2 Massive Streaming Services Set to Combine

Two streaming giants will combine following Paramount’s victory in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery.

Paramount CEO David Ellison revealed in the first investor call since winning over Warner Bros. Discovery with a $111 billion deal that Paramount+ and HBO Max will combine to form a single streaming service following the merger, Deadline reported Monday.

“We will combine the streaming portfolios of the two companies into one stronger platform over the coming years,” Ellison said during a conference call Monday, adding of Paramount+ and HBO Max, “There are more than 200 million DTC [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.”

Ellison said the merger would give his company the scale it needed to compete with Netflix, citing Netflix’s January 2025 report that counted its global subscribers at 325 million.

Notably, Ellison’s 200 million subscriber estimate for Paramount+ and HBO Max does not account for what is surely a subscriber overlap between the platforms, as Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights during previous merger talks that 80% of HBO Max subscribers also have Netflix accounts.

When it comes to the likely rebrand of HBO Max and Paramount+’s combined streaming service, Ellison did not share a suggested name. HBO Max recently returned to its original platform name this summer after spending two years as simply Max.

Ellison also said Monday that tech consolidation is likely in the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, having previously focused on streamlining operations between ad-supported platforms like Pluto TV, Paramount+ and BET+ following Paramount’s merger with Skydance.

“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.

“When it comes to the DTC business, engagement is absolutely key to success there,” Ellison continued. “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.”

By investing in content and technology “to keep people engaged with that platform for longer,” Ellison said the newly-merged company 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.”