Paramount Second Quarter Earnings, Streaming Subscribers, Advertising – The Hollywood Reporter
Paramount Global added global streaming subscribers in Q2 to reach “nearly 64 million” as of the end of June, up from over 62 million at the end of March. That includes the addition of 5, 2 million subscribers, partially offset by the removal of 3.9 million subscribers in Russia.
The entertainment group revealed its latest figures on Thursday as part of its quarterly earnings report, showing that its revenue exceeded Wall Street expectations. It also detailed that its Paramount+ streaming platform grew 4.9 million, minus 1.2 million Russian subscribers removed, to reach “more than 43 million” subscribers, compared to “nearly” 40 million” at the end of March, seeing the top streamer reach 39.6 million users.
The latest quarter includes the launch of Paramount + the original Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and most episodes of Halo, launched at the end of the first quarter. “Paramount+ captured the most subscriptions, total additions, and total net subscribers of any premium domestic streaming service during the quarter.
according to Antenna’s June 2022 Report,” Paramount noted in its earnings report. “Paramount + subscriber growth was partly driven by a successful launch in international markets, including the UK, Ireland and South Korea.”
The company also touts its line of streaming content. “Paramount+’s broad content strategy continued to attract audiences during the quarter, including the highly anticipated original series, movies and sports,” it said. “Paramount+ has seen strong engagement and engagement from a variety of content, led by Halo, 1883, Lost City, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Jackass Forever, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and UEFA Champions League (soccer league). Both domestic and international hours tracked per household show strong year-over-year growth.”
In Q4 2021, the company, led by president and CEO Bob Bakish, added 9.4 million global subscribers to its paid streaming services, including Showtime. OTT.
Paramount’s free, ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV also continued to grow its monthly active users, or MAUs, to nearly 70 million at the end of June after reaching “close” 68 million at the end of March. Pluto TV increased its total global watch hours by double digits year-over-year for
Paramount notes the second quarter in a row, also touting the service’s “expanded international presence.”
Released by Paramount Films Top Gun: Maverick in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Paramount’s TV Media unit reported a drop in ad revenue for the second quarter after falling 13% in the first quarter. “Ad revenue fell 6% year-over-year, as pricing only partially offset the impact of lower linear impressions and exchange rates,” the company said.
In his earnings preview, Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahill forecast Paramount+’s 4 million subscriber net additions in the second quarter, or 5 million excluding Russia, but only 1, 3 million streaming network total “due to some weakness at Showtime and (negatively) 2 million impacts from non-Paramount + Russia. He reckons Showtime OTT, Noggin and BET+ have lost around 600,000 subscribers in total.
“We think Paramount+ benefits from Halo, a deal with Sky Cinema in the UK, and a few hundred thousand net plus from the T-Mobile deal in the US,” Cahall wrote. “We think the total Sky Cinema contract could add around 9 million subscribers, with additional Sky market launches expected in the fourth quarter. We estimate a non-Paramount+ net plus of -2.7 million, as the low average revenue cut off per user distribution deal in Russia affects a net plus of 2 million. The cumulative impact from Russia on direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscribers is 3 million, including -1 million for Paramount+. Our DTC net addition estimate is 1.3 million versus 2.7 million consensus, although our Paramount + additional net is consistent. “
