Paramount’s 2025 second-window activity shows how studios can still drive meaningful value through external licensing after initially placing their titles on their own services through vertical integration. Show Tracker reveals that in 2025 alone Paramount has managed to find a second life for a number of its titles across a wide array of buyers, while also capitalising on several multi-market deals.
The standout buyer is Netflix, which secured rights to a multi-market package including ‘1883’, ‘1923’, ‘Fire Country’, ‘Ghosts (US)’, ‘Halo’ and ‘Special Ops: Lioness’. This represents a significant cluster of Paramount’s flagship franchises and underscores Netflix’s continuing appetite for US studio series with global brand recognition. The multi-territory nature of these deals demonstrates the viability of Netflix as a target for this type of second window.
Amazon Prime has also engaged in a multi-market acquisition with ‘Knuckles’ while taking ‘1883’ for Australia, rather than Netflix. ITVX took ‘Knuckles’ shortly after Amazon in the UK in a third window, while also acquiring ‘Rabbit Hole’. Its relationship with Paramount so far has been dwarfed by its acquisitions from Disney, where it has branded more recent deals under the ‘A Taste of Disney+’ banner.
Other local players have also demonstrated appetite this year, with the Nordic SVOD Viaplay acquiring ‘Dexter: New Blood’ after its SkyShowtime debut, Coupang Play premiering ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ after its Paramount+ debut, and Hulu in the US airing ‘The Oval’ after its original run on BET.
In all of these instances the series have remained on their original service, whether Paramount+ or SkyShowtime for certain European markets such as Sweden and the Netherlands. The presence of marquee titles on platforms with a wide audience like Netflix may entice viewers to seek out later seasons on their original home services, providing Paramount with free marketing in addition to licensing revenue.
Paramount’s second-window activity suggests that the value of vertical integration is not diminished by licensing content to third parties, particularly when buyers appear content to acquire these second windows without exclusivity. Careful planning and timing can turn both global and regional partners into revenue streams as well as marketing engines for studios like Paramount in the future.
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