Paramount Global
PARA
owned Paramount Pictures recently announced that it has inked a multiyear, first-look directing and producing deal with Damien Chazelle and producing partner Olivia Hamilton’s Wild Chickens Productions.
The announcement comes just before the studio is set to release
Babylon
that Chazelle wrote and directed and Hamilton produced.
Babylon
opens worldwide on Dec 23 and recently earned five Golden Globe nominations, including a nod for best picture – musical or comedy. The cast includes Diego Calva, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
Chazelle is known for the Oscar-winning movies
La La Land
and
Whiplash
.
La La Land
earned 14 Oscar nominations, winning six awards, including best director for Chazelle, making him the youngest director to receive the award. Olivia Hamilton is known for
La La Land, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far
on Foot
and
First Man
.
Paramount Global Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Paramount Global price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart
|
Paramount Global Quote
Subscription Growth Offsets Declining Ad Revenues
Paramount added 4.6 million subscribers to its Paramount Plus streaming service and Pluto TV added 2.4 million monthly active users (MAU) globally in the third quarter of fiscal 2022. This has bolstered affiliate and subscription revenues by 8% in the discussed quarter.
The company now expects to exceed its full year global direct to consumer subscriber growth expectation of 75 million global subscribers.
However, the company is experiencing sluggishness in ad revenues which came in at $2.33 billion, a decline of 2.1% year over year. CEO Robert Bakish hinted that advertising contribution to top line is expected to decline by a larger percentage sequentially.
Pluto TV announced expanding its global footprint in Canada through a partnership with Toronto-based Corus Entertainment earlier this month. In the third quarter 2022, Pluto TV maintained its lead as the #1 free ad-supported streaming tv service in the U.S. Pluto TV’s global MAUs increased to nearly 72 million. Pluto TV’s total global viewing hours grew by strong double-digits year over year.
The platform has gained immense popularity with more than 250 live events, linear channels and thousands of hours of on-demand content. Pluto TV partners with more than 175 content providers, including media houses, film and TV studios that help it produce various content.
However, Paramount is facing significant competition in the streaming market from
Netflix
NFLX
,
Disney
DIS
and
Apple
’s
AAPL
Apple TV+.
Since the launch of Apple TV+, several Apple original series and films have earned more than 240 awards and 950 nominations, including the acclaimed SAG Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards and Critics Choice Awards. These accolades are catching viewers’ attention and helping it to win market share from Netflix and Disney.
Both Netflix and Disney are set to launch their ad-tier subscriptions by the end of this year. These low-cost subscription plans are expected to further increase competition for Paramount.
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