Paramount Global's Q1 2025: Unraveling Contradictions in Advertising Growth, Content Strategy, and Market Dynamics

Advertising and affiliate growth, content spending strategy, Paramount+ international strategy and monetization, advertising pricing pressure and market dynamics, and advertising pricing pressure are the key contradictions discussed in Paramount Global's latest 2025Q1 earnings call.



Paramount+ Subscription Growth:
- Paramount+ ended the quarter with 79 million global subscribers, up 11% year-over-year, including 1.5 million new subscribers in the quarter.
- The growth was driven by their differentiated content strategy focusing on fewer, bigger breakthrough original series, leading to increased engagement and reduced churn.

Advertising Market Trends:
- Q1 advertising revenue trends showed a 1% decline excluding the Super Bowl comparison, mainly due to increased supply in digital video impacting Pluto TV.
- Despite this, the company is optimistic about future monetization improvements due to increased engagement and demand supply dynamics balancing over time.

TV Media Revenue and Sports Impact:
- TV media advertising revenue, excluding the Super Bowl, was flat year-over-year, but sports advertising demand was robust, contributing to linear advertising growth.
- The strong performance was driven by the NFL playoffs and March Madness, highlighting the value of live sports programming.

Filmed Entertainment Success:
- The film segment reported $627 million in revenue, up 4% year-over-year, with OIBDA rising to $20 million from a $3 million loss in the previous year.
- The success was largely attributed to the performance of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Gladiator 2, with upcoming releases like Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning expected to contribute significantly.

D2C OIBDA Improvement and Profitability:
- D2C OIBDA improved by $177 million to a loss of $109 million, mainly due to healthy subscription revenue growth and expense management.
- This improvement is part of the company's strategy to achieve Paramount+ domestic profitability by the end of 2025.