The news: Paramount Skydance reported mixed Q4 2025 earnings, with solid Paramount+ growth partly offset by continued deterioration in its TV media business.

The results are drawing attention as Paramount pursues a potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, having recently raised its all-cash bid to $31 per share, an approximately $111 billion offer including debt that tops Netflix's existing agreement.

By the numbers:

• Revenues: $8.1 billion, +2% YoY
• Paramount+ revenues: +17% YoY
• Paramount+ subscribers: +4% YoY
• TV media: -5% YoY, ad revenues -10% YoY

Why it matters: The quarterly numbers matter less than the structural forces reshaping the business model. Cord-cutting is no longer just about cancellations; the industry has lost its replacement pipeline.

• US pay-TV households are projected to fall to 64.7 million in 2026, down from 79.8 million in 2022 and decreasing 4.3% YoY, per our forecast.
• US non-pay TV households will outnumber pay-TV homes by about 5 million this year, increasing 6% to 69.5 million.
• Cord-cutter and cord-never households continue to rise, representing nearly 68% of US households in 2026 and more than three-quarters (75.9%) by 2030.
• These households are well above those that are still pay-TV households at 91 million. Younger consumers who have never paid for traditional TV now form a growing share of new households, eliminating the generational replacement cycle that once sustained the business.

CTV has also overtaken linear TV across key metrics.