Paramount+ Tops 43 Million Subscribers in Q2, Adding 4.9 Million in Quarter

EXCLUSIVE: As streaming leaders Netflix and Disney prepare to roll out ad-supported subscription tiers, new research from Fandom indicates a majority of paying customers plan to take a wait-and-see approach before trading down to a cheaper plan.

Dan Levy has joined the cast of “Sex Education.”The “Schitt’s Creek” alum is one of seven new faces rounding out Season 4 of the popular Netflix dramedy. He will be joined by Thaddea Graham and Marie Reuther, as well as newcomers Felix Mufti, Anthony Lexa, Alexandra James and Imani Yahshua.Season 3 of “Sex Education” ended with the show’s Moordale closing, which gives the opportunity for new characters to be ushered in and older characters to be shuttled off, beginning with Season 4, which is currently in production in Wales.Here’s a description for the upcoming season: “Following the closure of Moordale Secondary, Otis and Eric now face a new frontier — their first day at Cavendish Sixth Form College.

Viewership patterns for summer tentpoles on Disney+ and Netflix — both of which are poised to introduce cheaper tiers with advertising — suggest that the services would be wise to tread lightly as they roll out their top-tier fare across ad-free and ad-backed tiers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAmericans now watch more stuff on TV from streaming services than either broadcast or cable TV.Streaming platforms, led by Netflix, in July 2022 for the first time surpassed cable networks to claim the largest share of U.S. TV viewing for the month, according to new data from Nielsen.

K.J. Yossman The streaming sector in the U.K.

More than 350,000 households ditched subscriptions to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ last quarter, according to regulator Ofcom’s annual Media Nations UK report, which showed a record year for British high-end TV production.

Manchester is buzzing this summer. Football's journey home began with England winning their opening Euros game at Old Trafford. We've hosted more than 100,000 music-lovers in just one weekend, and basked in long, sunny days, too.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe headline number out of Disney’s quarterly results Wednesday seemed to show a notable milestone: The Mouse House had 221.1 million total subscriptions worldwide across its streaming services. On that individual metric, that means Disney is now just ahead of Netflix, which ended Q2 with 220.7 million total paid subscribers.But the value of those subscriber bases is much different.Domestically, for example, Disney+ generated about 39% as much revenue per subscriber as Netflix for the second calendar quarter, a measure referred to in the finance world as ARPU (average revenue per user).

Walt Disney’s total DTC subscribers all in totaled 221.1 million for the company’s fiscal third quarter ended in June. That was a big beat for Disney+ and its parent, and also marked the first time anyone has passed Netflix in total streaming subs.

Netflix’s subscribers are playing the games included with the TV and film streaming service.Since last year, Netflix has offered a number of games with its streaming service – which will reportedly increase to 50 by the end of this year – that can be downloaded separately at no extra cost.Data from CNBC and Apptopia indicates that of Netflix’s 221million subscribers, the games have been downloaded 23.3million times and average daily users of around 1.7million – or less than one per cent of the service’s subscribers.With more streaming services creating competition for Netflix, this strategy of mobile games is undoubtedly being used to set itself apart from other services. That said, Netflix lost around 1million subscribers earlier this year, which was less than its projected loss of 2million.Whilst Netflix is adding the likes of Spiritfarer and a number of titles from Devolver Digital to its games service, there are also some original titles based on actual Netflix series’ on the way as well.

Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland‘s movie Uncharted was released in theaters back in February 2022 and it was supposed to hit Netflix a few weeks ago, but then never was added to the streamer.

Ethan Shanfeld A judge has ordered Kevin Spacey to pay “House of Cards” production company MRC nearly $31 million for alleged sexual misconduct behind the scenes of the Netflix White House drama.Spacey, who played Frank Underwood, was kicked off the series during its sixth season after facing allegations that he had sexually assaulted and preyed upon young men, including a “House of Cards” production assistant who said Spacey groped him, prompting MRC’s investigation.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana confirmed an award previously handed down by an arbitrator in October 2020, which consisted of around $29.5 million in damages and $1.5 million in costs and fees.MRC had argued that Spacey owed them millions in lost profits because his misconduct forced them to remove him from the sixth season of the show, and it had to trim the season from 13 episodes to eight. Ruling in the producer’s favor, the arbitrator found that Spacey’s behavior constituted a material breach of his agreements as an actor and executive producing agreements.

EJ Panaligan editorThe Writers Guild of America informed its members on Thursday that it has prevailed in a crucial arbitration with Netflix over their underpayment of writers’ residuals for the 2018 film “Bird Box,” notching another $42 million in unpaid residuals for 216 writers on 139 other Netflix films.Netflix’s initial argument regarding “Bird Box” was that the WGA should have accepted a substandard formula they had negotiated with DGA and SAG-AFTRA, but the arbitrator decided after a hearing that the license fee should be greater than the gross budget of the film. The arbitrator then ordered Netflix to pay the film’s writer $850,000 in residuals, along with the full interest of $350,000.WGA’s victory in the “Bird Box” case directly led to writers for other films on the streaming service’s receiving the additional $42 million in unpaid residuals.

the continued loss of subscribers for the quarter for Netflix earlier this quarter, as well as the Peacock subscribers that stayed flat for the quarter.Though the studio didn’t provide specific viewership figures, it said that “Halo,” “1883,” “The Lost City,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” “Jackass Forever,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” and the UEFA Champions League generated strong acquisition and engagement as both domestic and international hours watched per household grew year-over-year. And on the earnings call, CEO Bob Bakish specifically touted “Halo” as a top driver globally for subscribers and acquisitions.

Paramount Global said Top Gun: Maverick powered a 126% surge in filmed entertainment revenue last quarter, surpassing Titanic to become the studio’s biggest domestic release of all time.

The Great British Bake Off is one of the most popular reality shows on the air today and fans have been interested in the three judges and how they make their money!

Selome Hailu The “Stranger Things” hot streak was finally put on pause on the Nielsen’s streaming rankings during the week of June 20-26, when “The Umbrella Academy” took the No. 1 position with 2.5 billion minutes watched thanks to the June 22 premiere of the show’s third season.“Stranger Things” followed in second place with 2.3 billion minutes watched during this viewing window, which marked Season 4 Volume 1’s fourth full week of availability.

The Umbrella Academy edged fellow Netflix title Stranger Things in a crowded week on Nielsen’s streaming chart for June 20 to 26.