The news: Paramount reported mixed quarterly earnings and upfront results, underscoring the limitations of a content portfolio lacking major sports rights to drive engagement.
- The company’s biggest blow came from streaming service Paramount+, which lost 1.3 million subscribers in Q2—something the company attributed to “the expiration of an international hard bundle deal.”
- Not everything was gloomy: Overall revenues grew 15% YoY to $2.1 billion, while direct-to-consumer subscription revenues increased 22% and global viewing hours grew 29% YoY across Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
- But growth didn’t extend to Paramount’s upfront results, which the company labeled as “consistent” with last year’s upfronts. Streaming represented 30% of its 2025 upfront sales, with sports programming volume and pricing seeing double-digit percentage growth.
Compared to competitors: Paramount’s results fell short due to a lack of major tentpole events.
- NBCUniversal broke records during its Upfronts, marking its highest ad sales volume in history, driven by its high-profile sports lineup that includes the 2026 Olympics, Super Bowl LX, and the FIFA World Cup.
- Fox saw similar results, experiencing double-digit growth across its sports properties after viewership skyrocketed with Super Bowl LIX.
- But while its upfront results fell short, Paramount did outperform some of its competitors in overall earnings, with NBCU parent company Comcast growing revenues by only 2.1% YoY.
The need for sports: Live sports are driving audience and advertiser attention—and those that fail to offer a comprehensive sports slate are getting left behind.