Up or Down? Which Way Each Streamer is Trending After Q1 2025
As the dust settles on first-quarter earning reports, we’re getting a clearer picture of the trends across the streaming industry.
On-demand streamers continue steady growth. Domestic growth has slowed to a trickle, but streamers that operate internationally are seeing better uptake overseas.
For the live streamers, all of them saw their usual post-NFL drop. Losses were consistent for all live providers that reported numbers. Those subscribers usually return in the fall.
The more concerning trend is that all of the live streamers that reported numbers have slipped a bit from the same quarter a year prior. This points to an unavoidable trend of 2% of viewers permanently abandoning live TV every quarter.
On-Demand Streamers
For the first time, Netflix did not provide specific subscriber numbers. At the end of 2024, Netflix announced it had 301.63 million subscribers with 89.63 million in the U.S. and Canada. Domestic revenue was up just 2% for the quarter.
Paramount+ closed Q1 up 1.5 million subscribers. That puts it at 79 million total, up 11% from the same time last year.
The streamer announced it would take back “South Park” streaming rights, so the animated favorite will move from Max to Paramount+ in July.
Max and Discovery+ combined for 122.3 million subscribers worldwide. That’s up a strong 5.4 million from the end of 2024 and up 22.7 million from the year prior. Company leaders said the Max bundle with Disney+ and Hulu has been helpful in driving new subscriptions and reducing churn.
Immediately following its earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery was rumored to be shopping its cable channels or spinning them off to a separate company like Comcast is doing with the channels it’s dumping to a new company called Versant.
Hulu‘s on-demand service picked up 1.3 million new subscribers in the first quarter. It’s up 4.5 million from the same time last year.
Disney+ growth has slowed significantly in the U.S. and Canada, averaging just 950,000 new subscribers each of the last four quarters. They have 57.8 million domestic subscribers, but 126 million worldwide.
AMC streamers including AMC+, Shudder, and Acorn TV slipped 210,000 to end Q1 with 10.2 million subscribers. That’s still up 35,000 from the same time a year ago.
The company announced it would launch a new FAST channel called Acorn TV Mysteries. Expect this to show up on free services that carry other AMC properties: Plex, Freevee, Philo Free, etc.
Peacock finished Q1 with 41 million subscribers, up a staggering 5 million from the prior quarter. However, a good chunk of those users are on free accounts from Charter subscribers who have the Spectrum TV Select package. The service has 7 million subscribers more than it did one year ago.
The end of Q1 also marked the end of Hallmark content on Peacock.
Pluto TV no longer supplies user numbers, but it did say viewing time was up 26% year-over-year.
Live TV Streamers
YouTube TV, DIRECTV, Philo, and Frndly TV did not report subscriber numbers. In a major surprise, Roku announced it will acquire Frndly TV.
Hulu + Live TV dropped 200,000 subscribers to fall to 4.4 million. That’s 100,000 fewer than the same point in 2024 (down 2.2% year-over-year).
Fubo lost 206,000 subscribers in North America, leaving it with 1.47 million subscribers. It’s down 2.7% YoY. CEO David Gandler seems entirely focused on his next role overseeing the combined operations of Hulu + Live TV and Fubo later this year.
Today, Sling TV has about 1.9 million subscribers. Sling lost 198,000 subscribers in the quarter, but that’s not surprising as the NFL came to an end. Compared to the same time last year, Sling is only down 26,000 (1.4%).
ESPN+ closed the quarter with 24.1 million subscribers after losing 800,000. It’s down 2.8% from the same point last year.
FanDuel Sports Network normally doesn’t reveal numbers, but they had explosive growth to hit 650,000 subscribers. FanDuel believes it can hit 1 million subscribers by the end of 2025. The company credits its addition to Prime Video channels with the big boost.
