MEDIA BOY'S WORLD MEDIA NEWS: Deadline; Paramount Streaming Reorg: Chief Product Officer Rob Gelick Out As Streamer Merges Units

Wednesday, 25 October 2023

Deadline; Paramount Streaming Reorg: Chief Product Officer Rob Gelick Out As Streamer Merges Units

Story from Deadline:

Paramount is restructuring its streaming operations.

Deadline understands that the company is combining its product and tech teams leading to the departure of Rob Gelick, who was Chief Product Officer and “played a critical role” of the company’s streaming services.

Insiders indicated a few others, mostly junior staffers, are exiting along with Gelick.

As part of the shift, Vibol Hou, CTO of Paramount Streaming, is expanding his role to oversee a combined group of product, program, engineering and operations teams working on Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Hou was previously CTO of Pluto before it was acquired by Viacom (now part of Paramount) in 2019.

The reorg comes after Showtime was blended with Paramount+ in a single streaming outlet. The broader corporate effort to streamline and organize multiple streaming units began to get more complex in 2019, when the Pluto acquisition happened and Viacom reunited with CBS. A wide-ranging portfolio of streaming outlets — including CBS All Access, Showtime, Pluto, BET+ and free services like CBSN and CBS Sports HQ were suddenly under the same roof but with divergent tech DNA and business objectives.

The reorg news was revealed in an internal email (see below) from Tom Ryan, President and CEO of Paramount Streaming. Ryan co-founded Pluto and stayed on after the Viacom acquisition, eventually being put in charge of all streaming for Paramount.

Gelick has been with the company for 15 years, joining as VP, Mobile in 2008 before rising up the ranks. Ryan said that he “spearheaded” the launch of CBS All Access, oversaw the rebrand and expansion of Paramount+, “expertly managed” the integration of Showtime into Paramount+ and the introduction of a new home screen on Pluto TV and “shepherded countless brand milestones for our division”.

Vibol, who has been with the company for around 10 years, will now “identify efficiencies”.

“I remain confident about the bright future of our streaming platforms and look forward to working with Vibol and the wider organization to make great things happen as we enter the next inning of streaming,” Ryan added.