Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery Narrows Q3 Loss, but ‘Barbie’ Success Tempered by Advertising Declines

Story from Variety:

Warner Bros. Discovery narrowed its third-quarter loss as the media giant, grappling with billions of dollars in debt as a result of the 2022 merger that created it, saw the box-office success of “Barbie” offset by a 12% decline in advertising at its portfolio of TV networks.

The owner of CNN, the Warner Bros. studio and the Max streaming service said its net loss narrowed to $417 million, compared with nearly $2.31 billion in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose just 2%, to nearly $9.98 billion from $9.82 billion in the year-earlier period.

Despite revenue hikes at the company’s streaming and studios operations, Warner Bros. Discovery saw a 12% decline in revenue at its largest business segment, the one that includes its TV networks. Distribution revenue fell 3%, while advertising was off 12%, both largely due to declines in subscribers as well as a soft market for ad spending.

In a statement, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company was focused on continuing to pare its debt and on generating cash flow, and had a “focus on driving future growth and creating long-term value for our shareholders.”

Like its rivals in the media sector, Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to build new products for streamers while managing the decline of some of its biggest assets, which include the TNT and TBS cable networks. The company launched a new live-streamed version of CNN for its Max hub in the most recent quarter as well a new tier on the outlet for sports content.

Streaming proved a bright spot during the period, with direct-to-consumer revenue up 5% thanks to price increases and new partnerships, while ad revenue rose a whopping 30%, as advertisers start moving dollars to chase broadband audiences. Even so, the company saw total subscribers fall by 700,000, partially as a result of a decision to combine much of the content of the Discovery+ steaming outlet with that of Max. Discovery+ remains as a stand-alone product, but some consumers my have been taking subscriptions to both venues.