Tom Cruise helped Paramount Global’s operations do good business last year, but he wasn’t able to lend a similar boost in the second quarter of 2023.
The New York owner of CBS, Nickelodeon and the Paramount movie studio posted a second-quarter loss after ad revenue at its various TV networks sunk 10% and the company proved unable to devise a movie hit a movie hit on the order of last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” The company saw a loss of $299 million, or 48 cents per share, in its second quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, earnings came to 10 cents per share.
The tough results on the company’s linear side came even as it saw robust performance from streaming. Paramount narrowed its direct-to-consumer loss to $424 million in the second quarter, compared to a loss of $445 million in the year-earlier period and a loss of $511 million in the first quarter. Paramount Global said revenue from its streaming operations, smaller than its film or TV business, was up 40%, citing upticks in advertising on Pluto and Paramount+ as well as new subscriptions to the former.
More to come…