Paramount+ Surpasses 56 Million Subscribers Despite Streaming Losses Reaching $575 Million

Paramount Global announced its latest earnings report on Thursday, with a focus on its growing subscriber base. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company reported a total of 77 million streaming subscribers worldwide by the end of 2022, up from 67 million in September 2022. Paramount+ had a “record quarterly user gain,” increasing to 56 million by the end of 2022, an increase of 9.9 million from the end of September 2022.

Top Gun: Maverick and other high-profile content, such as NFL programming, 1923, Tulsa King, and Smile, helped drive the growth. The company’s streaming division saw revenue increase by 30% to $1.4 billion, with subscription revenue rising by 48%, and advertising revenue up 4%. However, the operating losses for the direct-to-consumer segment deepened to $575 million, a larger quarterly loss than the $502 million during the same period last year.

CEO Bob Bakish predicts that the company will return to earnings growth in 2024 with “even more exceptional content” coming this year. On the film side, Paramount’s theatrical revenue rose by 149% due to the success of the horror movie Smile, which is now Paramount’s third-biggest revenue driver behind Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Top Gun: Maverick.