Paramount said that it added 700,000 subscribers to Paramount+ in Q2 2023 after the company launched a subscription tier with Showtime integration in June. This addition meant Paramount+ subscriber count now stands at around 61 million — up from the 60 million reported last quarter.

The new integrated $11.99 per month plan with Showtime replaced Paramount+’s premium ad-free $9.99 per month plan. At the same time, Paramount also raised prices for its Essential ad-supported plan from $4.99 to $5.99 per month. The company noted that combined viewing hours for Paramount+ and ad-supported streaming TV service Pluto TV jumped by 35% globally.

Paramount Global reported a total revenue of $1.67 billion for its direct-to-consumer service with streaming contributing $1.23 billion and advertising fetching more than $400 million.

The company’s CEO and President Bob Bakish talked about Paramount’s global expansion plans including Pluto TV’s launch in Australia last week with 50 FAST channels.

“We’ve just announced that we’re expanding the global Pluto TV footprint with our launch in Australia. And we’ll be launching ad-supported tiers of Paramount+ in certain international markets as we move forward. Importantly, the strength of our proposition is not just digital,” he said

The company also noted that Pluto TV is now available in 35 markets across the globe.

In June, Paramount pulled a slew of content including shows like “Inside Amy Schumer” and a bunch of Nickelodeon’s animated shows.

During Paramount Global’s Q2 2023 latest earnings call, the company also said that it is selling the Simon & Schuster publishing house to KKR for $1.62 billion. The company put up the publication for sale first in 2020. It had agreed to a $2.2 billion deal with Penguin Random House, but the merger was blocked by a U.S. District Court after the Justice Department’s complaint. Paramount’s stock rose nearly 5% in after-hours trading.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/08/paramount-tops-61-million-subscribers-after-showtime-merger/