The major Hollywood studios' latest round of quarterly media earnings proved to be extremely eventful for Wall Street as the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war officially came to a close with Paramount pulling off an underdog win and Netflix pulling out.
David Ellison snatched David Zaslav's media giant away from Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters in a massive $110 billion deal, and the combined entity is poised to become a streaming powerhouse with over 200 million subscribers. Still, it's not enough to topple Netflix, who revealed it has 325 million subscribers globally
At the end of 2024, Netflix announced it would stop regularly disclosing subscriber numbers and average revenue per user, becoming the first streamer to do so. Disney followed suit in its latest quarter.
Here's what we do know: Disney+ and Hulu's combined revenue grew 11% and their profitability climbed 72%, and the services are expected to merge into a single app experience later this year. Bob Iger also held his final earnings call with Wall Street as he prepares to cede the Magic Kingdom throne to parks chief Josh D'Amaro, who will officially become CEO on March 18.
WBD, which reached nearly 132 million streaming subscribers, said it will also scrap quarterly subscriber and ARPU disclosures starting next quarter. The company is on track to exceed 150 million subscribers by year's end and expects continued improvements in streaming profitability.
That leaves Peacock well behind its competitors on both the subscriber and profitability fronts. The Comcast-owned streaming service has just 44 million paid subscribers and is still unprofitable, with widening losses in its latest quarter.
In 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said he has "increasing conviction" Prime Video would become a "large and profitable business" on its own. The tech giant previously revealed that Prime Video's ad-supported tier reaches more than 315 million monthly viewers globally. Meanwhile, Apple Services vice president Eddy Cue has said that Apple TV has "significantly more" than the 45 million subscribers estimated by analysts, but declined to disclose a specific figure.
Both tech giants do not break out streaming subscriber or profitability metrics on a quarterly basis and are not included in this analysis. Additionally, as ARPU disclosures have largely been phased out, TheWrap's analysis will switch to total streaming revenue for its comparison going forward. Read on for the full breakdown of the numbers below.
Subscribers
Ellison confirmed during a call with analysts on Monday that Paramount+ and HBO Max will combine into a single streaming platform with over 200 million subscribers.
Paramount+ has a total of 79 million subscribers, excluding those on free trials, as of its latest quarter. While Paramount expects subscriber growth in 2026, it noted that Paramount+ subscribers will only be modestly higher after 4 to 5 million hard-bundle subscribers exit. For the first quarter, Paramount+ subscriber additions will be flat due to the loss of over 1 million subscribers from international hard bundles at the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery added 3.5 million streaming subscribers for a total of nearly 132 million globally. That figure includes 59.2 million domestic subscribers and 72.4 million international subscribers. WBD expects to have more than 140 million subscribers in the first quarter, and is on track to exceed 150 million by the end of 2026.
Paramount will become a more serious competitor to the likes of Disney, which last disclosed 195.7 million subscribers across Disney+ and Hulu and 24.1 million subscribers at ESPN+. Disney executives said they are "pleased with the adoption and engagement" of the new ESPN app, but declined to provide specifics.
But they still fall short of Netflix, which revealed it remains king with 325 million subscribers globally, an increase of nearly 24 million from the end of 2024. As for Peacock, the streamer remains well behind its competitors with just 44 million paid subscribers after adding 3 million during its latest quarter.
Revenue and profits/losses
Netflix still remains well ahead of its competitors on the revenue and profit front, with the former growing 17.6% to 12.05 billion in its latest quarter. Over the past year, profit grew from $1.87 billion to $2.42 billion.
The company expects revenue between $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion for full year 2026, representing growth of 12% to 14% year-over-year, driven by subscriber growth and price increases. Ad revenue came in at over $1.5 billion for 2025 and is expected to double in 2026. In the first quarter, Netflix is forecasting profit of $3.26 billion and revenue growth of 15.3% to $12.2 billion.
Disney+ and Hulu posted combined profit growth of 72% to $450 million, while revenue -- which excludes Hulu + Live TV and Fubo -- grew 11% to $5.35 billion. The company does not break out financials for ESPN+ or the new ESPN streaming service.
In its second fiscal quarter, Disney+ and Hulu's combined profit is expected to reach approximately $500 million, up roughly $200 million year-over-year. Disney is forecasting a streaming operating margin of 10% in 2026.
Warner Bros.' total streaming revenue grew 5% to $2.8 billion during the quarter, but profits fell 4% to $393 million. For the full year, the streaming division posted a profit of $1.37 billion, exceeding the company's guidance and more than doubling year-over-year.
WBD executives expect subscriber and related revenue growth to accelerate in 2026, fueled by the launch of HBO Max's ad-supported tier in new markets, fourth-quarter U.S. price increases, the return of "House of the Dragon," and continued product enhancements. The company will also invest in content and marketing to support HBO Max's global expansion, and take its password-sharing crackdown worldwide.
Paramount's streaming division saw revenue climb 10% to $2.2 billion and losses narrow from $286 million a year ago to $158 million. Paramount+ revenue grew 17% to $1.84 billion, while the remainder of the segment saw a 16% decline in revenue, primarily driven by Pluto TV.
Executives expect continued improvements in streaming profitability and "strong" growth in streaming revenue in 2026. On Monday, Paramount's executives said that the majority of its revenue and profits will be driven by the studio and streaming business by 2030, with the media giant reaching mid-20% margins and mid-single-digit revenue growth annually between now and then.
Peacock's losses grew from $372 million a year ago to $552 million, while revenue grew from $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion. Comcast expects a meaningful improvement towards streaming profitability in 2026.
Though the company lost out on the WBD sweepstakes, co-CEO Mike Cavanagh said during the company's fourth quarter earnings call that he's confident the streamer will reach breakeven through a mix of NBCUniversal's content and price increases. This year's slate will be boosted by the streaming releases of "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," "Minions and Monsters" and, likely, Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey."
Going forward, Peacock will also look to do more bundling and partnerships. However, NBCUniversal has no plans to expand Peacock globally.
"I don't see a reason in our construct why we are disadvantaged by not pursuing global," Cavanagh said during an investor conference hosted by Morgan Stanley on Tuesday. "Others are doing it. Clearly, they have different strategies for different players. But in our case, domestic is our path."
When asked if Peacock would reach profitability in 2027, Cavanagh replied: "I think we're marching on a path towards getting Peacock to profitability sooner than later."
The post How the Streamers Stack Up in Subscribers, Revenue and Profits | Analysis appeared first on TheWrap.
