Banzai International, Inc. Class A

Q2 revenue and adjusted EBITDA were at or above the high end of prior guidance. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 billion, up 27% year over year, and profitability improved across all three segments. Paramount+ revenue rose 16% year over year, with about one-third of the increase from subscriber growth and two-thirds from ARPU improvement; the service added 2 million subscribers to reach 81.6 million globally. Studios revenue also rose 16%, with adjusted EBITDA of $36 million versus a loss a year ago. TV Media profit grew 14% despite linear revenue declines. For the full year, management raised adjusted EBITDA outlook to $3.8 billion-$3.9 billion, kept revenue outlook at $30 billion, and increased free cash flow conversion to at least 10% before transformation costs. For Q3, management guided to revenue of $6.95 billion-$7.15 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $875 million-$975 million. Paramount+ subscribers are expected to be relatively flat sequentially in Q3.

David Ellison framed the quarter as proof that the company’s three priorities—storytelling, global DTC scale and enterprise efficiency—are working. He highlighted nearly doubled theatrical output, 40 new and returning Paramount+ series, expanded sports rights, and progress on platform convergence, saying the company is getting better at combining content and technology. His tone was upbeat and confident, repeatedly emphasizing that the strategy is accelerating and that Paramount is still early in its growth runway.

Dennis Cinelli focused on the financial leverage from the turnaround and transformation. He said Paramount ended the quarter with $1.6 billion of cash and $3.2 billion of undrawn revolver capacity, and that the company took free cash flow guidance up to 10% before transformation costs. He also quantified transaction-related costs if closing is delayed, including bridge costs of $8 million to $9 million per month and a ticking fee of $0.25 per share per quarter, and noted the company is tracking to $2.7 billion of run-rate efficiencies by year-end.

Analysts pressed on the Warner Bros. Discovery transaction timing, financing burn, and what happens if the deal slips; management said financing is committed, liquidity is sufficient, and they remain highly confident the deal closes. Questions also focused on streaming scale, bundling, and whether Paramount+ should remain standalone; management said the goal is to build a globally scaled direct service with strong control over customer relationship, data and monetization. On convergence, management said the Pluto web experience is already live and the full rollout is expected by end of summer, with early signs centered on better discovery, personalization, ad monetization and merchandising.