Overview & Business Case

The 2019 acquisition of Pluto TV by ViacomCBS solidified Paramount’s position as a top 5 global media powerhouse, significantly expanding its streaming service footprint.

However, a key challenge emerged: how to leverage Pluto TV’s massive monthly active user (MAU) base to drive significant growth for Paramount+, while maintaining a seamless and non-intrusive user experience. Initial estimates projected that programmatically building an upsell funnel between the services would be a lengthy process, exceeding one year.

Task & Solution

Leveraging Braze CRM. To minimize the burden on engineering resources, the product team (under my leadership) opted to leverage the Braze CRM system. Braze’s capabilities, including in-app messaging (IAM) and in-browser messaging (IBM), allowed us to surface upsell campaigns for Paramount+ at opportune moments within TV programming, tailored to each user’s specific viewing habits and content preferences. This approach ensured a seamless experience across all channels, including web, mobile, mobile apps, and connected TV devices, thanks to Braze’s comprehensive omni-channel solution.

Targeted & Personalized.  A critical challenge in the Pluto TV to Paramount+ upsell flow was the risk of presenting irrelevant offers at inopportune moments to the wrong user segments. This not only threatened to disrupt the user experience and negatively affect retention but also potentially damage the brand image. Consequently, a solution that enabled targeted customer engagement based on watch behavior became imperative. By leveraging the Braze API and historical watch preferences, we were able to develop a highly effective approach for reaching the most receptive segments of the Pluto TV audience.

Simple UX. Using simple in-app-message overlays on web, mobile & connected TV’s, we would surface a page that would promote particular content, with two CTA’s – one for taking the user to the sign-up flow, and the other secondary CTA where the user could dismiss and continue to watch TV. (see below)

Results

The integration of Braze for upselling Paramount+ subscriptions within Pluto TV proved to be a resounding success. Within the first month of implementation, Pluto TV generated an impressive 8,500 upsells, demonstrating the immediate impact of the new system. This momentum continued throughout the year, culminating in over 100,000 upsells by the end of the first year.

This achievement was particularly remarkable considering the absence of dedicated engineering resources for the project. Moreover, the success extended beyond directly attributed upsells, driving significant non-attributed upsells as well. The combined effect translated into a net revenue growth exceeding +1.5M within the first year.

These remarkable results highlight the effectiveness of the Braze-powered upsell mechanism in converting Pluto TV users into Paramount+ subscribers. The seamless and non-intrusive nature of the system ensured a positive user experience while driving significant revenue growth for both platforms. This success story serves as a testament to the power of data-driven marketing and the potential of leveraging existing technology like Braze to unlock new opportunities for business growth.