Quarterly global streaming revenue surpassed $1bn for the first time, with a growth of 62% year-over-year.
ViacomCBS added 4.3m global streaming subscribers in Q3 2021, driven by the Paramount+ service, to reach nearly 47m global paid users. This represents a year-over-year increase of 79%.
ViacomCBS’ total quarterly revenue came in slightly ahead of Wall Street estimates.
Streaming revenue surpassed analyst expectations of $6.57bn, rising by 13% to $6.610bn for the quarter. It ended the Q2 with more than 42m global paid streaming customers after adding about 6.5m in the April-June period. For the Q3, analysts had on average forecast 3.9m additions. In Q1, running from January through March, the company had added 6m.
The company also saw significant growth in streaming advertising revenue, driven by the positive performance of ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV. The company generated 48% year-over-year growth in streaming advertising revenue, with the FAST service seeing its monthly active users to over 54m.
Quarterly streaming revenue surpassed $1bn for the first time, ViacomCBS highlighted.
Domestically, Paramount+ saw strong subscriber sign-ups and engagement from a variety of content, including A Quiet Place Part II, Paw Patrol: The Movie, as well as the start of the NFL season. Internationally, Paramount+ launches to date were said to have had strong momentum, led by progress in Latin America, Brazil, Australia and Canada.
The results also showed SHOWTIME OTT service was shown to have benefitted from originals, including Billions, American Rusta and TheChi. The division also announced the signing of SkyShowtime, a joint venture with Comcast that will include premium and original content from both companies. SkyShow time will reach more than 20 European territories encompassing 90m homes.
The company has announced a new streaming distribution deal with T-Mobile. The wireless company will give new and existing customers on post-paid plans a free year of the advertising-supported tier of Paramount+. After a year, the service will automatically renew for $4.99 per month, or whatever price the service will then have.
T-Mobile and Sprint customers can now watch live sports, breaking news and entertainment, including new original series such as Evil, iCarly, and Star Trek: Prodigy, plus hit movies such as A Quiet Place Part II, Infinite, Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, and Queenpins. The premium streaming service is also set to offer content such as 1883, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Mayor of Kingstown, South Park: Post COVID, and Queen of the Universe.
In its third-quarter earnings report, ViacomCBS posted a 1% advertising revenue gain over the year-ago period, which had been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and higher distribution revenue.
Commenting on the results, ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish: “ViacomCBS continued to show tremendous momentum across the business as we executed against our strategy. We added 4.3m global streaming subscribers, raising our total to nearly 47m, driven by the scaling of the diverse content offering on Paramount+. Looking forward, we’re thrilled about the fresh array of content coming to Paramount+ in the next few months and can’t wait to share it with our global audience. Our strategy is clearly working and we’ll continue to use the power of global content, distribution and market expansion to drive scale.”
