☀️ PAR+ Price Hikes Bail Out Bad Ad 💰 Q2
New NETFLIX-AMAZON action pic battle / DISH #cordcutting gets worse / Bond pic gets writer
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Friday, August 1, 2025.
Where now that it’s August 1 (🤯), Rushfield told me I’m subject to a tariff of sending him 3 pizzas a month . . . but I kinda think he’s just f’in with me.
Then again, he is the policy wonk around these parts so I probably better go find out how many have to be meat lovers.
ALTHOUGH: Given Trump just bumped up the pending tariff on Brazilian coffee by 40% as purely a political retribution move — a country whose supplies make up about 35% of U.S. coffee imports — perhaps that should have been the food choice. Eh, I’m sure Americans won’t notice any price or supply differences there. It’s just their daily coffee.
AH: Zuck is leaving no stone unturned in his AI catch-up race, as The Information reports he’s now looking to add an AI Video business to the fold, and is currently in talks with a company called PIKA about a partnership.
SO: ROBLOX had a 41% gain YoY in daily global users to 112M. Sadly, it was still -$280M in the hole on about $1.1B of revenue in Q2 (that’s roughly about the same revenue as LIONSGATE in a given quarter). I’ll let you guess which number most press reporting led with on that.
40% of those users are under 13
The vast majority of that user gain was in APAC and “Rest of World”
Only 41% are in US/CAN or Europe (so, well over half are in typically relatively low-income global regions).
US/CAN has 20.6M daily users (18% of the total).
AND: BRITBOX will be doing a “pop-up” on HBO MAX in Aug. and Sept. (kinda like AMC NETWORKS did a while ago), whereby BRITBOX programming will be avail on the WBD service for a couple of months, getting its own dedicated row in the UI.
ALSO: UTA and Michael Kassan have agreed to give each other the finger shake hands and call it a day on their legal matters with each other. No terms or details were disclosed.
YUP: Nothing like capturing the growth in U.S. corporate AI bets over the past 18 months in a chart. Enjoy your data centers, America! So, should I be concerned I’m becoming more aligned with Brad Pitt’s character in The Big Short as time goes on?
THEN: Justin Timberlake revealed that he’s been battling health complications from Lyme disease, including severe nerve pain and fatigue.
PLUS: AMPAS elected producer Lynette Howell Taylor (A Star Is Born) as its new Prez. The other officers elected are in the link.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Well, I’m keeping my Naked Gun boxers on this weekend (I feel like that’s a missed merch line there PARAMOUNT, no?), but a lot of you are going free as a bird! I love it.
NEW POD
FINALLY: It’s rare when I find things that scream both Natalie Jarvey and Elaine Low in one story . . . but this reality dating series being shot at the U.S. Open 🎾 at the end of the month, featuring “influencers, tennis superfans, and social personalities” is just 🤌.
PARAMOUNT sees Q2 advertising woes, as PAR+ gets profitable
#medianerd🤓 is cookin’ today
Well, it was nice of Shari to drop in for the final PARAMOUNT earnings call of the Redstone family era.
And Chris McCarthy drew either the short or the long end of the stick depending on your POV, as the one member of the Office of the CEO on the call — but it was all executive commentary, no questions please (but I had a really good one on Colbert! 😩), and thanks for coming.
So, we’ll let the Q2 numbers do the talking . . . and somehow this advertising situation both surprisingly didn’t get much coverage, and really deserves a closer look.
Plus, I’ll lay out the PAR revenue realities that Ellison is walking into mid-2025, and the notable changes that have taken place over the past few years.
THE BIG Q2 NUMBERS
REVENUE: $6.85B (+1% YoY)
Adj OIBDA (internal profitability): $824M (-5% YoY)
NET PROFIT: $57M (vs. uh . . . -$5.4B last Q2 #CableBizWriteoff)
THE BIG THEMES
Instead of breaking things down by division, I think the quarter is better understood by looking at the 6 key takeaway themes, which incorporate all business lines at some point.