Time Warner Q1 Revenue Up

NEW YORK: Time Warner has reported a revenue increase of 5 percent to $7.1 billion in the first quarter, with growth across all divisions and a particularly strong performance from its Turner networks.

First-quarter net income totaled $970 million compared to $1.3 billion a year ago.

At Turner, revenues rose 5 percent to $2.7 billion, with 4 percent growth in ad revenue, 3 percent in subscription revenues and 25 percent in content and other revenues. Ad revenues were helped by the U.S. businesses, thanks to the NCAA Tournament.

HBO's revenues were up 4 percent to $1.4 billion. There was a 4 percent increase in subscription revenues and a 5 percent increase in content and other revenues. Subscription revenues increased mostly due to higher domestic rates, partially offset by the transfer to Turner of the operation of HBO’s basic cable network in India. The increase in content and other revenues reflected higher home-entertainment revenues and higher international licensing revenues.

With Warner Bros., revenues in Q1 were up 4 percent to $3.2 billion. This was boosted by higher TV licensing revenues, thanks in part to the SVOD sale of Friends. Revenues were also lifted by the growth in theatrical revenues, with American Sniper turning in a strong performance at the box office.

Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's chairman and CEO, said: “We got off to a very strong start in 2015, with revenues up 5 percent, and adjusted operating income growing 12 percent to a quarterly record of $1.8 billion. This led to a 23 percent increase in adjusted EPS and puts us on track to achieve our goals for the year.

"We accomplished a lot in the quarter, led by Turner, which had its best quarter ever, with audience growth across a number of its networks. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was a huge multiplatform success, with its highest average television viewership in over two decades helping make TBS the number one ad-supported cable network in prime time among adults 18 to 49 in the quarter. And March Madness Live served more than 80 million live video streams and grew its usage by almost 20 percent over last year’s tournament. Warner Bros. led the domestic box office for the quarter on the strength of American Sniper, which brought in well over $500 million globally. Warner Bros. also continued to lead the industry in television production, including the number one comedy and unscripted series among adults 18 to 49 on television this season. HBO once again grew domestic subscribers in the quarter while continuing to gain acclaim for groundbreaking programming such as the recent documentaries Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. The return of Game of Thrones reached a new premiere high, while also providing the backdrop for the highly-anticipated launch of HBO NOW, our standalone streaming version of HBO—which is off to a great start. Reflecting our strong commitment to provide direct returns to shareholders, we returned more than $1.4 billion in dividends and share repurchases year-to-date.”