Signs outside the Techwood Turner Broadcast Campus at Warner Bros Discovery will be seen on June 26, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Warner Bros Discovery On Thursday, it added 6.4 million global streaming subscribers in the fourth quarter, adding a total of 116.9 million subscribers.
Fourth quarter revenue for the streaming segment, which is pinned to Flagship Services Max, rose 5% from $2.53 billion in the same period last year. Compared to the $55 million adjusted EBITDA loss in the fourth quarter of 2023, the unit’s adjusted revenue before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $409 million.
In the shareholders’ letter, media and entertainment companies forecast a $1.3 billion adjusted EBITDA for their annual streaming business. It said it had a “clear path” to roughly double the $677 million adjusted EBITDA reported in 2024 and to strike 150 million global subscribers by the end of 2026. Italy in the first quarter of that year.
“In this generation of media turmoil, only global streamers will survive and thrive. That’s exactly what Max is,” CEO David Zaslav said in a revenue call for the company on Thursday.
WBD announced Wednesday that Max will make B/R Sports and CNN content available to standard and premium tier subscribers at no additional cost. Initially, WBD planned to charge additional sports fees.
However, we will pull both verticals from the basic ad support tier starting March 30th.
JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games, said in a revenue call the company will continue to experiment with its news and sports business models.
Sports has recently become a growing presence in streaming services. Netflix In addition to its live sports portfolio, Zaslav said it focuses on maximizing returns rather than gaining more sports content.
Warner Bros Discovery will lose US distribution rights to National Basketball Association games starting next season. There is still a US sports portfolio that includes the French Open, Major League Baseball, College Football and the National Hockey League.
“We don’t need any more sports anywhere in the world to support our business,” Zaslav said, adding that he expects that rising prices and competition will make it even more difficult to obtain sports rights.
On the news front, Zaslav said he hopes Warner Bros Discovery will see more profits from the 2024 presidential election, when CNN ultimately failed to make it. CNN, along with MSNBC, saw a significant drop in ratings after the election, and Fox News enjoyed a strong rating during that period.
WBD shares rose nearly 10% in trading Thursday morning.
Based on a survey by LSEG analysts, here is how Warner Bros Discovery took place in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to what Wall Street had expected:
Loss per share: Expected earnings per share of cents and earnings per share: Expected $100.3 billion vs. $1.019 billion
WBD’s overall four-quarter revenues fell 2% to $1.03 billion, down 2% from $10.28 billion in the same quarter in 2023.
Warner Bros Discovery reported a net loss of $494 million or a loss of 20 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2024 or a loss of 16 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2023.
TV Network revenue was $4.777 billion, compared to $5.04 billion a year ago. The company previously wrote down $9.1 billion for its network business in its second quarter revenue report for the 2024. Warner Bros Discovery said in a shareholder’s letter it expects cable subscribers to decline further, and that the U.S. linear television advertising market is shrinking faster than expected.
Studio Business totaled $3.66 billion in the fourth quarter, up 15% from $3.14 billion in the fourth quarter.
“We’re focused on lasers on bringing the studio back to a place of industry leadership,” Zaslav said.
Disclosure: MSNBC and CNBC are NBCUniversal divisions.
