Warner Bros. scores its first quarterly profit in years as Max becomes a profit puppy
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Earnings from Gotham… Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery surged 12% yesterday after the media titan dropped streamy Q3 earnings. While its sales dipped 4% in the quarter, the company secured a $135M profit — its first in more than two years. Its Max streaming service drove the surprise earnings, with revenue jumping 8% and a record 7M+ new subs. That helped Max notch higher ad sales and boost revenue per user.
Maximized: Warner said fans of hit shows “House of the Dragon” and “Last of Us” have tuned in to its new series, “The Penguin,” whose premiere racked up 10M+ viewers.
Warner’s movie biz didn’t sparkle: Theater revenue sank 40% after “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Twisters” fell short at the box office (last year it had “Barbie”).
Still watching… Streamers have been turning their first profits by hiking subscription prices and tapping into ad revenue. In January, Amazon began sticking ads into Prime Video and recently announced that more ads were coming (unless you pay extra for its ad-free tier). In August, Disney’s streaming biz (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+) turned its first profit a quarter earlier than expected. Paramount’s streaming unit (Paramount+, BET+, and Pluto TV) also notched its first profit in Q2 and raised subscription fees.
More places = more faces… With streaming nearly universal in US households, providers are expanding their reach with bundles and partnerships to unlock growth. In September, Warner signed a multi-year deal with Charter (the US’s biggest cable provider) to bundle its streaming services with SpectrumTV Select plans. And Disney and Warner joined forces this year to debut their Disney+, Hulu, and Max discounted bundle.