Yahoo Finance Paramount+ reaches 46M global subscribers in Q3, but stock drops ~9% on revenue miss
Paramount reported its earnings results for the third quarter this morning, citing growth in global streaming subscribers.
The company’s flagship streaming service, Paramount+, saw a slight increase in Q3, bringing the total to 46 million, up from 43.3 million in the second quarter when Paramount+ experienced a net add of 3.7 million subscribers. The streamer added 4.6 million subscribers this quarter, however, when SkyShowtime replaced Paramount+ in the Nordics, there was a removal of 1.9 million subs.
Paramount’s free ad-supported streaming service, Pluto TV, gained 2.4 million monthly active users to reach a total of 72 million. The company reported that Pluto TV grew total global viewing hours by “strong double-digits year-over-year.”
Across Paramount’s direct-to-consumer services -- Paramount +, Pluto TV, Showtime, Noggin and BET+ — the company reached nearly 67 million global subs, a considerable jump from 63.7 million last quarter.
Despite subscriber growth, Paramount’s stock was down nearly 9% pre-market trading this Wednesday, November 2, as the company’s overall third-quarter revenue of $6.92 billion missed Wall Street expectations of $7.03 billion.
Paramount’s streaming unit reported Q3 revenue growth of 38% year-over-year to $1.23 billion as subscription revenue climbed 59% year-over-year to $863 million. Advertising revenue jumped 4% to $363 million and Paramount+ revenue rose 95% year-over-year.
Adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) showed a loss of $343 million, up from a loss of $198 million. This was due to “investments in content, marketing and international expansion,” the company wrote in its letter to shareholders. The company announced in June that it has plans to release 150 international original titles by 2025.
This year, Paramount+ has secured multiple partnerships to look for more streaming subscribers as it tries to compete with streaming giants like Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max. For instance, Disney+ had an amazing third quarter, adding 14 million subscribers to reach a total of 152.1 million subscribers. Netflix experienced its first increase in awhile, bringing the total to 223.09 million subscribers.
Paramount+ teamed up with Walmart to give Walmart+ members access to a Paramount+ subscription. This will likely give the streamer a boost in subs as Walmart+ has a reported 16 billion subscriber base.
The streaming service also joined The Roku Channel as a premium subscription.
Yesterday, Paramount+ was one of the 30+ streaming services to be added to YouTube’s new “Primetime Channels” feature.
Updated 11/2/22 at 11:37 a.m. ET with correction that Paramount+'s total subscriber base of 46 million reflects the addition of 4.6 million subscribers and the removal of 1.9 million.
