Merged HBO Max-Paramount+ to Capture 25% of Unscripted Demand
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- David Ellison revealed in March plans to merge HBO Max and Paramount+ into a combined platform of 200M+ subscribers as Paramount takes over Warner Bros.
- Parrot Analytics found a combined HBO Max/Paramount+ would hold a 25.1% share of unscripted content demand on SVOD services in Q1 2026, ahead of Hulu/Disney+ at 22.3% and Netflix at 14.9%.
- HBO Max alone generated 18.7% of unscripted demand with Paramount+ at 6.5%, despite neither being a major buyer of unscripted originals—HBO Max largely stopped ordering since 2022, and Paramount+ only recently re-entered the space.
- Peacock's The Voice led all streaming titles with nearly 45x average demand, followed by CBS's Survivor (38x) and Bravo's Summer House (36x), highlighting how late-night and current-affairs programming like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight feed into the combined numbers.
- Jason Sarlanis (Warner Bros. Discovery) said he remains "open for business" on unscripted despite the merger, while Mitch Graham (CBS) called unscripted a continuing priority heading into Survivor 50.
- Commenters on the Deadline piece were sharply skeptical, warning the merger would destroy two distinct brands, likely trigger mass layoffs, and amount to a repeat of the HBO-Discovery merger misstep.
Why it matters: The combined streamer would control roughly a quarter of all unscripted demand on streaming platforms, giving Paramount-Skydance a structural cost advantage: unscripted content is cheaper to produce yet drives massive engagement (The Voice at 45x average demand). For Netflix and Prime Video, this is a direct threat in a genre they don't dominate, while HBO Max's scripted prestige brand risks being diluted by a merger that skeptics say mirrors the failed HBO-Discovery consolidation.
