Whether the shows and movies are considered good or bad in fans' opinions, streaming services have earned a mint globally off the Star Trek franchise since the first quarter of 2020, according to The Wrap [behind a paywall]. Paramount+, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and other services have raked in $2.6 billion from subscriber revenue.
The Wrap shared that Parrot Analytics showed that it was actually Netflix that had made the most money from the franchise, which is surprising considering Paramount+ has billed itself as the "home of Star Trek." While this isn't the best of news for the streaming channel, it is good news for the franchise overall as it's a clear money maker globally.
This offers hope to fans that Star Trek isn't going anywhere. Making that amount of revenue off the franchise, streamers are, most likely, hoping to keep ties to Star Trek. With Skydance taking over later this year and the numbers looking this good, the chances of more Trek coming are high. $2.6 billion in four years' time is quite a bit of income. Of course, it would have been better for Paramount+ had all of that money gone into its pockets, but this just proves that Star Trek works best when its disseminated.
Fans want multiple options when it comes to watching their favorite series, especially if they only want to subscribe to one or two streaming services. While Paramount+ offers a lot of quality television, it's not going to be the top streaming channel chosen if viewers had to pick one. That honor will likely go to Amazon Prime, Hulu, or Netflix.
If there's one more thing these numbers teach us, that a lot of us already know, Star Trek's staying power will greatly exceed the sixty years it's already been around. No doubt, future generations will be enjoying the same great episodes we are watching now.