200 million customers might be served by the Paramount merger

According to data from Antenna, Paramount CEO David Ellison‘s plan to merge Paramount+ and HBO Max into a single streaming service. It will enable roughly 8 million Americans who presently pay for both services to cancel one subscription.

During a call with investors on Monday, Ellison, whose business closed a deal last week to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO, for $31 per share, revealed the proposal for a single integrated streaming service.

The platform that keeps track of paid subscriber statistics for advertising estimates that there are currently 27.1 million paid HBO Max customers and 35.8 million paid Paramount+ subscribers in the US.

Ellison predicted that the combined business would have 200 million direct-to-consumer members worldwide. These numbers would include BET+ and Discovery+ customers (5.1 million in the US as of January, according to Antenna). HBO linear subscriptions, and subscribers outside of the US.

Ellison’s estimated global user base is still far lower than Netflix’s. As of December 31, the streaming behemoth claimed to have over 325 million customers. Compared to about 45 for Paramount+ and 100 for HBO Max, Netflix is accessible in over 190 international regions.

The $110 billion merger still needs to be approved by WBD shareholders and pass antitrust authorities. Who may object to the decrease in competition, which would result in fewer options and higher pricing for customers.