Several streaming services are re-evaluating their content spending strategies after profitability reports of these initiatives are causing major networks to alter their business models.
Disney+ will purportedly remove a lot of the offerings on its service and will combine itself with Hulu for a more unified streaming approach. Warner-Discovery is following a similar trajectory following its merger — HBO Max will simply become “Max” and will also feature certain Discovery titles on its platform as well.
Bloomberg reported that several subscription-based media services have seen their shares tank up to 50%, which includes Netflix.
It would appear that “Netflix is benefiting than less expected from its expenditures,” according to The Motley Fool, and streaming newcomer Paramount+ seems to be in a similar boat. The effect of these business failings is being passed down to Paramount employees. The Hollywood Reporter says that the studio has slashed 25% of its workforce from its networks and will completely be shutting down MTV News.
TikToker Victoria Cheyenne (@filmbyvictoria) is one such casualty, and she recorded herself getting axed in a viral clip that’s garnered over 84,000 likes as of Friday.
@filmbyvictoria pov: your “job was impacted in company reorganization” #paramount #layoffs ♬ Swear Word Beep (Censor Bleep Television Radio Video Censorship Censored Noise Clip) [Sound Effect] – Finnolia Sound Effects
The TikToker records someone on a conference call saying, “Again I truly appreciate every one of you. Thank you so much for everything that you’ve done. Thank you, take care of yourselves all right? More soon.”
In the video, she’s sitting at her laptop. Once the person on the call stops speaking and she ends the call, Cheyenne starts cursing and screaming, with a slew of obscene words being bleeped out. Someone else off-camera reacts to Cheyenne’s outburst, to which she replies, “Yeah I just lost my job.”
She seems to be crying and the video ends with her grimacing into the camera as she shuts it off. Wrap Pro writes that Paramount+ reportedly wrote down $1.5 billion for streaming content, while Variety wrote that the provider hiked its prices during its merger with Showtime.
The outlet added, “Paramount Global has had its struggles with the transition from linear basic cable to the weaker profit margins delivered by direct-to-consumer streaming.”
One commenter seemed to find it odd that Cheyenne would capture the moment on camera, writing, “*records herself .*”
Someone else said after reading more into Paramount+’s layoffs and seeing the response from Bob Bakish in reference to the Writer’s Guild of America’s strikes, they ultimately decided to stop subscribing to the platform.
“Yeah seeing the ceos comments about the strike canceled my subscription to paramount plus,” they shared.
Someone else surmised that the company may have been better off if it didn’t dump so much money into its streaming service.
“Maybe Paramount shouldn’t have invested so much money in developing Paramount+,” they wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Cheyenne via Instagram direct message and Paramount via email.
