Internal docs show how David Ellison wants Paramount+ to transform as his WBD mega-deal draws near

Paramount Skydance is preparing to launch new streaming features designed to drive engagement and increase revenue from viewers as it finalizes its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal will give Paramount control of HBO Max and Discovery+.

These changes are the latest example of how CEO David Ellison is using tech to try to make Paramount more like Netflix and YouTube, which dominate TV viewership charts and have a significant sway over popular culture.

Paramount's streaming leadership told employees at a town hall this summer that Paramount+ is planning to add a free tier, micro dramas, and new interactive ad formats. Paramount is also preparing to put a comments section in its TikTok-style feed and leverage AI to help it clip videos, according to a screenshot of its streaming initiatives list recently viewed by Business Insider.

These features don't have specific launch dates yet, a person familiar with Paramount's strategy said. However, an internal document said several projects related to the free tier are labeled for Q4 and Q1 2027.

Paramount+ is also leaning into short vertical video, which it launched in April, and adding more video podcast segments to grow engagement on mobile and during the day.

The streaming initiatives list, which one tech staffer described as "a living, breathing document," shows what Paramount's streaming team has been prioritizing ahead of its WBD merger.

Since taking over Paramount, Ellison has prioritized tech while hiring executives from companies like Google and Meta. Paramount hopes that buying WBD will give it the scale it needs to turn from a 114-year-old media firm reliant on cable profits to a streaming giant, though some analysts are skeptical of its chances because of its relatively low streaming viewership share and the combined company's tens of billions of dollars in debt.

"What Ellison's doing is very logical," Rich Greenfield, a media analyst at Lightshed Partners, said of the changes coming to Paramount+. He added that Paramount is "throwing a lot of things at the wall to see what drives engagement."

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Paramount's streaming product updates are designed to either boost engagement or improve monetization — two overarching goals for its business, a person familiar with the company's strategy said. Growing viewership makes customers less likely to cancel and generates incremental revenue for subscribers on the ad tier.

Nearly 6% of its subscribers canceled in August, according to subscription data firm Antenna. That's the second-highest rate among major streamers. Antenna also found in a June report that more than a third of Paramount+ users only watched the service lightly — a higher percentage than any of its major paid rivals.

"You need something all the time to keep people entertained," Greenfield said. "It's a war for time spent, and you're chasing the juggernaut in the space, which is YouTube."