STARZ loses 410,000 combined subscribers in tough second quarter
STARZ loses 410,000 combined subscribers in tough second quarter
The company is banking on the release of ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ to reverse its fortunes in Q3.
STARZ is standing on its own nowadays. The company is no longer owned by Lionsgate and is trying to make a go of it solo. Its most recent quarterly earnings report shows those efforts are yielding mixed results, to put it kindly. STARZ lost a large number of subscribers in the quarter ending on June 30, and also posted a financial step-back in the quarter as well.
Key Details:
- Subscriber slide: Between linear and streaming customers, STARZ lost 410,00 subscribers.
- Foul finances: STARZ also lost $43 million during the quarter.
- Outlandish expectations?: The company expects the new ‘Outlander’ spin-off to help turn things around.
To start the less-than-positive news for STARZ, the company lost a combined 410,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2025. That includes 290,000 linear customers, and another 120,000 from the on-demand STARZ streaming service. The company now has 5.4 million linear subscribers and 12.2 million streaming subs in the United States, a total of 17.6 million domestically. The number, including Canadian viewers, now sits at 19.1 million total.
Over-the-top (streaming) revenue from STARZ came in at $221.1 million, a decline from $234.4 million in the second quarter of 2024. Linear and other revenue dropped to $98.6 million, as compared to $113.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Overall, STARZ posted a loss of $43 million during the quarter.
The numbers compare unfavorably to STARZ’s first quarter of doing business solo. In the first three months of 2025, STARZ added more than 500,000 customers, with revenue over $330 million.
STARZ CEO Jeffrey Hirsch attributed the weaker-than-hoped-for performance resulted from a relative underperformance of the latest season of “BMF” as compared to company expectations. However, he said STARZ is completely focused on the back half of 2025, which could be buoyed quite a bit by the rollout of “Outlander: Blood of My Blood,” which debuted on Aug. 8.
The series is already producing good numbers for STARZ, outpacing viewership of the Season 7 premiere of “Outlander” by 40%. Hirsch said the company is confident in its expectations that the third and fourth quarters of 2025 will see the losses from the most recent quarter made good, thanks in large part to the new series.
STARZ
STARZ offers a subscription video streaming service that gives access to content on the STARZ channel without the need of a cable subscription. With your subscription, you’ll get access to 7,500+ films and episodes, including all of their current originals like “Outlander,” The Serpent Queen,” “BMF,” and “Power.”