Paramount Global reported its fourth-quarter financial results on Wednesday with a streaming loss posted ahead of a sale of the studio to Skydance Media.
The Hollywood conglomerate earlier said the timing of content and marketing expenditures would produce a loss for the streaming business in the fourth quarter, even as domestic profitability for its Paramount+ streaming platform is forecast in 2025. For the direct-to-consumer segment, which includes Pluto TV and BET+, Paramount posted an adjusted OIBDA loss of $286 million for the latest financial quarter, an improvement from the $490 million adjusted OIBDA loss in the same period of 2023.
Paramount, currently controlled by National Amusements, led by Shari Redstone, said Paramount+ — backed by originals like Landman, Tulsa King and Lioness — added 5.6 million DTC subscribers during the latest quarter, compared to 3.5 million DTC subscribers added during the third quarter to Sept. 2024, to get to around 77.5 million subscribers.
Paramount swung to a fourth-quarter net loss of $224 million, compared to a year-earlier net earnings at $514 million. The studio’s overall fourth-quarter revenue rose 5 percent $7.98 billion, against a year-earlier $7.63 billion.
Total DTC revenues rose 8 percent to $2.01 billion, against a year-earlier $1.86 billion, on overall revenue growth and cost efficiencies. TV media revenues fell 4 percent to $4.98 billion, due in part to falling linear TV advertising revenues and fewer sporting events on CBS, offset by higher political advertising.
And the filmed entertainment division saw overall revenue jump 67 percent to $1.08 billion, driven by releases of Gladiator 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The studio recorded a per-share loss of 33 cents, compared to a year-earlier 77 cents per-share earnings. And the operating income fell back to $ 129 million, against a year-earlier $404 million.
“We are proud of the transformative year we delivered since becoming co-CEOs, which marks a significant turning point for Paramount as we shift into a streaming-first company. DTC profitability improved $1.2 billion in 2024, driven by an impressive year at Paramount+, where we added 10 million new subscribers and delivered a 33% increase in revenue, which gives us great confidence Paramount+ will achieve full year domestic profitability for 2025,” co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins said in a statement ahead of an after-market analyst call.
The Skydance Media transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.