David Ellison Says Combining Paramount+ And HBO Max Will Create Viable Rival To Netflix

Paramount CEO David Ellison says the company's pending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery will give it the scale it needs to compete with Netflix, especially when Paramount+ and HBO Max come together.

via: Deadline

“We will combine the streaming portfolios of the two companies into one stronger platform over the coming years,” Ellison told Wall Street analysts Monday on a conference call to discuss the $111 billion deal. On Paramount+ and HBO, he said, “there are more than 200 million [direct-to-consumer] subscribers today, and more than 100 countries and territories worldwide, positioning us to compete effectively with the leading streaming services in today’s marketplace.”

Netflix said in January it ended 2025 with 325 million global subscribers. While Ellison’s estimate of the combined Paramount+ and HBO Max footprint is accurate, the 200 million figure counts each subscriber base separately. As with many of the leading streaming outlets, there is overlap, with many subscribers getting both services.

Another wrinkle, as AT&T discovered after acquiring Time Warner in 2018 and trying to level up in streaming, is HBO’s linear distribution. While the linear base is diminishing due to cord-cutting, the premium network still has millions of households getting it the old fashioned way, through cable and satellite providers. That means that new negotiations would have to be completed in order to explore streaming without limitations on pricing or packaging.

After merging Skydance with Paramount, Ellison, the tech-friendly son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, has steered an effort to blend the tech stacks of free, ad-supported Pluto TV, Paramount+ and BET+. That streamlines operations on the back end, saving money and making things run more smoothly. A similar consolidation on the tech front is likely with WBD, Ellison said.

“We think the combined offering, given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side, really will put us in the position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC,” he said.

As he did during Skydance’s pursuit of Paramount, Ellison emphasized his plan to invest in the tech behind Paramount+.

“When it comes to the DTC business, engagement is absolutely key to success there,” he said. “So you have to look at what drives engagement. It’s really more unbelievable content that the audience wants to engage in by combining these incredible studios and platforms, or delivering the audience more of what they want from a content perspective.”

Along with maintaining content investment, Ellison said, plans call for “significantly improving the tech product to keep people engaged with that platform for longer.”

Investing in both technology and content, the exec said, will yield “a product that can really compete with the best that’s coming out of Silicon Valley and the industry leaders in the space.”