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Paramount+ and HBO to combine into one platform
Paramount Skydance plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service after emerging victorious in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount CEO David Ellison told investors the combined streaming service would have around 200 million subscribers. This comes after Paramount and Warner Bros struck an agreement to sell Warner Bros for US$31 per share after Netflix backed out of the bidding war. “We think that really positions us to compete with the leaders in the space,” Ellison said on a call with investors. “At Paramount, by the middle of this year, we’ll have completed the consolidation of our three services under one unified stack, and you can see us taking a similar approach to this platform going forward. “And we think the combined offering, and given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side, really will put us in a position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC.” The call didn’t make it immediately clear how the company will price the combined service or what it would be called. Ellison did make it clear that it wouldnt disrupt the HBO brand. “HBO should stay HBO,” he said, citing its long history of quality programming. HBO is likel
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Spotify beats Q3 forecasts, slips 2% on mixed guidance
Music streamer Spotify reported results for the third quarter that surpassed Wall Street expectations, but issued weak guidance for the current quarter. Total revenue for the quarter climbed 12% to 4.3 billion euros, topping Wall Street expectations of 4.27 billion euros. Earnings per share also topped expectations of 1.97 euros, coming in at 3.28 euros. While premium subscribers climbed 12% to 281 million, this was still below SteetAccount's expectations of 281.24 million. This came after the streaming platform hiked prices in August to 11.99 euros from 10.99 euros on multiple markets like South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. Revenue from premium subscriptions still grew 9%, or 13% on a constant currency basis, but fell 6% in ad-supported revenue to 44 million euros and was flat on a currency basis. Operating income for the quarter reached 582 million euros. In the earnings release, Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek said the business is healthy. “We’re shipping faster than ever. And we have the tools we need – pricing, product innovation, operational leverage, and eventually the ads turnaround – to deliver both revenue growth and profit expansion,” he said
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Netflix stock falls despite rise in revenue
Netflix shares fell 6% following its third-quarter earnings, despite a rise in revenue and net income. The streamer reported adjusted earnings per share of US$5.87, missing both Wall Street and its own guidance. However, revenue was in line with the company’s forecast, growing by 17% to US$11.51 billion. Netflix also reported a rise in net income by nearly 8% to US$2.5 billion; however, this was below the expected US$2.98 billion. Its operating margin of 28% was also short of its forecast. The company attributes the miss in estimates to a dispute with Brazilian tax authorities. Netflix said that it expects revenue growth of 17% for Q4 of 2025, driven by growth in members, pricing and ad revenue. This would lead to around US$45.1 billion in revenue for the full year 2025. The company also released new guidance for an operating margin of 29% for 2025, down from the previous forecast of 30% due to the Brazilian tax matter. The biggest achievement for the streamer last quarter was the animated musical film KPop Demon Hunters that sustained its fandom through to the current quarter and continues to be a driver of viewership and box office sales for Netflix. Ahead of its earnings presentation, Netflix announce
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Streaming services move towards tagging AI-created music
Have you ever wondered whether a song you found on a streaming service was created by artificial intelligence? Soon, you may not have to. Some music streaming services, including Spotify and Deezer, have recently committed to labelling AI-generated songs amid a major increase in AI music being uploaded to their platforms. These uploads are usually made by unknown creators using generative AI tools like Suno and Udio. Global on-demand song streams rose 10.3% year-over-year to 2.5 trillion in the first half of 2025, according to a Luminate report. Worldwide music streaming revenues reached a record US$20.4 billion last year.Which streaming services are labelling AI-generated music?Spotify and Deezer have both committed to labelling AI-generated music on their platforms, though their approaches to identifying these songs will differ. Spotify is helping to develop a voluntary disclosure standard alongside digital music standards nonprofit DDEX, the company said in September. Under the program, record labels and distributors will provide information on which aspects of a song were AI-generated, which will then be displayed on Spotify. The platform has also said it will soon add a filter that will tag artists uploading spam
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California passes law banning overly loud streaming ads
California has passed a new law aimed at stopping commercial advertisements from increasing the volume on streaming platforms. The new law will impact platforms like Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV, Prime Video and more. The law says commercials cannot be louder than the primary content being watched and builds upon a federal law that sets the volume of ads on broadcast TV and cable stations. It is reminiscent of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act signed by Barack Obama in 2010 that allowed the Federal Communications Commission to ensure advertisement levels didn't exceed the show it accompanies on TV. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, signed the bill after hearing complaints from Californians. “We heard Californians loud and clear, and what’s clear is that they don’t want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program,” Newsom wrote. “By signing SB 576, California is dialling down this inconvenience across streaming platforms.” The measure has faced opposition from an influential media company that argued that the law would be difficult to implement as streamers don’t have the same control over ad volume as broadcasters. One of the

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Netflix results beat forecasts with 13% revenue jump
Netflix delivered stronger-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2025, reporting a 13% year-on-year revenue increase as it continues to shift focus from subscriber numbers to broader financial performance indicators. The streaming giant posted earnings of $6.61 per share, beating estimates of $5.67, while revenue came in at US$10.54 billion, slightly above market expectations of $10.51 billion. The company attributed the revenue growth to a combination of increased subscription revenue and higher advertising income. In late January, Netflix implemented a price increase across its plans, raising its standard plan to $17.99, the ad-supported plan to $7.99, and the premium plan to $24.99. Significantly, this quarter marked the first time Netflix has not disclosed subscriber figures, as part of a broader strategic pivot. Instead, the company said it will now focus on financial performance metrics, including revenue and operating margin, to better represent its long-term growth. “There’s been no material change to our overall business outlook,” Netflix said in a statement last Thursday, maintaining its full-year revenue forecast between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion. Despite turbulence in traditional media
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Youtube set to overtake Disney as biggest media firm
According to Business Insider, YouTube is on track to surpass Disney in becoming the world’s biggest media company. Moffettnathanson analyst Michael Nathanson found that YouTube made US$54.2 billion in revenue in 2024, just $5.5 billion behind Disney, making it the second-biggest media company last year. Nathanson estimates that YouTube is likely to overtake Disney in 2025.Credit: MoffettNathansonYouTube is estimated to be worth between $475 billion to $550 billion, which is around 30% of its parent Alphabet’s, YouTube’s parent company, valuation. This comes as YouTube’s viewership hit a record share of monthly TV viewing in February. According to Nielsen’s February 2025 Media Distributer Gauge, YouTube captured 11.6% of time spent watching TV across the month, even besting Disney’s 10%.Credit: NielsenNielsen reported that YouTube has experienced steady growth over time, with time spent watching on a TV growing 53% from two years ago and its share of TV growing from 7.9% to 11.6%. The Nielsen study showed that YouTube is now longer just for young people, with older audiences driving the viewership increase. Viewers in the 65+ category have nearly doubled over two years and now represent a similar viewing contribution t
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Netflix bets on video games in broad new strategy
Netflix announced their plan to expand its evolving video game strategy at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. This comes after Netflix replaced their gaming leadership last year when they added Alain Tascan, who had spent decades working at Epic Games, Ubisoft Entertainment SA and Electronic Arts, and Jeet Shroff who worked at Epic, Sony Santa Monica and more. As part of the new gaming upgrade, Netflix has announced their first MMO called Spirit Crossing which allows you and a group of friends to work on and nurture your village alongside a slate of other games. Netflix plans to work on smaller-scale games that solely live on their app across TVs and televisions as opposed to console games, after previous attempts at a big-budget multiplayer shooter that were axed. “I don’t want this move to be seen as, ‘We’re not going to do big ambitious games,'” Tascan said in an interview at the event. “It was just the genre of the game, I don’t think was matching the platform. “This team was really good at what they were doing, but we wouldn’t have been the best partner for them to express their skills and their expertise.” Tascan outlined that the streamer's four areas of focus in gaming would be party
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YouTube launches 'Lite' tier, hits 125m paying users
YouTube will launch a new lower-cost subscription tier, as the platform reaches 125 million subscribers worldwide. Premium Lite allows users to watch most videos without advertisements, though it does not cover music and will not support downloading videos. It will cost US$7.99 per month, compared with its $13.99 full premium tier. “Since launching YouTube Music and Premium, we've focused on giving subscribers a variety of ways to enjoy their favorite content, and Premium Lite is the latest step in that evolution,” said Jack Greenberg, director of product management at YouTube Premium. “YouTube Music and Premium, and the expansion of Premium Lite, also continue to create additional revenue opportunities for our creators and partners.” As well as the United States, Premium Lite will roll out in Australia, Germany, and Thailand in the coming weeks. YouTube said it now has 125 million subscribers across its YouTube Music and YouTube Premium plans, including both paid users and those with a free trial. The platform reached the 100 million mark in February 2024. It is also the most frequently used service for podcast listening in the U.S., the company said last week. YouTube’s podcasts have more than 1 billion monthly