I just saw an advertisement for Dreaming While B/@*k, and the voiceover said it'll soon be streaming on "Paramount Plus PREMIUM".

Question: are they now making shows specifically for different plans/tiers, or are they just advertising the more expensive one to trick the easily-led into over-paying..?

I don't know about Paramount+ if that is the case or not. I pay for the $119/year plan that includes Showtime with no ads.

But, I do know that Netflix does not allow you to stream licensed movies under the cheap $7 ad supported plan. You need at least the minimum $18 HD plan to be able to watch licensed movies.

So you have to be on at least the $18 plan to watch any movies on netflix that netflix didnt create themselves?

Yes. You will get a message that the certain movie is not available.

According to Netflix: "You can stream, download and play thousands of shows, movies and games. While the vast majority of TV shows and movies are available on an ad-supported plan, a small number are not due to licensing restrictions. These titles will appear with a lock icon when you search or browse Netflix." According to their claims on their $7.99 ad supported plan, there are only limitations on a "small number" of licensed items, but you can watch the "vast majority" on the plan. Of course, they don't give you a specific list of what is excluded, but an online search shows it to be mostly Sony products.