Warner Bros. Discovery Adds 2 Million Streaming Subscribers in Q1 2024; Now Up to 99.6M Globally
Warner Bros. Discovery Adds 2 Million Streaming Subscribers in Q1 2024; Now Up to 99.6M Globally
Warner Bros. Discovery closed out the round of quarterly earnings reports from companies that own top streaming services in the United States on Thursday. The company’s executives held their annual conference call to discuss WBD’s earnings with Wall Street analysts Thursday morning and revealed that it had gained 2.0 million global streaming subscribers during the quarter.
As is always the case, WBD declined to break out how many subscribers were on Max and discovery+ individually. But it did tell analysts that its domestic streaming customer base had risen by 700,000 customers to hit 52.7 million. Its new global total is 99.6M, up from the 97.7 million the company claimed following the conclusion of 2023.
Despite the subscriber increases, WBD streamers saw their average revenue per user decline to $7.83 in the quarter, a dip from last quarter’s $7.94. That loss was completely from the international markets as domestically, WBD’s streamers rose $0.07, from $11.65 at the end of Q4 2023 to $11.72 following Q1. The company’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) segment generated $2.46 billion and showed a profit of $90 million, after showing a profit of $103 million in Q4 2023.
Despite reports that WBD will be making additional cuts across the company to help it meet financial goals, CEO David Zaslav was positive coming out of the first quarter.
“We are pleased with our progress in the first quarter as evidenced by strong results in important KPIs [key performance indicators],” Zaslav said. “We delivered meaningful growth in our streaming business with a nice acceleration in ad sales, generating nearly $90 million in positive EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] for the quarter. We will soon be rolling out Max to 29 countries across Europe, and the content lineup for Max over the coming year is one of our strongest ever.”
Did WBD Streamers Jump Past Any Competitors in Terms of Subscriber Totals?
Netflix remains at the top of the streaming heap, announcing recently that it had 269.6 million subscribers. Disney has a combined streaming audience of 228.6 million between Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, and Prime Video recently offered up data which shows that it has more than 200 million viewers as well.
Max has stayed well ahead of Paramount+ and Peacock in terms of subscriber totals, however. Paramount+ is closing, and now tallies 71.2 million customers. Peacock has a long way to go to match Max, though it continues to build steadily and now claims 34 million subs. Apple TV+ does not report its subscriber totals publicly.
Is WBD About to Lose the NBA?
The biggest story of WBD’s quarter has been its attempts to lock up national NBA rights for the next decade on TNT. That channel has offered NBA games since 1989, but a strong $2.5 billion-per-season bid from NBC has put WBD’s hold on the package in doubt. The channel’s current deal to broadcast NBA games expires following the 2024-25 season. Losing the NBA could hurt the value proposition of WBD’s cable channels as well as its streaming service Max, which offers live sports on TNT, TBS and truTV in its Bleacher Report Sports add-on.
The news that WBD could potentially lose NBA rights has clouded celebrations over the announcement of its joint venture sports streaming service with Disney and Fox. First announced in February, the streamer will offer a total of 14 sports-themed channels, and will be available to bundle with Max. The platform faces stiff opposition from Fubo and other pay-TV companies, who fear that it will usher in a new era in which they become obsolete in the minds of consumers.
WBD sees Max as a meaningful revenue generator in the future, which is why it spent much of the first quarter determining how to make it an even more efficient profit machine going forward. One method that will aid the company in this regard is enforcing rules against password sharing, which it will begin doing as soon as this fall.
Price increases are another good way to ensure higher revenues for a streaming service, and this week news broke that Max is planning to roll out a new pricing schedule at some point this year. The Streamable predicts that prices will rise by $3 each on its ad-supported and ad-free plans, and $5 per month on its Ultimate plan.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.