Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is setting records for Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a big hit for Paramount+.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a big hit for the folks over at Paramount+, making everyone at ViacomCBS very happy. The show came in with a classic Trek swag that got everyone, old fans and new fans alike, talking about how good it is. And it is. It’s an amazing show, and the best since the Prime Era of Trek, that featured The Next Generation through Enterprise.

Fans everywhere have given the show rave reviews, but so have those at Paramount.

In a press release, the chief of programming for Paramount+, Tanay  Giles, spoke about how thrilled they are over the success of the show;

"‘Star Trek’ fans all over the world embraced this incredible new ‘Star Trek’ journey. We are thrilled that the ‘Star Trek’ universe continues to be one of the most-watched franchises on the service."

Paramount+ will likely shift more Star Trek shows to follow the same formula

We know a few things right now. First, is that classic Star Trek sells. Two, whatever else Paramount+ is doing with Trek, doesn’t. No other show has had this success before on either CBS All-Access or Paramount+. Not on the service, not in the media, and certainly not with fans.

This era of “something for everyone” needs to end, lest Paramount+ shutter its doors. The Discovery’s and Lower Decks of Star Trek are expensive and while they have their own fans, are not the size needed to warrant the production costs. This is why Discovery had its budget slashed and Lower Decks and Picard were shoehorned into back-to-back filming cycles.

Considering HBO Max had nearly double the subscribers of Paramount+ (76.8 million to 43 million) and they were forced to merge with Discovery to stay afloat, that should tell you that streaming is not the end-all-be-all that it’s been made out to be. Due to their merger, HBO-Discovery is shuttering many of its scripted programs.

Why?

Because reality shows are cheaper.

If Paramount+ doesn’t start making every Star Trek show a hit on the level of Strange New Worlds, I worry about what will happen to the brand. Despite what they claim, Halo wasn’t a hit and no one is really talking about the Yellowstone prequel. They need Trek more than ever, and let’s hope that other hair-brained ideas they were pitching, like Section 31, die a death.