We’ve been hearing for a few months that ViacomCBS wants to completely rebrand the CBS All Access streaming service, turning it into a proper Netflix/Hulu/Disney/Amazon/Apple/HBO/Quibi competitor rather than just the dedicated home of The Good Fight, The Twilight Zone, and the various Star Trek shows. We’ve already seen a bit of this, with CBS All Access picking up some fun stuff from the Viacom vault—specifically the complete run of SpongeBob Squarepants—and we know about some other Sponge-related things that will eventually come to the service once its rebranded, but we still don’t know what the new-ish service will be called.
Until now! Actually, we still don’t know for sure, but a Financial Times report has revealed that the top contender is apparently “Paramount+”—as in, the exact same damn naming convention used by Apple TV+, Disney+, and (until fairly recently, give or take the specific symbol) Hulu Plus. It’s probably a smart choice, but it also a boring choice and very much a desperate “hey, we’re here too!” choice. Then again, the “Plus” naming thing already makes sense to consumers, so people will presumably know exactly what it means when they see the name “Paramount+.”
Also, and this may be the most important factor in this, the Paramount+ name is already being used by ViacomCBS for this same basic thing in international markets. It already has a logo drawn up, it probably has some name recognition around the world already, and ViacomCBS doesn’t need to pay anyone or hold any meetings to come up with a new name. On top of that, the CBS brand is not especially cool, while Paramount conjures images of stars flying at a mountain before a Transformers movie. Now picture that but plus. Pretty exciting… as far as this sort of thing goes. Anyway, the CBS All Access rebrand is supposed to happen at some point in 2021.