Paramount+ drove gains in Paramount’s streaming subscriptions, according to their latest earnings report.
The service added 6.8 million subscribers in the quarter as viewers sought to consume content like Halo, Taylor Sheridan’s 1883, and Star Trek Picard.
The additions bring Paramount+’s subscription numbers to around 40 million, with total revenue up 148% year-on-year to reach $585m.
Paramount’s other streaming services – Showtime, PlutoTV, Noggin, and BET+ – combined to decline in subscribers however, as overall Paramount added 6.3 million total subscribers in the quarter to reach 62 million total.
The company, which changed its name from Viacom CBS last year, reported a decrease in total company revenue of 1% year-on-year, which it attributed to NBC hosting this year’s Super Bowl (as opposed to CBS, which broadcasted Super Bowl LV in February of 2021); excluding the difference, Q1 revenue grew by 5%.
Much of the revenue is driven by an 82% year-on-year increase in direct-to-consumer revenue, from $598m in Q1 2021 to $1.1bn in Q1 2022. Of that portion, DTC subscription revenue increased 95% from $380m to $742m, and DTC advertising revenue increased 59% from $218m to $347m.
Paramount President and CEO Bob Bakish said: “Our differentiated playbook – including a broad content line up, a streaming business model that spans ad-supported and subscription, and a global business portfolio that links streaming with theatrical and television – drove strength across our entire ecosystem.”
The positive streaming numbers come as the medium has been increasingly crowded in recent years. While first-mover Netflix remains dominant, their loss of subscribers for the first time in a decade has the company considering an ads tier for the first time as competitors encroach.
Apart from Paramount+’s good quarter, Peacock also added 4 million paid subscribers – a 40% increase quarter-over-quarter – to reach 13 million subs, and Disney’s line of competitor services have also grown. In February, Disney+ and Hulu added 11.8 million and 6.6 million new subscribers in Q1 2022; Disney reports its Q2 earnings next week.
(Main image: Still of Halo from the UK launch trailer for Paramount+)
