Paramount Skydance reported earnings for the first time since the Paramount + Skydance merger. Q3 revenue was $6.7B (flat YoY on a pro-forma basis). Operating income was $324M and adjusted OIBDA (an EBITDA proxy) totaled $952M combined across the period with margins rising from 12% to 16%. Guidance: Q4’25 revenue of $8.1–8.3B; FY2026 revenue $30B with $3.5B adj. OIBDA. (→)
Direct-to-Consumer (streaming): Revenue +17% YoY, led by Paramount+ (subs +10%, ARPU +11%). Adj. OIBDA of $235M (18% margin).
TV Media (CBS, cable networks): Revenue –12% YoY: advertising –12%, affiliate –7%, licensing –22%. Adj. OIBDA of $540M (23% margin).
Filmed Entertainment: Revenue +30% YoY. Adj. OIBDA –$36M → –$13M; film slate underperformed.
The focus is on streaming scale and profitability with Paramount+ as the central priority: more premium originals, UFC rights (PPV now included inside subscription), and price increases in 2026. The company is eliminating low-margin distribution (ending free trials and “hard bundles”) and centralizing tech into a single streaming stack. A broad efficiency program—workforce reductions (~1,000 roles plus additional exits), divestitures (Telefe sold, Chilevisión pending), and facilities consolidation—targets $3B+ run-rate savings by 2027.
Film & TV
Deals
Blazing Griffin, the Glasgow-based production and post-production house, acquired Brick + Mortar, the Glasgow-based post-production facility. Brick + Mortar will continue operating under its own name and its founders Tom Cairns and Jack Lang are staying. (→)
Viaplay Group, the Nordic broadcaster / streamer group, secured its last regulatory approval needed to complete its acquisition of Telenor's 50% shareholding in Allente, a JV for selling pay-TV products (that Viaplay already has a 50% stake in), for SEK 1.1B (~$100M) in cash. (→)
Product & Strategy
Paramount will raise Paramount+ prices in the US on Jan. 15, 2026 by $1.00 to $8.99/mo for Essential and $13.99/mo for Premium. (→)
Earnings
Amazon Prime Video’s monthly advertising reach averaged 315M viewers from September 2024 to August 2025, a 57.5% increase from the prior reported figure of 200M in April 2024. Amazon reported $17.7B in total advertising revenue in the third quarter, up 24% YoY. (→)
Reports
UK SVOD reach totaled 20.5M TV homes (69.5%) in Q3 2025, down 0.5% QoQ, per Barb. (→)
Netflix reached 17.6M homes (59.5%). Its ad tier reached 6.1M, up 0.6M QoQ, equal to 35% of Netflix homes and 20.8% of TV homes.
Amazon Prime Video reached 13.6M homes (46.0%), down 0.1M QoQ. Its ad tier was 11.8M, about 87% of Prime homes.
Disney+ reached 7.5M homes (25.4%). Ad-supported access was 2.3M, about 30% of its base, up about 100% YoY. Paramount+ reached 3.3M (11.1%), Discovery+ 3.2M (10.7%), Apple TV+ 2.8M (9.6%), and NOW 2.0M (6.8%).
Executives
Concordia Studio, the film & TV studio of Davis Guggenheim (backed by Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective), promoted Lizzie Fox to President (from EVP of Nonfiction) and Casey Meurer to EVP of Nonfiction (from SVP). (→)
Regulatory & Union
The Animation Guild, representing 5K+ members, elected Danny Lin as President and Roger Oda as Vice President. (→)
Gaming
Deals
Social First, the Finland-based games studio behind sandbox MMO Nexus Station, acquired GamerPay, the Copenhagen-based real-money marketplace for CS:GO in-game items. GamerPay will retain its independent brand. (→)
Earnings
Playtika, the Israel-based mobile igaming publisher, reported Q3 2025 revenue of $674.6M (+8% YoY) and adjusted EBITDA of $217.5M. (→)
DTC platforms generated $209.3M, or 31% of revenue (+20% YoY, +19% QoQ).
DAUs averaged 8.2M, and daily paying users averaged 354K (+18% YoY, -6% QoQ), with conversion slightly above 4%.
Playtika expanded its collaboration with Disney and Pixar Games and is developing a new SuperPlay title.
Publishing
Product & Strategy
CNN launched a vertical, swipeable short-form video news feed called Shorts in its mobile app. The home screen now has two primary tabs, Top Stories and Shorts. (→)
Social & Digital Video
Executives
Chapter41 launched as a new Berlin-based gen AI video production startup, founded by Hannes Jakobsen (Managing Director), Dominik Böhm (CTO), Lars Stark (Chief Creative Officer), and Munich-based film & TV producer and distributor Beta Film. Chapter41 is focused on building tools for creatives, consulting creative industry teams, and producing AI-generated videos. (→)
Podcasts & Radio
Deals
iHeartMedia is investing in the Series D round of Miko.AI, a Mumbai-based AI-native robotics company building AI companions for kids, alongside Chiratae Ventures, YourNest, 360 One, and IvyCap Ventures. Miko has distribution through Costco in North America. iHeartMedia is planning an integration with talent-driven voice features and promotion through iHeartMedia's network. (→)
Music
Executives
Amuse, the Stockholm-based music distributor, is prioritizing expansion of its a full-service artist and label services (release strategy, editorial relations, marketing, sync licensing, royalty & catalog management, etc.) with the appointment Giorgio D’Ambrosio as CEO and Firebird Music COO Dan Rowe as Board Member. Its artist and label services division manages 8,000 songs from 400 artists. (→)
Regulatory & Union
A German court ruled that OpenAI infringed copyright by reproducing German song lyrics via ChatGPT, requiring licenses that remunerate rights holders and rejecting OpenAI’s research-organization defense. It's the first European court decision finding that generative AI song-lyric reproduction infringes copyright. The case was brought by German collection society GEMA. OpenAI is appealing. (→)
The concept of “memorisation” was central: the Court held that if a language model stores parameter values such that the original text can be reproduced, then that constitutes a “reproduction” under German law.
Financiers
Deals
Goldman Sachs's $110M fee for advising Electronic Arts on its $55B sale to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners is the Wall St bank's largest ever M&A advisory fee.