Paramount saw its revenue dip 1% year over year in its first fiscal quarter by posting a revenue of $7.32 million and earnings per share of 60 cents on a non-GAAP basis. However, the entertainment giant’s global direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers from Showtime and Paramount+ grew to 62 million, during the quarter driven largely by an increase of 6.8 million new additions to Paramount+ compared to the end of 2021.
Analysts on average predicted Paramount to hit $7.38 billion in revenue as well as post an EPS of 51 cents. In the year-ago period, the company, led by CEO Bob Bakish, posted revenue of $7.4 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.52, in part because CBS hosted the Super Bowl in early 2021.
Paramount’s stock slid 2% in pre-market trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the results. Shares of the company closed at $30.27 on Monday.
Paramount surprised Wall Street during the fourth quarter of 2021 by revealing a rebranding from ViacomCBS to simply Paramount, and told Wall Street analysts the company was making a big push towards streaming with bullish projections for 100 million subscribers between Paramount+ and Showtime over the next two years.
While Paramount+ this quarter saw a big boost in subscribers, its global streaming subscribers hit 62 million and grew by just 6.3 million overall. Paramount+ though now sits at just shy of 40 million subscribers, up from last quarter’s estimate of 32.8 million, and Paramount also reported that Pluto TV, its free, ad-supported streaming channel, has 68 million monthly active users. Financials wise, DTC revenue went up 82% year-over-year and also had a big quarter in ad-revenue, driven by increased pricing and more ad impressions on both Pluto TV and Paramount+.
Paramount+ was boosted by the launch of “Halo,” a series based on the Xbox video game hit, “Yellowstone” spinoff “1883,” “The Offer” about the making of “The Godfather” and “Star Trek: Picard.” Additionally, family films like “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and “Paw Patrol: The Movie,” as well as the addition of access to local NFL games.
Paramount’s TV media sector however was down 6% year-over-year, even though it still had the NFL Playoffs and the NCAA March Madness tournament, not to mention “Yellowstone” on cable. And Paramount claims that excluding the effects of not having this year’s Super Bowl, TV media revenue would have grown 2%.
Paramount’s theatrical division had a big start to 2022 at the box office, releasing titles including “Scream,” “Jackass Forever” and “The Lost City” that all hit No. 1. But revenue from its theatrical unit, which hit $624 million for the quarter, was still down 27% compared to the same period in 2021 when it had sold both “Without Remorse” and “Coming 2 America” to Amazon amid the pandemic. Both “Scream” and “The Lost City” crossed over $140 million at the worldwide box office, while “Jackass” brought in just over $80 million. And Paramount will kick off next quarter with even better success from “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” which sits at $323 million at the global box office and counting.
