WarnerMedia Revenues Drop 10 Percent

Overall revenues at WarnerMedia fell by 10 percent year-on-year in the third quarter to $7.5 billion, with declines at Warner Bros. and HBO partially offset by gains at Turner.

The segment reported a 38.4 percent decline in operating income to $1.8 billion.

At Turner, revenues were up 5.6 percent to $3.2 billion as advertising and content revenues rose, partially offset by a reduction in subscription revenues. The lower subs revenues were largely due to decreased international revenues, which were impacted by unfavorable foreign exchange rates. Turner benefited from increased ad revenues, primarily from the shift of the NBA into Q3, and higher content revenues from sales to HBO Max.

At HBO, revenues slipped by 2.1 percent to $1.8 billion, reflecting a decrease in content and other revenues, partially offset by an increase in subscription revenues. The company reported a total of 38 million HBO and HBO Max subscribers in the U.S. at the end of Q3, up by 10 percent in the last nine months. The company had previously set a 36 million target for year-end.

Warner Bros. revenues were down 27.7 percent to $2.4 billion, as the pandemic took a toll on theatrical and television revenues.

Meanwhile, at AT&T’s entertainment group, revenues fell 10.2 percent to $10.1 billion due to declines in premium TV and OTT subscribers, the impact of the pandemic and declines in legacy services. The company lost 590,000 premium TV subs (across DirecTV, U-verse and AT&T TV) and 37,000 AT&T subscribers.