The news: At Advertising Week New York, Paramount announced Streaming Fixed Units, an update to its ad offerings for Paramount+ that gives brands premium, fixed ad placements for the debut week of episodes for Paramount series.

The feature is currently available for brands marketing during IP premieres, with Paramount planning a future expansion into other content like sports. The move aims to “create a model that [matches] advertiser demand for breakthrough visibility during [streaming-only] moments,” EVP of streaming at Paramount Advertising Leo O’Connor told Adweek.

The strategy: Paramount is betting on the combination of streaming ad effectiveness and advertisers’ desire for exclusive moments to drive growth.

• Paramount+ is far behind competitors like Hulu, Netflix, and Peacock in subscription over-the-top (OTT) ad revenues, and its growth is notably slower.
• But streaming ads are highly valuable inventory for brands. They offer precision targeting to reach highly specific audiences, boosting the likelihood of viewer engagement; interactive and engaging formats that have proven to be more effective than standard ads; and a chance to capitalize on growing audience preferences amid the shift to digital.
• And advertisers are looking to market around exclusive moments that reach audiences difficult to capture through linear—increasing interest in Paramount+ compared with its competitors who aren’t providing similar offerings. Future expansion into sports content will increase effectiveness by tapping into highly engaged audiences at critical moments.

What it means for brands: Brands can leverage Paramount’s newest offering to take advantage of cultural moments, increasing the chances that streaming ads will connect at the right time—but should consider that other platforms with bigger audiences could also tap into this shift more effectively.

The new offering will attract advertisers, but audiences aren’t necessarily more likely to flock to Paramount+ because of the change—and the platform maintains a small user base compared with its competitors. More changes will be necessary for Paramount+ to gain a competitive edge and for advertisers to justify allocating a more significant portion of their OTT ad budgets to the platform.