Paramount Global Reports Widening Streaming Losses, Ad Softness

Paramount Global reported quarterly results before the bell on Thursday that missed expectations on both the top and bottom lines as the company continues to battle advertising headwinds and greater losses within its streaming division, reports Yahoo! Finance.

The company reported a direct-to-consumer loss of $511 million in the first quarter compared to a loss of $456 million in the prior year period.

"Looking ahead, we are focused on continuing to drive market-leading streaming growth while navigating a dynamic macroeconomic environment," Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said in the earnings release, praising Paramount+ and Pluto TV for reaching milestones of 60 million subscribers and 80 million MAUs, respectively. The company also updated its dividend policy, cutting its quarterly cash dividend to $0.05 per share from $0.24 a share.

Bob Bakish

"The updated dividend policy we have announced today will further enhance our ability to deliver long-term value for our shareholders as we move toward streaming profitability," Bakish said.

Paramount stock sank in premarket trading immediately following the results, down more than 10%.

Here are Paramount's first-quarter results compared to Wall Street's consensus estimates, as compiled by Bloomberg:

• Revenue: $7.27 billion versus $7.43 billion expected
• Adj. earnings per share (EPS): $0.09 versus $0.14 expected
• Paramount+ subscriber net additions: 4.1 million versus 3 million expected
• Global Pluto monthly active users (MAUs): 80 million versus 82 million expected

Paramount recently announced it would merge its Paramount+ and Showtime streaming services into one product to take on larger competitors. It also unveiled a restructuring plan that combines Showtime with MTV Entertainment Studios. The company is eyeing greater integration between its cable television and streaming offerings amid escalating cord-cutting trends.

Paramount continued to lean on its franchises to drive streaming service subscriptions, with spinoffs for popular series like "Yellowstone," "Dexter" and "Billions" currently in the works amid the Showtime/Paramount+ rebrand.

Despite solid subscriber growth, ad softness continued to hammer the media giant's bottom line as macroeconomic challenges, coupled with a lack of political advertising and fewer NFL games, sent ad revenue plummeting.

Advertising within the company's TV media unit fell 11% year-over-year in Q1 after falling 7% in the fourth quarter. Management has maintained the second half of the year will see improvements in the ad market.