Paramount’s pitch to advertisers: Premium TV like Yellowstone trumps social
Illustration by Robyn Phelps / Shutterstock / The Current
Paramount’s hit western, Yellowstone, is must-watch TV for millions of people — worlds apart from the passive doom-scrolling of social media. For advertisers, the choice of where to invest should be clear.
That’s according to John Halley, president of Paramount Advertising, who touted the unmatched scale and quality of the company’s TV offerings at Forward ’25 on Thursday. The event, hosted by The Trade Desk, gathered media leaders to explore the growing power of connected TV (CTV) advertising.
“Broadly speaking, we want to unlock the value of our programming to brand advertisers,” he said. “We need to be sure that they’re capturing all of the value of the attention that we’re commanding globally.”
His comments came the day after Paramount’s Q4 2024 earnings report, which highlighted Paramount+’s strongest subscriber growth in two years, adding 5.6 million new users.
Streaming advertising revenue grew 9% in 2024 compared to the previous year, and global viewing hours increased 28% from 2023 across Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Halley challenged the notion that social delivers greater reach and value than premium TV, arguing that TV outperforms in both reach and performance. As he put it, streaming offers the highest level of engagement — scrolling offers the least.
To that end, Paramount has noted that Landman and 1923, both from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, each draw 10 million viewers per episode on Paramount+. Further, CBS’ broadcasts of NFL games, which are simulcast on Paramount+, averaged 20 million viewers this past season.
“Engagement matters,” Halley said on stage.
CTV drives results
His observations are backed by data. Omnichannel campaigns that included CTV drove 11 times greater brand search outcomes and 6.5 times more site visits in 2023, according to a Trade Desk platform-wide global analysis.
“CTV does a better job connecting site visits and in driving brand search,” Halley said.
That’s more important than ever as the marketing funnel evolves. As The Current reported last week, many marketers have begun to reimagine the funnel as more of an “infinity loop.”
“This is the state of the connected environments that we live in,” Halley said. “The reality is that consumer journeys are becoming much more complex and sophisticated.”
Pushing boundaries on measurement
TV measurement is also getting more integrated across the industry. This week, The Current reported that Blockgraph is partnering with VideoAmp to enhance measurement capabilities.
Paramount has been a leader in challenging the measurement status quo. After a months-long standoff with Nielsen, it struck a new deal with the company earlier this month. Paramount had turned to Nielsen competitor VideoAmp for TV ratings in the interim.
Halley said publishers need to be flexible.
With that in mind, Halley said that Paramount Advertising is prioritizing three key areas this year: partnerships, by investing heavily in data partnerships; activation, by enhancing how clients engage with audiences; and offerings, by expanding its commerce media solutions.
“This is the most exciting time to be a publisher since I’ve been in this business,” he said. “The TV market today bears no resemblance to where it was just five years ago.”
The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk.