Paramount’s streaming services — including Paramount+ and Pluto TV — continue to bleed money at an alarming rate, with the company reporting they lost a stunning $511 million in the first quarter of the year even as they added subscribers and viewers.
In the past six months alone, Paramount’s streaming services have lost more than $1 billion.
Paramount Global — formerly known as Viacom — saw its shares plummet Thursday following the bad earnings announcement, with the stock down more than 25 percent in afternoon trading.
Like other legacy Hollywood studios, Paramount is spending a fortune on its streaming businesses in the hopes of catching up to Netflix and capturing the growing number consumers who have cut the cord. While the company continues to add more subscribers, it is falling deeper in the red as it tries to keep up with viewers’ bottomless appetite for new content.
Paramount+ added 4.1 million subscribers during the first quarter, bringing its worldwide total to 60 million. By comparison, Netflix has more than 230 million paying subscribers. Pluto TV also saw its monthly average users rise to 80 million globally.
The weak advertising market is also hammering Paramount. The company reported its TV division saw ad revenue plummet 11 percent for the first quarter compared to the year-ago period. The ad market is suffering under the Biden administration as consumers cut back on spending as runaway inflation and fears of a recession continue to weigh on households.
As Breitbart News reported, the Walt Disney Co.’s woke streaming services are losing more than $1 billion a quarter at a time when CEO Bob Iger is trying to put the brakes on the company’s extravagant spending habits.
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