Will fans flock to Paramount?

With the acquisition of the UFC media rights to Paramount, the question becomes if fans will bolster the subscription base of Paramount+.

David Ellison, Paramount’s CEO and Chair indicated to Puck’s Matthew Belloni that the UFC deal was a harbinger of things to come for the company. The UFC deal was the splashy, newsworthy event they wanted to announce itself as a player in the industry.

But will the A18-49 demo be willing to subscribe to another streaming platform.

As we will learn in the coming days of the deconstruction of the deal, there are many questions. But, the overarching question will be if Paramount’s investment will pay off.

At this point, Paramount’s streaming platform boasts just 77 million subscribers. This pales in comparison to Netflix’s last reported sub base of 301M at the end of 2024. Amazon Prime has an estimated 180.1 million as of 2024. For those wondering, Apple TV probably was not a major player in this round but touts around 45 million.

Of course, the subscription base at Paramount, known mostly for Yellowstone, is better than ESPN+ subscribers which was 24.9 million at the end of the first quarter of 2025 which was a decrease of 300,000 subscribers compared to the first quarter of 2024.

But the overarching bet is that Paramount subscription base should grow exponentially with this deal with the inference that there’s more to follow. Moreover, the gamble is that the UFC deal attracts the sport’s rabid base of young, male (and mostly white) demo which is very attractive to consumers. One might assume the game plan is that Paramount would then solicit advertisers based on the UFC demo which is what has made the UFC so successful.

I note that Paramount does not have international rights but will have first dibs when they come up overseas. So, this relationship may be expanded which the UFC hopes happens.

Obviously, there are headwinds on the horizon with the dearth of streaming platforms as well as potential for an economic slowdown. Of course, the political tie-ins are clear. Paramount just settled a lawsuit with the president and extinguished The Late Show, an ardent opponent of the current regime. While South Park has been outspoken about the current administration, let’s see how much of a leash it is given. To put it bluntly, Paramount cannot fail as it has paid its penance to the administration. Dana White is buddies with the president and when it can do things like get a visa for a guy with ties to a terrorist organization, its hard to fathom this venture going south unless the fans get bored and/or the economy goes downhill.