The numbers
$7.98 billion — Paramount’s revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024, a 5% year-over-year increase.
$4.98 million — Paramount’s revenue from TV ads, which declined 4% from the year prior. The decrease reflects declines in the linear advertising market and fewer sporting events on CBS, partially offset by high spends on political advertising.
$1.08 billion — Paramount’s revenue for filmed entertainment, a 67% year-over-year increase, driven by the releases of Gladiator II and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
77.5 million — The total number of subscribers of Paramount+. The streamer added 5.6 million subscribers in Q4, up 3.5 million from the third quarter. According to the company, Paramount+ scored three of the top 10 Subscription Video on Demand originals with Taylor Sheridan’s shows including Landman, Tulsa King, and Lioness.
The watercooler talk
During the Q&A portion of Paramount’s earnings call, Steven Cahall of Wells Fargo asked how Paramount plans to return to advertising growth as linear TV declines, excluding big tentpole events like the Super Bowl and boosts from political advertising.
Chris McCarthy, co-CEO of Paramount, said the company is in the midst of transitioning its business, audience, and advertisers from linear to streaming and seeing “great growth there.”
On the streaming side, he said there has been “strong engagement,” which was anchored on the Paramount+ and Pluto TV side.
He added that he’s pleased with the progress and scale of Paramount’s efforts to pitch direct-to-consumer advertisers, which was up about 18% for the year. He noted that Paramount has one of “the largest, addressable domestic footprints.”
On the linear side, McCarthy said the company has a different set of assets anchored by CBS, which he cited has “an incredibly strong” sports weight as well as a “best-in-class” primetime lineup. He reiterated a point made by fellow co-CEO George Cheeks that seven of Paramount’s top 10 hits, and more than 50% of the top 25, gives the company strength and helps insulate from the pressures happening in the linear landscape. McCarthy addressed the pressure on Paramount’s cable business, but said cable accounts for a smaller part of Paramount’s business than ever, citing that it’s low double-digits as a percent of total ad revenue.
There was no in-depth discussion of the looming Skydance merger during the call, but Paramount said that it expects the deal to close during the first half of 2025.