3 stats showing what a Paramount-Warner Bros. giant could look like

Now that Paramount and Warner Bros. have agreed to merge, attention has shifted to the logistics of completing the deal. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during a leaked company meeting that he expects the merger to take six to 18 months to close.

“If Warner Bros. is going to survive, then we needed to be bigger, and we needed to be global,” Zaslav said.

Even so, California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned Thursday that it’s not a done deal, noting on X that it still faces regulatory scrutiny.

There are several key numbers marketers should watch in what would become the biggest TV merger since Disney acquired 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion in 2019.

210 million combined streaming subscribers

Together, HBO Max and Paramount+ would total roughly 210 million subscribers, according to numbers from the companies’ most recent earnings reports — 131 million from Max and 79 million for Paramount+.

Paramount announced Monday it will turn HBO Max and Paramount+ into one streaming service.

That would make the combined company the second-largest streaming platform, behind Netflix, which has 325 million subscribers. Amazon does not release official Prime Video numbers, but it’s estimated that its audience is around 200 million.

According to Nielsen’s The Gauge report, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming services accounted for a 1.4% share of U.S. TV viewing in January, along with 2.3% for Paramount. That combined 3.7% share puts the merged company ahead of The Roku Channel (3%), though still behind Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix and YouTube, which leads the market at 12.5%.

That scale could create more leverage for the company during upfront negotiations. While consolidation may simplify media buying, it could also reduce advertiser optionality as fewer platforms dominate inventory.

13.7% of total TV viewing, the largest share of any video distributor

The two giants would be a force when overall TV viewership is counted. They would top the rankings for January 2026 viewership, a crucial month for traditional TV driven by NFL playoff audiences.

The merged portfolio would span theatrical releases, linear television and streaming, creating both opportunity and complexity for advertisers, said Julie Clark, TransUnion’s senior vice president of media and entertainment.

“The upside is broader, franchise-rich reach with fewer buying relationships. The challenge is managing duplication, frequency and proving incremental impact across an increasingly consolidated ecosystem. Ultimately, the value will hinge less on raw scale and more on how effectively the combined company can unify identity, measurement and cross-platform performance.”

$110 billion valuation

Paramount and Warner Bros. agreed on a valuation of roughly $110 billion following multiple rejected offers. Netflix’s earlier bid reportedly totaled $82.7 billion.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Bloomberg the company viewed Warner Bros. as attractive but not essential.

“Once [Paramount] did what I probably didn’t expect, which was the personal guarantee for a $111 billion deal — it’s pretty unprecedented — that was clear to us.”

A combined Warner Bros. and Paramount entity would unite major theatrical studios, traditional TV networks and streaming platforms under one roof. On top of CNN, live sports rights are key to the deal — including the NFL, Olympics (outside of U.S.), UFC, PGA Tour, NHL, Big Ten and Big 12 Football, NCAA College Basketball and UEFA Champions League games.