AMC Streamers Lose 500K Customers, but Streaming Revenue Rises Yearly Thanks to Price Increases

AMC unveiled its quarterly earnings report on Friday and its customer numbers are still headed in the wrong direction. In total, AMC lost 500,000 streaming subscribers across its stable of services, AMC+, Acorn TV, ALLBLK, Shudder, and Sundance Now.

Part of this loss was due to an accounting shift by AMC, which reported that it no longer includes estimated subscriber conversions in its total subscriber count. That led to a decrease of 300,000 customers from its accounting, combining with its quarterly loss to bring the company to 11 million users. Last quarter, AMC reported having 11.5 million streaming customers.

Despite those losses, streaming revenues were up 13% year-over-year for AMC. The reasons for this are a YoY increase in streaming subscribers (the company had 10.3M streaming users in Q2 of 2022) and a price increase that has boosted average revenue per user (ARPU). Subscription revenues overall fell 4% to $334 million, but this is mostly attributable to losses from AMC’s linear cable side.

Streaming and content licensing revenues (which rose 12% during the quarter) were about the only segments of AMC to see gains in the three-month span between April and June. Advertising revenues were down 17% thanks to cord-cutting and the continuing softness of the ad market. Operating income was down 31% YoY to $106M, but the company’s free cash flow sits at $148M.

“Six months into my tenure as CEO, I am impressed with our team’s ability to do what this company has always done best: produce high-quality content and make it available to viewers across an expanding array of platforms,” said AMC chief Kristin Dolan. “Even during a period of industry-wide uncertainty and change, we are seeing the benefits of our strategy play out in our financial results, which for the second quarter include year-over-year increases in free cash, streaming subscribers, and streaming revenue, as well as healthy margins. It’s clear we have the programming, the platforms and the partners necessary to continue to operate a very profitable business that delivers long-term shareholder value.”

One of the biggest stories of the quarter for AMC was the news that the company is exploring ways to allow its streaming customers to create soft bundles with its various platforms. More meaningful consolidation of several of its streamers onto a single app could save the company money on back-end operations, but for the present, it appears that AMC prefers to continue using its niche streaming services to super-serve their individual audiences.

Content-wise, the most important development for AMC during the quarter was the series premiere of “The Walking Dead: Dead City.” The show became the No. 1 season premiere in the history of AMC+, garnering 2M viewers on linear cable in addition to its undisclosed streaming audience. AMC will release its next “Walking Dead” spin-off “The Walking Dead: Darryl Dixon” on Sept. 10.

AMC+ also increased its distribution in the last quarter, striking a deal with Charter Communications to bring its app to Spectrum TV set-top boxes. The company is doing its best to follow the guidance set by other streamers in the industry; namely, that increasing revenue per subscriber is more important than simply compiling hoards of new users. AMC succeeded in that goal this quarter, but will its heavy use of “The Walking Dead” franchise and other IP be enough to keep users engaged in the long term?