Paramount Global announced financial results for the third quarter that ended September 30, 2022. The company revealed that its global direct-to-consumer subscriber total rose to nearly 67 million after adding 4.7 million during the period. Paramount+, which was the number one streaming service in the United States in sign-ups and gross subscriber additions year-to-date according to Antenna’s September 2022 report, grew its subscriber base to 46 million, which reflects the addition of 4.6 million subscribers and the removal of 1.9 million, following the launch of SkyShowtime to replace Paramount+ in the Nordics.
The streaming platform subscriber growth was driven by launches in international markets as well as the start of the NFL season, the UEFA Champions League, and the launch of the Walmart+ partnership. Internationally, “Halo” and “Yellowstone” were top acquisition drivers for the service, and in Latin America, the English Premier League drove strong signups.
Meanwhile, Pluto TV maintained its lead as the number one free ad-supported streaming TV service in the United States. Pluto TV became the first free ad-supported streaming TV service to represent a significant enough portion of TV viewing to be named in Nielsen’s monthly TV viewing Gauge report. Moreover, the platform increased total global viewing hours by strong double-digits year-over-year.
Financially speaking, the company’s DTC revenue increased 38% year-over-year. Subscription revenue grew 59% year-over-year to US$863 million, principally reflecting paid subscriber growth on Paramount+. In fact, Paramount+ revenue grew 95% year-over-year. Meanwhile, advertising revenue rose 4% year-over-year and adjusted OIBDA decreased US$145 million year-over-year, which according to the company, reflects investments in content, marketing, and international expansion.
“In the third quarter, Paramount continued to execute on our differentiated strategy anchored by our broad range of popular content, our diverse portfolio of platforms, and our truly global operating reach. That strategy continued to drive growth in subscriptions across our streaming platforms with Paramount+ adding 4.6 million subscribers. Paramount Pictures also extended its stellar run with its sixth #1 film in 2022. Looking forward, we could not be more excited about the array of sensational content coming to Paramount+ in the fourth quarter, as well as the launch of the service in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland,” said Bob Bakish, President and CEO of Paramount Global.
● CORPORATE DEMAND SHARE
Paramount Global (12.4%) had the third-highest corporate demand share with US audiences in Q3 2022, trailing only Warner Bros. Discovery (17.9%) and The Walt Disney Company (19.8%), Parrot Analytics revealed.
While Paramount Global is in third place in corporate share, Paramount+ is in fifth place in total on-platform demand, and seventh in originals demand share in the United States. That said, Paramount+’s originals demand share has now grown in four of the last five quarters, which has coincided with consistent subscriber growth.
As speculation about the next big media merger ramps up, Parrot Analytics' data highlights one potential threat to Disney on the horizon. Corporate demand share data shows that a strictly hypothetical, regulatory environment notwithstanding, merger between NBCUniversal’s and Paramount Global’s media assets would create a company that accounts for 22.2% US corporate demand share, roughly three percentage points higher than Disney. The Warner Bros. Discovery merger put it within two points of Disney in this category, but NBCUniversal and Paramount combined would immediately leapfrog Disney as the dominant media company in the United States in terms of cross platform audience demand for TV content.