Paramount Global, the media powerhouse behind brands like CBS, Showtime, BET, MTV, and Pluto TV, continues to expand its footprint in live sports. Known for balancing legacy television assets with a growing array of streaming platforms, Paramount has been steadily carving out a stronger position in highly engaging, appointment-viewing content.
Professional Bull Riders (PBR), once a niche sport centered around rodeo circuits, now ranks among the fastest-growing properties in American sports. Blending adrenaline-fueled competition with a gritty Americana image, PBR has cultivated a loyal fanbase and is making steady inroads into mainstream consciousness through revamped presentation, top-tier athletes, and a compelling live event format.
In a move that reinforces its commitment to live sports, Paramount has secured a key selection of PBR media rights. This rights acquisition adds new inventory to CBS Sports and Paramount+, placing the network in closer competition with rivals that have aggressively pursued emerging sports properties. As traditional sports rights become increasingly fragmented and expensive, strategic bets on alternative leagues like PBR open fresh opportunities for both reach and revenue.
Paramount’s new rights package with Professional Bull Riders (PBR) secures a wide-ranging portfolio of content. The deal covers exclusive access to live event broadcasts, comprehensive post-event analysis, and select behind-the-scenes coverage. This agreement bridges traditional linear TV with streaming platforms under the Paramount Global umbrella, allowing for multi-platform distribution that engages both core fans and new viewers.
Included in the coverage are marquee events across the PBR calendar, including the PBR Unleash The Beast series and team competitions. Paramount will also carry secondary formats such as athlete profiles and archival programming to maintain audience engagement beyond the live-action window.
The duration of the agreement extends through 2028, positioning Paramount to capitalize on several full seasons of PBR content. A renewal option at the midpoint—based on performance metrics such as streaming growth and audience retention—adds flexibility without sacrificing commitment.
Of particular note is a digital-first clause that gives Paramount+ priority access for simulcasting and on-demand replays, reflecting the evolving consumption habits of sports audiences. This ensures exclusivity across linear and digital channels, avoiding rights fragmentation and maximizing ad inventory.
Paramount finalized this arrangement amid a surge in demand for niche and regional sports content with national appeal. According to Deloitte’s 2023 Digital Media Trends report, 57% of U.S. sports fans said they prefer streaming platforms for live sports, a figure that has trended upward across age demographics. By locking down PBR rights now, Paramount places itself in direct alignment with this shift.
The deal closed shortly before the start of the 2024 PBR season, ensuring seamless integration into Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network programming calendars. With interest building in alternative sports leagues, especially among younger audiences seeking raw, unscripted action, this strategic acquisition meets a clear content demand cycle head-on.
In just a decade, niche sports properties—once overlooked—have surged in market value. Professional Bull Riders (PBR) exemplifies this trend. According to Deloitte's 2024 Sports Industry Outlook, tier-two and tier-three properties are experiencing double-digit rights increases annually, driven by younger audiences, streaming efficiency, and sponsor appeal. The PBR, with its visceral appeal and loyal fan base, gives networks an edge in capturing high-engagement, high-frequency viewership outside traditional sports seasons.
Live sports remain one of the few genres that consistently draw real-time, appointment-based audiences. That urgency translates directly to advertising revenue. Nielsen data confirms that 94 of the top 100 U.S. broadcasts in 2023 were live sports events. For linear giants like CBS and broadcast conglomerates like Paramount Global, owning exclusive rights isn't just about content. It's about retaining relevance in a media landscape where on-demand options dominate user behavior.
With audiences routinely bypassing ads on DVR and bingeing content on delay, live sports delivers what advertisers crave—real-time reach combined with high emotional stakes. For Paramount, landing PBR rights supports not just its content mission but its monetization model, providing a platform where traditional ad formats still drive measurable impact.
The marketplace is fiercely contested. ESPN continues to lock in alternative sports through ESPN+ and its multifaceted rights strategy. Warner Bros. Discovery recently deepened its reach into non-traditional sports through partnerships with niche leagues for HBO Max sports content. Even Amazon and Apple are reshaping expectations, bidding aggressively for secondary league rights to test user acquisition via live content funnels.
Paramount, by selecting PBR, has made a calculated play. It’s not just counterprogramming—it’s a direct bet on the sustained diversification of sports audiences and the power of personality-driven narratives within live formats. Compared to rivals, Paramount is shaping a portfolio that doesn’t chase volume but distinguishes itself through fan loyalty and cultural specificity. That distinction matters in an increasingly fragmented marketplace where attention is the only currency that counts.
Professional Bull Riders (PBR) has evolved into one of the fastest-growing sports properties in North America. According to the league’s official data, PBR events attracted over 2.8 million attendees globally in 2023, marking a 12% year-over-year increase. Broadcast exposure followed suit—linear and digital viewership rose nearly 20%, powered by core demographic segments aged 18 to 49.
With 84% of its audience identifying as sports fans and 40% watching more than five hours of live sports per week, PBR’s viewer profile syncs well with high-engagement platforms. This resonance with loyal and time-invested sports consumers positions PBR as a valuable asset in a fragmented media landscape where fan retention defines value.
Paramount has been intensifying its push toward youth-skewing, digitally savvy demographics—cohorts that consume sport differently. PBR delivers exactly that. Nearly half of PBR’s fan base is under 44, with a significant share in mid-market regions where Paramount’s regional affiliates and digital expansion plans overlap.
This demographic synergy amplifies Paramount’s ability to extend its content lifecycle across channels—live broadcast, short-form content, documentaries, and branded integrations. With the league's high consistency in event frequency and calendar symmetry, Paramount can plan content blocks with minimal disruption, a sharp contrast to the unpredictability of seasonal sports.
PBR embodies risk, grit, and individual heroism—qualities that parallel Hollywood’s most resonant storylines. Each athlete competes alone in a high-stakes, eight-second confrontation with a 2,000-pound bull. That visual spectacle, paired with intense personal drama, translates into compelling storytelling that extends well beyond the arena floor.
Paramount, with its cinematic heritage and storytelling DNA, recognized the media equity in this format. The league’s structure allows for behind-the-scenes access, athlete-led narratives, and serialized storytelling arcs, ideal for multi-platform production. Whether in feature-length documentaries, short episodic series, or social-first reels, the league’s raw, cinematic energy adapts seamlessly to varied content pipelines.
The decision to acquire PBR rights wasn't driven by volume or filler—it was driven by resonance. Paramount saw in PBR an underleveraged property that could deliver emotional engagement, narrative possibility, and scalable digital relevance.
Paramount+ anchors the streaming strategy behind Paramount's acquisition of select PBR rights. Functioning as the hub for live and on-demand PBR content, the service provides nationwide reach while offering flexibility for viewers. With a monthly active user base surpassing 60 million globally as of Q1 2024, Paramount+ delivers professional bull riding coverage directly to digital-native audiences. Fans can stream marquee events, behind-the-chutes features, and real-time stats—all tailored for the screen in front of them.
Paramount executes a multi-platform integration strategy across CBS Sports Network and ad-supported Pluto TV. CBS Sports Network retains core linear distribution with high-profile PBR telecasts, complemented by shoulder programming that deepens fan engagement. Meanwhile, Pluto TV extends the reach to cord-cutters with curated PBR segments and highlight reels available in real-time via its sports channels.
A singular feed no longer satisfies diverse viewing habits. Paramount's distribution model fragments content dynamically: full event broadcasts land on Paramount+, feature-rich recaps and analyst breakdowns populate Pluto TV, and targeted highlight clips funnel through CBS Sports Digital. This customization adapts content presentation to each platform’s strengths—with distinct versions of PBR existing across social, streaming, and linear landscapes.
This approach doesn’t scatter the brand; it multiplies its impressions. Viewers following bull riding on cable, smartphone apps, or connected TVs engage with tailored touchpoints, shaped to suit platform behavior—from vertical video on social feeds to multi-camera live feeds on a second screen.
One question matters most: Where and how will fans watch PBR? Anywhere they choose. Multi-platform access removes barriers inherent to legacy broadcast deals. Paramount’s rights package allows a fan to watch a full ride live on CBS Sports, stream post-event analysis via Paramount+, and scroll through fast-paced recaps on Pluto TV—all within a single weekend of competition.
Paramount has been reshaping its live sports content strategy through a mix of high-profile rights deals and targeted audience experiences. At the heart of this approach sits a portfolio that already includes marquee programming like the NFL on CBS and exclusive U.S. coverage of the UEFA Champions League through Paramount+, which continues to drive subscription growth and viewership across platforms.
The recent acquisition of major Professional Bull Riders (PBR) rights enhances Paramount’s value proposition in a crowded sports media landscape. Rather than serving as a standalone product, PBR integrates into a broader calendar of event-based programming that Paramount leverages to sustain year-round sports engagement. This format strategically fills non-peak calendar windows, providing evergreen content and supporting steady streaming retention rates.
PBR’s mix of intensity, tradition, and raw competitive drama adds a complementary texture to Paramount’s coverage of global football and American football, broadening the narrative arcs that sports fans follow across seasons. The high-production value and emotionally charged atmosphere of PBR events translate well on screen, aligning with Paramount’s emphasis on cinematic sports storytelling.
Paramount is not simply acquiring rights—it’s designing live sports experiences for a new generation of fans. With PBR, the network gains a sport that already attracts a younger audience profile compared to legacy stick-and-ball leagues. According to Nielsen, 41% of PBR’s audience is aged 18–34, significantly higher than the average for televised sports.
This demographic advantage supports Paramount’s interactive content strategy. Expect deeper integrations with second-screen engagement tools, live polling, social media feeds, and behind-the-chutes access that immerses viewers in the action. The company is also exploring AR and VR enhancements via platforms like Pluto TV and future integrations within Paramount+ to deepen real-time immersion and personalize content discovery.
By anchoring high-energy sports like PBR alongside global tentpoles such as the Champions League, Paramount constructs a balanced content ecosystem—one designed to appeal across generational lines while promising advertisers more targeted and diverse consumer segments.
CBS will carry flagship PBR events in prominent time slots, leveraging its national reach to introduce the sport to new audiences. Sunday afternoon windows, traditionally held for top-tier sports content, will now include showcase PBR events such as the Unleash the Beast series or the PBR World Finals. With CBS already drawing millions for NFL and golf broadcasts, this integration places PBR directly in front of one of America’s largest TV sports audiences.
CBS Sports Network will serve as the consistent linear home of PBR throughout the regular season. Weekly broadcasts will feature a mix of live rounds, highlight packages, athlete interviews, and documentary-style segments that dive into the personalities behind the arena. Coverage blocks are structured to run on weekday evenings and weekend afternoons, providing steady visibility without clashing with flagship league broadcasts like NCAA basketball or soccer.
Paramount+ subscribers gain dual value: full live event streams in tandem with CBS Sports' linear airing and a rich on-demand library including past events, archived footage, and exclusive behind-the-scenes content. The SVOD platform supports alternate viewing angles and real-time statistics overlays, creating an interactive viewing layer that enhances the hardcore fan’s experience. Integration with user profiles also enables curated highlights and athlete tracking.
On Pluto TV, PBR content will exist in a dedicated 24/7 channel format, targeting casual viewers and audiences outside of traditional cable packages. Rather than relying on scheduled programming, Pluto’s PBR channel loops recent events, best-of matchups, and documentaries on a rolling basis, allowing viewers to drop in at any moment. This aims to broaden exposure through a frictionless, free-to-access model that increases casual engagement.
Paramount’s strategy employs a tiered distribution pattern: CBS Broadcast anchors PBR’s premium weekend window, typically Saturday evenings or Sunday afternoons. CBS Sports Network handles consistent midweek placement—usually Wednesdays and Thursdays—tying into broader sports programming blocks. Paramount+ complements both with simulcasts and VOD access, while Pluto TV offers anytime replays to capture overflow interest.
PBR content will be actively promoted across Paramount’s broader portfolio, including late-night programming on CBS, morning talk segments on shows like CBS Mornings, and cross-teasers on Paramount+ originals. Expect bull riding highlights to surface during NFL halftime shows, as well as lifestyle features appearing within entertainment and reality TV formats. These placements treat PBR not solely as a sport, but as a fully integrated content offering within Paramount’s entertainment ecosystem.
PBR has undergone a deliberate transformation—from an adrenaline-charged competition rooted in traditional rodeo to a premier entertainment property that fills arenas across America. Its visuals are cinematic, the production values rival those of major league sports, and the pacing caters to digitally-native audiences. By blending elements of live concert lighting, pyrotechnics, dramatic commentary, and curated music cues, PBR events now resemble major entertainment spectacles rather than conventional sports broadcasts.
This transformation didn’t happen by accident. PBR’s parent company, Endeavor, steered the brand through a strategic pivot that matched audience consumption behaviors—short, high-impact content with hyper-dramatic arcs and identifiable stars. Paramount’s rights acquisition builds on that foundation, slotting PBR into a broader entertainment-focused ecosystem that already includes reality TV, documentary content, and global sports events.
At the center of this entertainment strategy are the athletes themselves. Riders now serve as narrative anchors, not unlike protagonists in long-form dramas. The storytelling extends far beyond the arena—into personal histories, off-season training regimens, cultural backgrounds, and the high-risk realities of an eight-second ride gone wrong.
This character-focused approach mirrors techniques used in UFC and WWE programming, where individual personas drive fan engagement. Paramount gains access to a storytelling goldmine—multicultural, high-stakes, emotionally resonant—and can leverage this to build serialized narrative programming around rivalries, comebacks, and behind-the-scenes tension.
Paramount’s approach to sports entertainment demands more than traditional competition footage. PBR is uniquely suited to fill this demand. Its event structure—prelims, qualifiers, championship rounds—naturally supports episodic content. That structure, paired with the human drama inherent in the sport, makes PBR an ideal foundation for streaming docuseries and seasonal specials.
These formats not only extend PBR’s lifespan on digital platforms but create multiple entry points into the brand for new audiences—especially younger viewers accustomed to binge-worthy sportainment hybrids.
The end result? A content property that functions on two tracks simultaneously: as a high-energy sport and as a bingeable narrative universe. Paramount isn’t just broadcasting bull riding—they’re programming personality-driven entertainment crafted around the chaos of the arena and the characters who enter it.
Professional Bull Riders (PBR) separates itself dramatically from traditional sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, or MLB. It delivers an event format that compresses high-octane action into tight, fast-paced sessions, making it especially suited for modern attention spans and digital-first audiences. With each bull ride lasting just eight seconds, the sport generates bursts of adrenaline unlike anything seen in conventional team sports.
This compressed intensity provides a distinct programming advantage. Each PBR event can stack multiple high-stakes moments into a single broadcast window, maximizing viewer engagement and ad inventory value. The format supports both live viewing and on-demand content slicing — two pillars of effective multi-platform distribution.
PBR’s physical grit and theatrical flair naturally align with Paramount’s cinematic heritage. The sport's signature combination of ferocity and elegance — think slow-motion replays of mid-air dismounts and close-ups of tense cowboy faces just before the chute opens — mirrors cinematic storytelling techniques. Paramount’s production teams can leverage this effect to deliver stylized broadcasts that feel immersive and narrative-driven, not just informational.
The camera work in PBR already mirrors techniques used in film: low angles, super slow-motion, and tight reactive cuts. Backed by Paramount’s visual storytelling legacy, this aesthetic gets elevated into a cohesive brand identity. PBR doesn’t just get televised — it gets directed.
Rodeo and action sports broadcasting isn’t new, but few networks have treated it with the mainstream investment seen in Paramount’s PBR deal. ESPN has featured select rodeo events across its networks, while NBC previously aired bull riding content through its partnership with the now-defunct PBR Global Cup. However, such coverage often positioned the sport as niche or seasonal filler.
Paramount approaches differently. The deal integrates PBR content across broadcast, cable, and streaming with fresh branding focus and year-round editorial support — something rarely seen in this category. Even in the realm of motocross and rally sports, where networks like Fox Sports hold partial rights, dedicated buildout of content ecosystems remains limited compared to what Paramount has planned.
Paramount's PBR investment flips this model. By embedding bull riding within its broader content vision and treating it as top-tier sports media, it positions itself as a frontrunner in reimagining how alternative sports can be experienced at mass scale. This is not another rodeo coverage deal — it's a reframing of what American sports entertainment can look and feel like.
Paramount's acquisition of key PBR rights represents more than a foray into professional bull riding—it marks another calculated step in shaping a diversified entertainment ecosystem. By incorporating high-adrenaline, live sports into its existing slate, the company continues to build a portfolio that spans both cinematic storytelling and real-time sports spectacle.
Paramount isn't siloing its content strategy. While blockbuster movie franchises remain a core asset, executives have committed to building a streaming and broadcast experience that can thrive on both tentpole releases and recurring, live events. PBR fits seamlessly into this dual-track model—unfolding episodically throughout a season, yet delivering the immediacy and unpredictability that scripted content cannot replicate.
This strategy fortifies Paramount’s ability to deliver year-round value, especially on Paramount+, where subscriber churn ties closely to content cadence. High-velocity sports like PBR fill gaps between scripted releases, smoothing engagement curves across months rather than spikes followed by valleys.
Live sports act as an engine for both platform growth and user stickiness. By layering PBR events into the Paramount+ ecosystem, the company gains regular appointment viewing opportunities. These linear-style broadcasts give viewers a reason to return week after week, reinforcing habit-based consumption.
Beyond subscription footprints, there’s another lever at work: advertising. With dynamic ad insertion and real-time audience segmentation, Paramount’s ability to monetize highly-engaged sports audiences becomes central to unlocking the value of its broader digital platforms. PBR, with its loyal and growing fanbase, amplifies that potential.
By anchoring specific time slots across platforms—CBS Sports Network, Pluto TV, and Paramount+—with PBR broadcasts, Paramount maximizes cross-promotional flexibility. The network can now pair sports with thematically complementary content, encouraging viewer retention throughout multi-hour blocks.
Where a scripted drama drives emotion and storyline engagement, PBR introduces physical immediacy and a different kind of emotional investment. The convergence of these formats creates an immersive viewer continuum, one that blends adrenaline, character, and live unpredictability.
Paramount’s decision to lock in PBR rights ties into a broader investment thesis—one where content drives more than storytelling; it powers platform economics, subscriber lifetime value, and the flywheel of engagement. Aligning sports with streaming isn't an add-on. It’s a recalibration of what modern media delivery looks like—live, digital, and designed to move fast.
Securing a prime selection of PBR rights positions Paramount Global as a serious force in the streaming-era sports landscape. This isn’t just a content acquisition—it’s a move that amplifies Paramount’s long-term strategy to intertwine TV entertainment with high-adrenaline live sports content.
With the Professional Bull Riders franchise now part of its portfolio, Paramount has locked in a property that draws a loyal, high-engagement fan base and offers strong regional appeal across the U.S.—and increasingly, abroad. This PBR deal expands Paramount’s foothold in sports entertainment rights, deepens the content bench for Paramount+, and solidifies its relevance in a space once dominated by legacy cable networks.
The timing of this strategic partnership reflects a broader market shift: as linear TV contracts, digital platforms compete fiercely to own the future of televised and streamed sports events. Paramount identified live sports not simply as filler content, but as a pillar for audience retention, brand loyalty, and cross-platform monetization. Pairing intense physical sport with high-production values—common across PBR events—creates spectacle that translates exceptionally well to both live broadcasts and streaming environments.
Expect Paramount to lean even further into sports rights acquisition and multiplatform distribution. As demand grows for immersive, always-on viewing experiences, marquee events like PBR offer more than just competition—they deliver storylines, drama, and personality-driven content that travels across digital platforms, from Paramount+ subscriptions to social video and news streaming formats.
Where does it go from here? The playbook is expanding. Strategic partnerships combining dynamic sports leagues with scalable tech infrastructure and broad content ecosystems will reshape the next generation of media giants. Paramount, now with PBR in its stable, isn’t just joining that race—it’s setting pace.
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