What is David Ellison's projected subscriber count for the combined Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount?

David Ellison projects over 200 million direct-to-consumer subscribers for the combined entity once the acquisition is complete.

How many U.S. subscribers pay for both HBO Max and Paramount+?

As of January 2026, an estimated 7.6 million U.S. subscribers paid for both HBO Max and Paramount+.

What factors will influence the combined service's subscription revenue?

Subscription revenue will be influenced by the combined service's pricing strategy and the average revenue per user (ARPU), rather than a simple addition of current revenues.

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Ellison's Vision: 200M+ Subs, But What's the Real Count?

2 Mar

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Summary

Combined Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount+ could reach over 200 million subscribers.
A significant overlap exists, with millions subscribing to both HBO Max and Paramount+.
The actual subscriber revenue may differ due to varying subscription costs and ARPU.

$Ellison's Vision: 200M+ Subs, But What's the Real Count?$

David Ellison anticipates a combined entity of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount to boast over 200 million direct-to-consumer subscribers upon deal closure in the third quarter of 2026. This projection, however, requires careful examination due to subscriber duplication.

While Paramount+ had 78.9 million subscribers and Warner Bros. Discovery had 131.6 million by the end of 2025, research indicates substantial overlap. Antenna estimates that in January 2026, 7.6 million U.S. subscribers paid for both HBO Max and Paramount+, representing a considerable percentage of each service's user base.

This overlap suggests that the net subscriber count for a consolidated service will be lower than initially stated. Furthermore, the final subscription revenue is not a simple summation, as pricing strategies and average revenue per user (ARPU) for the combined platform are yet to be determined.

Disclaimer: This story has been auto-aggregated and auto-summarised by a computer program. This story has not been edited or created by the Feedzop team.