Image: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Paramount+
“Star Trek: Section 31” premiered on January 24th on Paramount+. Originally planned as a spinoff series from “Star Trek: Discovery”, it was reimagined as a movie to be released on Paramount+, making this the first Star Trek movie to premiere since “Star Trek Beyond” in 2016.
Parrot Analytics Streaming Economics System shows how the long running Star Trek franchise has been a reliable money maker not only for Paramount+ but other streaming platforms around the globe. From Q1 2020 until Q3 2024 our model estimates that shows and movies in the Star Trek franchise have generated over $2.6B in subscriber revenue for major streamers globally.
Since 2020, Netflix has been the platform that has realized the most global value from the Star Trek franchise. This is due to its international streaming rights to Star Trek series and movies and the sheer scale of its global subscriber base which allows it to put this content in front of the most eyeballs and monetize it better than a smaller platform.
From Q1 2020-Q3 2024, Netflix earned just over $1B in global subscription revenue from the Star Trek franchise. Over the same time, Paramount+ has raked in roughly $940M, while Amazon Prime Video — which has global rights to “Star Trek: Picard,” among others — has generated $466M. All other streaming services accounted for the remaining $225M
From its launch in Q1 2021 Paramount+ (née CBS All Access) has seen strong growth in the amount of subscriber revenue it has been able to generate from Star Trek as one of its flagship franchises. Each quarter since Q4 2022 Paramount+ has realized the most streaming subscriber revenue from the Star Trek franchise as it has expanded internationally, grown its subscriber base, and pulled back the rights to some of these titles from competing platforms.
Across all platforms, Star Trek films have generated $198.6M globally in subscriber revenue from Q1 2020 - Q3 2024, underscoring the fact that Star Trek is a TV series driven franchise. This might temper the expectations for any direct financial impact that a streaming release movie like “Section 31 ” would have for Paramount+.
However, one benefit of a deeply interconnected franchise like Star Trek is the spillover effect a new release like this can have. Because “Star Trek: Section 31” is a direct spinoff of “Star Trek: Discovery,” Paramount+ looks set to benefit most from any of these impacts. Paramount+ is the exclusive home of “Star Trek: Discovery” in most markets since Netflix lost the international streaming rights for the series at the end of 2021.
“Star Trek: Discovery” and “Picard” make for an interesting comparison. While both are available on Paramount+ domestically, these shows had different licensing deals internationally. Netflix had the international rights to “Discovery” while Prime Video was the international home for “Picard.” We can see which platform was most effective at monetizing this content. We measured that “Star Trek: Picard” generated $100M more in revenue for Prime Video than “Star Trek: Discovery” made for Netflix. Expect the amount of revenue these titles make for Paramount+ to eclipse the competition in time as Paramount fully recognizes the value of its own franchise going forward.
