Paramount Skydance isn’t waiting for its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to bolster its flagship streaming service.

Paramount streaming leaders have told employees that they are planning major updates to Paramount+ in the coming weeks.

An internal presentation, unveiled during a streaming town hall this week and seen by Business Insider, shows “Highlighted Product Priorities” for Paramount’s streaming business this quarter, including:

• Test microdramas, which are soap opera shows with short vertical episodes, on the Paramount+ mobile app
• Creating a “Free Front Porch” that will allow access to movies and shows without a Paramount+ subscription
• Adding video podcast vertical segments, which executives see as a growth opportunity
• Expand multi-view, which has been a priority, as Business Insider reported in January
• Continue to develop an interactive viewing experience for live events such as UFC fights, including statistics and highlights in the app.
• Customizing Artwork for Shows and Movies on Paramount+

Paramount is also preparing other features, such as new interactive ad formats, that it believes will better serve audiences and advertisers.

These initiatives are part of Paramount CEO David Ellison’s plan to upgrade the technology of a 114-year-old media company that trails Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney in streaming subscribers. Buying WBD would help Paramount catch up quickly and give it more than 200 million streaming customers, the company said.

A supercharged Paramount+ combined with HBO Max would make Ellison’s company a much bigger player in the ultra-competitive streaming wars.

Meanwhile, Paramount is not sitting idly by, especially since the Paramount-WBD merger is on hold following a 12-state antitrust lawsuit.

Below are more details on Paramount’s major streaming projects:

microdramas

Paramount+ is testing microdramas in hopes of creating “daily mobile habits at scale” and “recalibrating consumer behavior” by training viewers to make their phone app a destination throughout the day, even if they only have a few minutes to spare.

Paramount’s eponymous streamer added short-form video this spring, following in the footsteps of Netflix, Disney+ and Peacock (which has also moved into original and licensed microdramas).

Free Tier

Paramount plans to expand free access to shows and movies on its flagship streamer through a feature called “free front porch.”

This will allow anyone to explore the Paramount+ app and preview content before subscribing, although you’ll need to create a free account first.

There are two general strategic goals for the free tier: attract new users to Paramount+, so they form habits and eventually subscribe, and earn more ad revenue from viewers, even if they never pay directly.

Adding free content to Paramount+ would make it more like Pluto TV, which is Paramount’s completely free streamer. Ellison’s company is in the process of putting those streamers on the same technology platform and is creating a unified identity so users can easily log in to all apps.

video podcast

While Paramount+ already has video podcasts, it is adding vertical podcast clips to its app as part of its short-form strategy designed to “drive engagement and session depth,” according to the presentation.

Executive vice president of streaming products Dan Reich told his staff that they are trying to “get more video podcasts” and “break them up into segments so we can show them” in their short-form feed, Business Insider reported in May.

Video podcasts can drive “long-form discovery” and “self-visualization,” Reich had said.

Paramount is focused on adding a podcast category to its app and podcast clips from shows it already has, including those from CBS News and CBS Sports. The presentation said it is “expanding the clip infrastructure to make podcast episodes discoverable.”

“That’s a competitive advantage for us versus companies like Netflix that don’t have that volume of content,” Reich said of podcast clips in May.

Multiview for sports

Paramount+ is strengthening the multiview feature in its TV app by adding customization and personalization elements. Multiview has been popular on services like YouTube TV and has “proven demand” on Paramount+, according to the filing.

Users will soon have more control over the sports games they watch with a customizable “home card” for the multi-view quad box. They will also be able to choose which game audio is playing.

Interactive viewing experience

Paramount is also beefing up its sports viewing experience on its app with interactive elements like statistics and highlights that can be viewed alongside the game or match.

This feature, which has been online in recent weeks, allows users to “stream real-time statistics on live matches to keep fans informed” and “support highlights in the broadcast, allowing viewers to relive key moments instantly,” the presentation said.

The UFC, to which Paramount has exclusive rights in the US, is the first to get this treatment, although the presentation said these interactive elements will “expand to more sports.”

Custom artwork

The product priorities slide said Paramount+ plans to “expand personalization” through art in its app, referring to thumbnails of shows and movies.

Paramount+ has long been A/B testing thumbnails, an industry standard practice among streamers.

A person familiar with this initiative described it as an “incremental” improvement.

New ad formats

Interactive ads were not listed as a “top” third-quarter priority for Paramount+, but the filing said the company expects them to “deliver better results for advertisers and better experiences for viewers.”

Paramount wants to have “intelligent ad selection” and for ads on its streamer to be in “integrated formats” that connect with audiences, according to the presentation.

One slide displayed thumbs up and thumbs up buttons on an ad, which would allow viewers to give feedback on the ad.

Its goal is to “invest in premium interactive advertising experiences to drive richer signals and viewer engagement” and for advertisers to build awareness of their brands while generating sales.