Peacock added 2 million paid subscribers during the quarter, reaching 48 million. Revenue rose to $1.9 billion, while adjusted EBITDA reached $189 million, marking the service’s first quarterly profit.

Paramount+ also added roughly 2 million subscribers to reach 81.6 million. ARPU increased about 12%, advertising revenue grew more than 30%, and subscriber retention reached its highest level since launch.

The takeaway is not that subscriber growth has become irrelevant. It is that growth now has to translate into better pricing, lower churn, advertising revenue and, ultimately, profit.

The strongest streaming businesses are increasingly those that can improve the economics of each subscriber rather than merely expand the subscriber base.