Paramount+ clears 61 million subscribers as streaming losses diminish

The notoriously costly and challenging streaming business is improving slightly at Paramount.

Paramount+, the company’s subscription streamer, added a modest 700,000 new subscribers in Q2, reaching a total of 61 million subscribers, the company announced during its quarterly earnings call Monday.

• Subscription revenue grew 47% year over year to $1.2 billion.
• Advertising revenue from streaming climbed 21% due to impressions growth on Paramount+ and on Paramount’s free streaming service, Pluto TV.

Cut your losses: While the gains from streaming and advertising growth weren’t enough to offset expenses—the company’s direct-to-consumer segment ended the quarter with a $424 million loss—that loss was less than in the previous quarter, when losses totaled $511 million, and from the prior year period, when the company lost $445 million.

The old stuff: The traditional TV sector made $5.2 billion in the quarter, down slightly YoY, as affiliate and subscription revenue declined slightly and as advertising continued to slump.

• Paramount closed its 2023 upfront with a modest volume increase, CEO Bob Bakish said.
• While the company reported ad strength in categories like pharma, retail, movies, and travel, linear advertising continued to recover more slowly than digital advertising, CFO Naveen Chopra said. Linear ad revenue in particular was down 10% YoY.

Bookish: Meanwhile, Paramount Global announced it reached a deal to sell publishing house Simon & Schuster to private equity firm KKR for $1.6 billion after a prolonged effort to offload the publisher. The company will use the proceeds from the sale to pay down debt, Chopra said.

Wait and see: As the SAG-AFTRA and writers’ strikes continue, Paramount anticipates more free cash flow in the fall as productions remain delayed, Chopra said. In the meantime, the company has reworked its fall lineup to include already-produced shows like Yellowstone.