Warner Bros. Discovery shares surge after company adds 6.4 million subscribers

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery are up more than 10% Thursday as investors smile on strong streaming subscriber growth and cheery guidance aiming for 150 million subs by the end of next year.

WBD added 6.4 million global streaming subs in Q4, bringing its total to just under 117 million — nearly 20% more than the same quarter last year. In its most recent quarter, rival Netflix reported more than 300 million subscribers.

Warner’s DTC segment, which includes its streamers Max and Discovery+ along with the HBO network, saw ad revenue surge 26% from the same quarter last year, a sign that subscribers are buying in to cheaper streaming ad tiers.

WBD’s annual streaming ad sales figure, $855 million, was 56% higher than 2023’s total. Still, WBD’s streaming ad biz is dwarfed in comparison to its linear ad biz, which dropped to $7.3 billion in 2024 and dragged the company’s overall annual ad rev down 7%.

Addressing the fact that Warner will lose its NBA distribution rights next season (it aired NBA games on TNT for three decades), CEO David Zaslav said that the company “[doesn’t] need any more sports anywhere in the world.” Zaslav added that rising deal values will likely make it harder to secure sports rights in the years ahead.