Warner Bros. Discovery’s third quarter was blended with ‘Barbie’ coin and free money stream beloved by Wall Street offset by sluggish promoting and the influence of the actors’ strike on the one of many business’s largest content material creators.
Streaming, which turned worthwhile within the first quarter forward of most rivals, however misplaced $3 million in Q2, was again within the black to the tune of $111 million regardless of a internet subscriber loss as Discovery+ customers continued emigrate to Max, which showcases a number of Discovery programming. Subs declined to 95.1 million within the third from 95.8 million within the second quarter. Streaming income was up 5% to $2.4 billion on worth hikes, that are sweeping the streaming panorama, and digital advert income that’ rising off a small base.
The quarter noticed the profitable launch of CNN Max in late September, adopted by the debut of the Bleacher Report Sports add-on tier.
WBD’s whole firm income of $9.98 billion nosed up 1%, in line-ish with Wall Street consensus. The firm posed a narrower internet lack of $417 million, famous greater than $1.7 billion of restructuring and different costs.
A decline in linear tv mixed with ongoing fears of a recession is hitting components of the advert ecosystem. Advertising income within the Networks enterprise fell to $1.7 billion from $1.9 billion.
Total Neworks income of $4.8 billion was down from $5.2 billion the 12 months earlies. Content and distribution income had been additionally each decrease.
The strike weighed closely on WBD. In early September, the corporate anticipated a success of $300 million to $500 million in adjusted EBITDA (earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for full-year 2023 because of the work stoppages — together with the now settled writers’ strike. Consolidated ebidta final quarter of over $2.9 billon, up 22%, blew previous forecasts.
A decision with SAG-AFTRA seems shut however, in the meantime, that is the third quarter in the place the Hollywood strikes loom giant. WBD and different media corporations thought the labor motion could be over by September, and right here had been are in November.
Studios’ income was up buoyed by theatrical and Barbie. The Nun II was the sixth movie in The Conjuring Universe to cross $250 million in international field workplace. As a franchise, The Conjuring
Universe has grossed practically $2.3 billion globally, probably the most of any horror franchise, WBD mentioned.
Games’ gross sales rose too on the discharge of Mortal Kombat 1 and continued efficiency of Hogwarts Legacy. But tv income declined considerably due largely to the influence of the WGA and SAG-AFRA strikes.
Free money stream is a robust story. Also in its Sept. observe, WBD raised its FCF expectations for the complete 12 months to a minimum of $5 billion. It mentioned it anticipated to exceed $1.7 billion in free money stream for the third quarter attributable to Barbie and the strike, which reduces prices. It got here in with effectively over $2 billion.
The Greta Gerwig-directed blockbuster launched July 21 has made $1.4 billion worldwide, the studio’s highest grossing international launch ever.
Free money stream permits the corporate to slowly pay down is very large debt load, which ballooned after Discovery acquired Warner Media from AT&T. WBD mentioned it retired $2.4 billion in debt within the quarter, ending September with $45.3 billion in gross debt.
“I am very pleased with the strong financial results that our company delivered in Q3, underscored by 22% growth in Adjusted EBITDA and over $2 billion in free cash flow, putting us on track to meaningfully exceed $5 billion for the year and contributing to our nearly $12 billion in debt paydown to date,” mentioned CEO David Zaslav. “Among the highlights, our Direct-to-Consumer business had another profitable quarter with $111 million of Adjusted EBITDA and launched its new live-programming offerings with CNN Max and the Bleacher Report AddOn, which are showing early signs of contributing to increased engagement and lower churn on Max. We’ve made great strides in just 19 months and are excited to continue building on this strong momentum, as we focus on driving future growth and creating long-term value for our shareholders.”
Execs are holding a name at 8 am ET.