Paramount Global Swings To Loss On Streaming, Soft Ad Market In Rough First Quarter; Stock Drops

Ellise Shafer Beyoncé surprise dropped a remix of her “Renaissance” hit “America Has a Problem” featuring Kendrick Lamar on Friday night. The new version of the song launches right into a tight verse from Lamar. Beyoncé then picks up for the rest of the song, which clocks in at four minutes and 20 seconds. The remix’s cover art features an American flag made up of what appears to be red, white and blue bullets. “America Has a Problem” has been surging in popularity recently, thanks in part to the choreography that Beyoncé debuted when her “Renaissance” world tour kicked off in Stockholm on May 10, which has inspired a TikTok trend. Beyoncé’s tour is set to continue through September, hitting both Europe and North America.

Paramount Global’s Lawrence Szabo is joining BBC Studios.

Are streaming services better served by the bulk release strategy or the traditional weekly model? A new report from Samba TV suggests that there are actually benefits to both when it comes to maximizing viewership.

The Family Stallone (Paramount+), a new fly-on-the-wall show featuring Sylvester Stallone and his family, the actor explains why he has signed up to this. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, my daughters are grown up. Wouldn’t it be great if I could spend some serious time with them where they couldn’t escape?’”It’s also just a teeny bit possible that Stallone was sweet-talked into this by his three daughters, Sistine, Sophia and Scarlet, because they’ve seen the Kardashians become insanely famous and would like a piece of that.

Beyonce fans have said they felt “so lucky” to have secured tickets for the first date of the singer’s UK tour. The atmosphere around Cardiff’s Principality Stadium was described as “buzzing”, with Beyonce songs being played “in every bar” close to the Welsh venue. Thousands of people descended on the area on Wednesday night for the concert, which followed other European dates in Stockholm, Sweden, and Brussels, Belgium.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief iQiyi, the Chinese video streamer that began a turnaround last year, reported further growth in profits in the first quarter of 2023. It said that daily subscription numbers had grown by 17 million in the past three months. Total revenues were RMB8.3 billion ($1.2 billion), increasing 15% year over year, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that covered the January to March period. Net income attributable to iQIYI was RMB618 million ($90.0 million), compared to net income attributable to iQIYI of RMB169 million in the same period in 2022. The average daily number of subscribing members, excluding trial memberships, for the quarter was 128.1 million, compared to 100.8 million for the same period in 2022 and 110.9 million for the fourth quarter in 2022. Subscription revenue per user was little changed at RMB14.35 ($2.07).

EXCLUSIVE: RRR and Thor franchise star Ray Stevenson is headlining Frank Ciota’s Cassino in Ischia, a feature which is being produced by Goodfellas and Casino‘s Barbara DeFina.

EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures and mk2 have acquired rights to Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck’s Untitled Ernest Cole Documentary, about South Africa’s first Black freelance photographer.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Viaplay Content Distribution has closed the first raft of deals for its ambitious action drama film “Stockholm Bloodbath” directed by Mikael Håfström. Ahead of Viaplay’s official streaming premiere in 2024, “Stockholm Bloodbath” will be distributed in the Nordics by Scanbox Entertainment. It will roll out in Denmark on Jan. 18th and in Sweden and Norway on Jan. 19. Splendid Film, meanwhile, has acquired all rights for Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. “Stockholm Bloodbath” is part of Viaplay Content Distribution’s roster which will be unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival to international buyers. The company will present new and exclusive material from the film.

As we finalize the integration of SHOWTIME and continue to transform our business for the future, we have set a great foundation for continued success by consolidating our group into two functions:This combination has resulted in an incredible track record of hits including “Yellowstone,” “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “South Park,” “The Challenge,” “Teen Wolf,” “1923,” “Drag Race,” “Mayor of Kingstown,” “Your Honor,” “George & Tammy” and “Yellowjackets” – which, taken together, drove record subscribers across Paramount+ and Showtime and helped Paramount+ lead the industry in new subscriber growth.However, despite this success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers.  To address this, our senior leaders in coordination with HR have been working together over the past few months to determine the optimal organization for the current and future needs of our business.As a result, we have made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25%.  This is a tough yet important strategic realignment of our group.  Through the elimination of some units and by streamlining others, we will be able to reduce costs and create a more effective approach to our business as we move forward.  Today we will notify employees whose positions are being impacted with leaders communicating the news directly to those teams/or individuals.  These meetings will be followed by individual 1:1s with our HR partners.I realize these decisions will be very hard for everyone, most of all, those who will be leaving.

In the latest wave of industry layoffs, the recently combined Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios as well as Paramount Media Networks, overseen by the division’s President and CEO Chris McCarthy, is reducing its domestic team by 25% today. McCarthy addressed the cuts, which he called a “very hard but necessary decision”, in a company memo. (You can read it in full below.)

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Paramount Global is taking over the Hollywood Athletic Club this month to launch its first ever cross-platform “Paramount Showcase” Emmy FYC activation. The event will tout projects from the company’s Paramount+, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Network outlets, with shows including “Yellowstone,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Star Trek: Picard,” “The Daily Show” and “Yellowjackets.” The event will move into Hollywood Athletic Club on Friday, May 12, with a panel devoted to the Paramount+ series (and “Yellowstone” prequel) “1923,” and continue through Sunday, May 21, wrapping with an event devoted to the new Showtime series “Fatal Attraction.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Getting to Carnegie Hall requires, as the old joke goes, practice, practice practice. Walking away, it would seem, is significantly easier. Paramount Global, a media company that has over the past decades come to emblematize the entertainment industry’s annual “upfront” sales session in no small part because of its presentations at the New York landmark, this year surprised many by walking away from holding one. Chances are the company won’t be returning in the near future. “We are not going to go back to the old way of doing things,” says John Halley, Paramount’s president of advertising, in an interview.

Paramount+ has just debuted a first look at “Special Ops: Lioness”, also revealing the new title for the drama that had previously been titled simply “Lioness”.

End of an era. Yellowstone will officially come to a close after its fifth season, but a new series has been ordered to continue the story.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shares of Paramount Global tumbled as much as 22% in early trading Thursday after the media conglomerate reported disappointing first-quarter 2023 results and slashed its dividend. Paramount posted a Q1 net loss of $1.12 billion, as revenue of $7.27 billion was down 1% on shortfalls in its TV media and filmed entertainment units. The company’s streaming business, which includes Paramount+ and Pluto TV, saw revenue rise 39% in the first quarter to $1.5 billion. However, the direct-to-consumer segment posted a loss of $511 million, growing 12% compared with the year-earlier period. The company said Paramount+ added 4.1 million subscribers in the quarter, coming to a total of 60 million overall.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish addressed the writers strike during Paramount’s Q1 earnings call Thursday, stating that writers are “an essential part of creating content” and “we hope we can come to a resolution that works for everyone fairly quickly.” However, the Paramount chief added, “it’s also fair to say there’s a really big gap.” “Obviously, we’ve been planning for this, we do have many levers to pull and that’ll allow us to manage through the strike, even if it’s for an extended duration,” Bakish said. “In terms of those levers, we have a lot in the can, so to speak, content in the can. So with the exception of things like late-night, consumers really won’t notice anything for a while. Add to that a broad range of reality, unscripted, where we’re definitely a leader, as well as sports, and that’s not effected, so we can do more in those areas, if necessary.”

integration of Showtime into Paramount+ will officially launch in the third quarter, the company confirmed. The combination, which is expected to generate approximately $700 million in future annual expense savings, resulted in a programming charge of $1.7 billion during the first quarter. As part of the move, the company is raising its prices for Paramount+ subscriptions.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global said it would it cut its dividend as continued investment in streaming weighed on the company while it saw declines in its traditional revenue from advertising and cable distribution. The owner of CBS, Nickelodeon and the Paramount movie studio said its first-quarter loss came to nearly $1.23 billion, or $1.81 a share, compared with a profit of $775 million, or 58 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue was essentially flat, down 1%, on shortfalls in its TV media and filmed entertainment units, while its streaming operations saw revenue rise 39%. “We are focused on continuing to drive market-leading streaming growth while navigating a dynamic macroeconomic environment,” said Bob Bakish, the company’s chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe Corp., the structure behind K-pop icons BTS, enjoyed strong financial performance during the first three months of the year. The results were achieved despite BTS’s effective hiatus and quarter of corporate skirmishing in the Korean music sector. The company Tuesday reported revenues of KRW411 billion in the three months to end of March and operating profit of KRW52.5 billion, increases of 42$ and 44%, respectively. Adjusted earnings before interest taxation, depreciation and amortization were up 12% at KRW71.9 billion. Hybe did not confirm financial media calculations that it would net an investment profit of some $87 million on the sale of shares in SM Entertainment, which it bid to control but lost to Kakao.