After reporting a quarterly loss of more than half a billion dollars on streaming just two years ago, Paramount Global finds itself on the cusp of direct-to-consumer profitability.
The media company’s streaming portfolio, led by subscription platform Paramount+ and free ad-supported streamer (FAST) Pluto TV, lost just $109 million in the first three months of 2025, a 62% YoY decline in quarterly blood loss.
In fact, Paramount is now telling investors that its streaming operations — which lost nearly $2 billion in 2022 alone — will be profitable this year.
Paramount+ subscribers increased by 1.5 million in the first quarter, with the SVOD reaching 79 million paid users globally.
The solid streaming numbers are being driven by an impressive amount of streaming original hits, with the Taylor Sheridan-created 1923 and Landman drawing big Q1 audiences. And at the tail end of the quarter, a show produced with what Paramount co-chief executive Chris McCarthy referred to in Thursday’s earnings call as the “Taylor Sheridan blueprint,” MobLand, had the biggest Paramount+ launch ever.
Citing Nielsen data, Paramount+ finished Q1 second only to the unstoppable Netflix in terms of most shows in the top 10 most-watched.
More Sheridan originals are on the way, including Yellowstone spinoff The Dutton Ranch, which will debut in the latter part of the year, along with season 2 of Landman. Another Yellowstone spinoff, Marshalls, will transition character Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) into a CBS hourlong drama starting in 2026. And there’s also yet another Yellowstone prequel upcoming for Paramount+, 1944.
With Sheridan driving so much Paramount+ audience, McCarthy was asked why it doesn’t make the uber creator’s 101 Studios a vertically integrated part of Paramount.
Noting that Paramount has an exclusive relationship with Sheridan through 2028, McCarthy said the conglomerate is happy with the current arrangement.
As streaming rises for the media company, linear continues to degrade. Despite CBS finishing as the top-ranked broadcast network for a 17th consecutive season, Paramount’s largest sector, “TV Media,” experienced a 13% decline in Q1 revenue to $4.53 billion. However, much of that decline was attributable to a tough comparison to February 2024, when CBS hosted the Super Bowl.
Overall, revenue was down by 6% for Paramount in the first quarter to $7.19 billion.
As for elephants in rooms, the media giant now estimates that its $8 billion acquisition by Skydance Media — beset by political complications with the Trump White House — will close in the “first half of this year.”
Also, company executives say they’re not yet experiencing any recessionary impacts from the president’s controversial tariffs policies.