Ray Hopkins on streaming profitability
From Paramount VetNet VIP Meet & Greet Web Series Season 2 | Episode 2: Ray Hopkins and Mickey Carter · · Paramount Veterans Network
“We've been public about this — we're not going to be profitable under our internal analysis on streaming for a couple of years; streaming is not, at this point when you start it up, a profitable business because there's so much spend and there's this dirty word called churn.”
On , Ray Hopkins, President of U.S. Networks Distribution at Paramount Global, spoke about streaming profitability during Paramount VetNet VIP Meet & Greet Web Series Season 2 | Episode 2: Ray Hopkins and Mickey Carter on Paramount Veterans Network.
About Ray Hopkins
Ray Hopkins, President of U.S. Networks Distribution at Paramount Global, participated in a Paramount Veterans Network VIP Meet and Greet web series in summer 2022, released in February 2023. During the session, Hopkins described his role as overseeing distribution for Paramount's 27 television stations, 27 basic cable networks, the premium service Showtime, and Paramount Plus to traditional and digital distributors such as cable providers, DirecTV, YouTube TV, and Hulu Live. He noted that he has been in the industry for over 30 years. In the same appearance, Hopkins discussed the financial challenges of streaming, stating that Paramount has been "public about this — we're not going to be profitable under our internal analysis on streaming for a couple of years." He attributed this to high spending and customer churn. He added that retaining subscribers requires "content that's going to create stickiness," describing the streaming business as "an expensive game" where companies must "constantly feed the monster."