Paramount has announced its plans to continue raising prices for its streaming services, stating that there will be "continued opportunities" for price hikes in the future. This comes as the media industry as a whole experiences a trend of increasing streaming costs.

During the company's third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Paramount's CFO, Naveen Chopra, expressed confidence in the company's ability to grow revenue and earnings through pricing adjustments. He stated, "We see a very compelling pricing opportunity longer term, which is to say this won't be the last price increase that we do."

In June, Paramount launched its ad-free streaming service, Paramount+, for $11.99 per month – a $2 increase from the previous subscription price. Additionally, the ad-supported tier of Paramount+ saw a price increase of $1, bringing it to $5.99 per month.

Despite these price adjustments, Paramount+ surpassed expectations in terms of subscriber growth, adding 2.7 million subscribers in the third quarter. This brings the total number of Paramount+ subscribers to over 63 million.

The company reported a 46% growth in subscription revenue, reaching $1.3 billion for the quarter. This increase can be attributed to both the growth in subscribers and the price hikes implemented for Paramount+. Notably, direct-to-consumer revenue totaled $1.69 billion in the quarter, surpassing the expected $1.64 billion.

Chopra emphasized that Paramount+ remains competitively priced and offers a compelling value proposition for consumers. The executive stated, "Relative to competitors, Paramount+ is still positioned at a very compelling price point." He also highlighted the success of the June price increases, noting that they had a less significant impact on subscriber cancellations (churn) than initially anticipated.

Paramount's emphasis on the value of its content offerings, which include sports, films, franchises, and kids' content, contributes to the company's confidence in future price increases. Chopra mentioned that the initial data from the first price increase indicates that the content's stickiness and value allow for potential growth in prices over time.

While Paramount reported a direct-to-consumer loss of $238 million for the quarter, it was narrower than analysts' expectations and showed improvement compared to the same period last year. The company predicts lower direct-to-consumer losses in 2023 than in 2022, with fourth-quarter losses expected to be similar to the prior year.

The increase in streaming prices is not unique to Paramount, as other media companies and tech giants like Apple and Alphabet have also raised their streaming service costs. Apple recently announced a $3 price increase for its Apple TV+ service, while Netflix, Disney, and Hulu also raised their streaming prices last month.

As streaming prices continue to rise, consumers are growing increasingly wary of subscription costs. A report from Antenna reveals that US subscribers canceled streaming services at a record rate in September, with 6% of overall subscribers discontinuing their plans – the highest cancellation rate on record.