Paramount’s Dan Cohen steps down as company posts small revenue rise in Q2
Paramount Global’s chief content licensing officer Dan Cohen is leaving the company today, ahead of its takeover by Skydance Media.
Cohen, who joined Paramount in 2017 as president of worldwide TV licensing, is also president of the company’s film studio Republic Pictures.
He was promoted to president of ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group in 2019, before becoming chief content licensing officer of Paramount Global in 2021. Prior to Paramount, he worked at Disney for 20 years.
Cohen’s departure follows the Federal Communications Commission’s approval of the Paramount-Skydance merger last week and news that co-CEO Chris McCarthy would also be leaving once the transaction closes next month.
In related news, Paramount has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2025, which showed 1% growth in revenue to US$6.85bn from US$6.81bn in the second quarter of 2024.
Looking at the first half of the year on the whole, revenue decreased 3% to US$14.04bn from just under US$15bn in the first half of 2024. Paramount said this was due to a tough comparative period that included the broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII on CBS in the first quarter of 2024. Paramount has the rights to broadcast the Super Bowl on a rotational basis with other networks and therefore did not have a comparable broadcast in 2025.
By division, TV media revenue declined by 6% year-on-year in Q2 to US$4.01bn from US$4.27bn, and by 10% year-on-year in H1 to US$8.55bn from $9.50bn. Direct-to-consumer revenue, however, grew by 15% in Q2 to US$2.16bn from $1.88bn, and by 12% in H1 to US$4.20bn from $3.76bn.
Filmed entertainment revenue rose by 2% in Q2 to US$690m from US$679m, and by 3% in H1 to US$1.32bn from US$1.28bn.
Within the above divisions, overall advertising revenue fell by 4% in Q2 to US$2.15bn from US$2.25bn in Q2 2024, and by 13% in H1 to US$4.67bn from US$5.35bn in H1 2024.
The fall in ad revenue reflects a declining linear advertising market and, according to Paramount, new entrants to the digital advertising market. The H1 result also saw an 11% hit from the lack of the Super Bowl in Q1.
Affiliate and subscription revenue, however, grew by 5% year-on-year in Q2 to US$3.45bn from US$3.28bn, and by 3% in H1 to US$6.84bn from US$6.63bn.
Paramount said this growth reflects increases of 9% and 8% from higher streaming subscription fees, driven by subscriber growth and pricing increases for Paramount+, partially offset by decreases from lower linear affiliate fees. The number of Paramount+ subscribers grew to 77.7 million at June 30, 2025, from 68.4 million at June 30, 2024.
Theatrical revenue saw huge growth of 84% in Q2 to US$254m from US$138m, and 38% in H1 to US$402m from US$291m, driven by the second-quarter 2025 release of Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning.
Licensing and other revenue dropped by 13% in Q2 to US$998m from US$1.12bn, and by 4% in H1 to US$2.13bn from US$2.23bn, which Paramount blamed on lower revenues from secondary market licensing and content produced for third parties.
Paramount’s earnings before tax, meanwhile, swung to a profit of US$178m in Q2 from a loss of US$5.55bn in Q2 2024, when the company was hit by a US$5.98bn goodwill impairment charge in the cable networks business. Earnings before tax in H1 2025 were US$512m, versus a US$6.18bn loss in H1 2024.
