24 Sep Paramount Plans to Reinvent Itself as a ‘Tech-Forward’ Company. Here’s What That Means [The Wrap]
BY LUCAS MANFREDI
September 24, 2025 | With Paramount Global officially under his control, David Ellison faces a difficult task: making good on his vision of turning the struggling media conglomerate into a tech-forward company that, in his own words, blends the “creative heart of Hollywood” with the “innovative spirit of Silicon Valley.”
Though details around that strategy remain sparse, Ellison said in an open letter after taking over last month that Paramount would use tools such as virtual production stages and artificial intelligence to boost content creation. Paramount will also partner with father Larry Ellison’s Oracle to move Paramount+, Pluto TV and BET+ to a common backend infrastructure next year.
The emphasis on technology comes as Ellison tries to kickstart a media company that’s been left rudderless after years of mergers and planned takeovers. It’s also well behind the larger players in the game, with Paramount’s 77.7 million streaming subscribers far short of Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery. At the same time, profits in its linear TV business are declining rapidly as audiences cut the cord in favor of streaming and social media.
Paramount isn’t the first company who’s tried to reinvent itself using technology, and history has shown these transformations have varying degrees of success — from the massive digital growth of Netflix and the New York Times to the collapse of Blockbuster after starting the transition too late. But it’s hard to bet against the financial firepower of the Ellison family, who are also circling The Free Press and could potentially add TikTok and Warner Bros. Discovery to their roster in what would be a massive expansion of their control over media and technology.