.99 per month, respectively.
You can watch Paramount+ on the web or download apps for mobile platforms (Android and iOS), media streaming devices (Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), gaming consoles (Xbox and PlayStation 4), and smart TVs (LG, Samsung, and Vizio). A representative from Paramount+ confirmed that the service would soon support the PlayStation 5 console. Unlike Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix, Paramount+ does not offer a Microsoft Store app.
Paramount+ on the Web
Paramount+'s web interface looks almost identical to CBS All Access's, which is not a bad thing. It uses a dark color scheme, looks sleek, and is simple to navigate. Account settings are available via your profile icon in the upper-right corner.
The main screen shows a large slideshow of featured programming as well as horizontally scrolling sections of content categories such as Trending Shows, Recently Added Shows, Trending Movies, On Now, Originals, and more. There's also an editable section for everything that you've started watching but haven't finished. You can also now add any shows or movies to a watchlist called My List.
For more focused browsing, Paramount+'s top menu has separate sections for shows, movies, live TV, brands, and news. The Shows and Movies sections are further organized by genre. You can also browse what's currently popular on the service and the full list of content in alphabetical order from these sections.
A show's detail page includes a description, a list of available episodes, a related shows section, links to any related blog posts, and a complete list of cast members. If you click on a cast member's photo, Paramount+ takes you to a short biography of them. All this information is organized well, but Paramount+ does not allow subscribers to leave reviews of content or add any sort of ratings, something both Prime Video and Shudder allow.
If you don't know exactly what you want to watch, you can also take advantage of Paramount+'s new Live Channels feature. Any paid subscriber can watch themed channels that pull from shows and movies across the entire catalog to create a curated 24/7 viewing experience akin to traditional live TV. Watch channels for kids, crime, or reality TV competitions. Giving viewers less stressful ways to sample content will only become more important as we're forced to make more decisions when it comes to streaming, what services we choose and what we choose to watch on those services.
Paramount+’s Mobile Apps
We downloaded the Paramount+ mobile app on an Android 11 test device and had no trouble signing into our account. The mobile app retains the same dark color scheme as the web and did not crash in testing. You navigate the app via a bottom menu bar: Home, Search, Live TV, and More. The Home section lets you browse through featured entries in the service's catalog. The Search section divides the catalog into movies and TV shows and lets you filter by everything by genre. The live TV section lists all of Paramount+'s live programming. You can either jump into a live stream or, if you tap on the show name, watch individual segments that already aired. We hope Paramount+ adds this feature to the web app, too.
The More section houses your downloads, but there's no way to sort them, unfortunately. The app's settings allow you to set download quality preferences, enable autoplay, and see how much space is available on your device. There's also a useful setting for automatically deleting downloaded episodes after you've finished watching them. Netflix goes one step further by downloading the next episode in a series once you finish watching it. Netflix can also automatically download shows or movies it thinks you will enjoy now, too.
For reference, we downloaded a 44-minute episode of the new Queen Latifah reboot of The Equalizer in just under a minute. Downloaded titles expire after 30 days. Subscribers to the ad-supported tier will not be able to use this feature. Most other on-demand video streaming services support offline downloads, but Hulu is one of the few that restrict this capability to higher-priced tiers.
Playback Experience
Paramount+'s playback interface has all the standard features you'd expect. Apart from basic playback and volume controls, you get 10-second fast-forward and rewind buttons and a toggle for subtitles. The interface also provides a short description of what you are watching in the upper-left corner. Unfortunately, you cannot select the streaming resolution manually on the web. The mobile app's playback screen is largely the same, but you can choose the video quality: Auto, Low, Medium, or High. It is unclear what resolution those settings correspond to, but we like having the option. One thing you won't find is anything similar to Prime Video's IMDb-TV X-Ray feature, which lists cast members and other relevant information about what's playing.
If you subscribe to Paramount+’s premium tier, you can watch select titles in 4K. These same titles also support HDR and Dolby Vision standards. To watch something at this resolution, you need to use one of the supported streaming devices: select Roku models, Fire TV (4K Stick and Cube), Android TV, and Apple TV 4K HDR (5th Gen). You can search directly for 4K and HDR content, though you will onlt see badges for those standards on supported devices. At the time of writing, these search results included The Good Fight, the rebooted The Twilight Zone, The Stand, and several dozen nature documentaries from the Smithsonian Channel. The rest of Paramount+’s on-demand library can be streamed at 1080p, which is the standard resolution for paid video streaming services.
Apple TV+, Disney+, Prime Video, and Netflix all also have significant 4K libraries. Apple TV+, given the small size of its library, offers the most consistent support for that resolution, as well as the Dolby Vision and Atmos standards. HBO Max is slowly expanding its support for these standards, too.
A representative from Paramount+ confirmed that the service supports 1080/60fps live streams for owned-and-operated and large stations, and 720/30fps for others. Hulu + Live TV and YouTube both support 1080p/60fps streams of some channels on select platforms. Higher streaming frame rates help make anything with fast action, such as sports, look smoother.
Paramount+ does not offer any DVR capabilities for sports broadcasts, something that is useful for fans who may not be able to watch a game as it airs live. Most live TV streaming services I’ve tested, including Sling TV, offer recording capabilities, though Locast and ESPN+ do not. AT&T TV and fuboTV go one step further and let you restart some live sports events from the beginning and watch some previously aired games.
All Paramount+ subscribers can stream on up to three devices simultaneously per account. Netflix’s Standard plan supports only two concurrent streams per account, but Disney+ allows subscribers to stream on up to four devices at the same time. Paramount+ supports six profiles per account, which helps keeping downloads and watch histories separate.
We tried streaming Paramount+ from a browser over a home Ethernet connection (200Mbps download). The service lists a minimum connection speed of 800Kbps (download), so most people shouldn't have an issue. We watched an episode of the rebooted Twilight Zone series and did not experience any streaming issues. The video ramped up to its full quality quickly and the audio sounded fine. We also tried streaming an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on a phone over a home Wi-Fi connection (175Mbps download) without a problem. Paramount+ saved progress across platforms, too.
Accessibility and Parental Controls
Paramount+ includes subtitles for every show we tried watching, and it let us customize them directly from the playback screen. For instance, you can change the font size, type, weight, and color, as well as the color of the background. At the time of testing, Paramount+ offers subtitles in English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Apple TV+ currently supports more languages, but we expect Paramount+ to add more languages as its availability expands.
CBS All Access offered audio descriptions on some of its shows, which means that some shows (58 titles at last count according to The Audio Description Project) on Paramount+ also have them. Audio descriptions are an accessibility option that provides audible narrations of on-screen events that cannot be otherwise understood from the dialog alone. We hope that Paramount+ expands this support in the future. Apple TV+, Prime Video, and Netflix are among the best services for audio descriptions.
Paramount+ allows you to lock any profiles into a Kids Mode, for which there are two settings: Younger Kids (TV-Y) and Older Kids (TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV, TV-G, G, TV-PG, and PG). When a profile is locked with that setting, only shows and movies of the listed ratings are available to watch. Oddly, Paramount+ does not require a password to switch profiles from one in Kids Mode to an unrestricted one, which seems like it defeats the purpose.
You can also head to Settings to enable account-wide parental controls. Here, you can restrict viewing content above a certain rating, as well as Paramount+'s live TV component behind a PIN. This is far less convenient than profile-based restrictions.
Disney+ and Netflix offer excellent parental control tools; those services let you set restrictions on a per-profile basis and require you to enter a password to switch back to an unrestricted account. Paramount+ needs to address that problem to be on par with those services.
Paramount+ and VPN
A VPN can help you protect your privacy online and spoof your location. That last part is problematic for some video streaming services that must enforce regional streaming restrictions. Paramount+ is available in the US, Canada, Latin America, and Australia. In 2022, the Nordic version will be merged with the SkyShowtime service.
We connected a desktop and mobile device to US- and Brazil-based Mullvad VPN servers to test how Paramount+ handles VPN traffic. We did not encounter any issues streaming from the US-based servers but got a 404 error after connecting to the one in Brazil. We also had to disable several privacy extensions on the browser to stream content.
Even if you find that your VPN works fine with your video streaming services, know that this harmony may not last. Video streaming services are always finding new ways to detect and block VPN traffic to their platforms. We recommend that you choose a VPN based on other factors instead, such as its privacy policies, value, and security features.
An Inevitable Evolution
Ever since CBS and Viacom merged (again) into ViacomCBS in 2019, it was a safe bet that a new, combined video streaming service would come soon thereafter. Paramount+ builds on the successes of CBS All Access by offering more original productions, in addition to the on-demand content from all of the channels under the rebranded Paramount Global umbrella. Including Showtime bolsters the premium library even further. Paramount+ also includes live sports and (for premium subscribers) access to local CBS broadcast channels. Unfortunately, Paramount also carries over CBS All Access’s practice of reserving top features, such as 4K streams and offline downloads, for its higher-priced tier.
Netflix remains our top pick for on-demand video streaming, because of its excellent originals and innovative features. Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV are our Editors’ Choice winners for live TV services. Hulu combines an impressive library of on-demand content with an easy-to-use live TV component. YouTube TV’s lineup has all the most popular channels and the service includes unlimited DVR storage.
For more on streaming, check out five reasons why you may want to ditch your video subscription and keep cable; read how streaming has ushered in a new trash TV golden age; and learn why companies must preserve their streaming catalogs.
