Advanced Television

WBD FY revenues dip, but hails DTC success

February 27, 2025

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has reported financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31st 2024.

In a letter to shareholders, the company said: “Warner Bros Discovery ended the year stronger and more agile. Nowhere was that progress more prominent than in the success of our Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) segment, where we are on track to exceed our three-year DTC Adjusted EBITDA target established in the summer of 2022. In 2024, we launched Max in more than 70 countries, added 19 million DTC subscribers, and generated nearly $700 million (€668m) in DTC Adjusted EBITDA. Based on our strong momentum, we expect the DTC segment to deliver approximately $1.3 billion of Adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”

The letter continued: “We expect strong DTC subscriber growth to continue throughout 2025. And we now have a clear path to reach at least 150 million global subscribers by the end of 2026, with corresponding strong DTC revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth. We recently struck a non-exclusive agreement to launch on Sky in the UK and Ireland that will bring Max to approximately 10 million of their current subscribers by the second quarter of 2026 and affords us the flexibility to potentially reach consumers not currently served by Sky. And just prior, we will launch in Germany and Italy in the first quarter of 2026 – two important markets with strong proven appeal for our programming – further supporting ongoing growth. In short, our global expansion still has significant runway as Max rolls out to over 40 per cent of the addressable global market where it is not yet available.”

“[…] In 2024, our Networks segment continued to generate robust free cash flow (FCF) and completed several strategically important renewals, demonstrating its value to distribution partners, both in the US and internationally. And within our Studios segment, Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) continues to distinguish itself as one of – if not the – top quality content suppliers in the TV and streaming industry.

“As our industry continues to evolve, we believe successful companies need to exhibit two abilities in tandem. First, the ability to consistently tell great stories. And second, the ability to distribute these great stories across platforms and windows on a global scale in order to capture their full value. Launching Max as a global streaming service last year marked a watershed moment for WBD as it greatly strengthened our content monetisation capabilities. As we create stories and content that audiences crave, Max’s global reach expands our ability to maximise returns on our content investments and enhance shareholder value. The corporate reorganisation we announced in December was implemented on January 1st of this year. We continue to make meaningful progress to work through the operational and financial aspects of this new structure and we are targeting substantive completion in early Q2. In 2024, we demonstrated that our strategy is gaining traction. And in 2025, we are speeding forward in creating ‘what’s next’ for WBD,” the letter added.

Q4 2024 Highlights
  • Total revenues were $10 billion, a 1 per cent ex-FX decrease compared to the prior year quarter.
    • Distribution revenues increased 2 per cent ex-FX, as growth in global DTC subscribers was partially offset by continued domestic linear pay TV subscriber declines.
    • Advertising revenues decreased 11 per cent ex-FX, as the growth in DTC ad-lite subscribers was more than offset by domestic linear audience declines and the continuing softness in the domestic linear advertising market.
    • Content revenues were relatively unchanged.
  • Net income available to WBD was $(0.5) billion, which includes $1.9 billion of pre-tax acquisition-related amortisation of intangibles, content fair value step-up, and restructuring expenses.
  • Total Adjusted EBITDA was $2.7 billion, an 11 per cent ex-FX increase compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to growth in the DTC and Studios segments.
  • Cash provided by operating activities was $2.7 billion. Free cash flow was $2.4 billion.
  • Ended the quarter with 116.9 million DTC subscribers, an increase of 6.4 million subscribers vs. Q3.
FY 2024 Highlights
  • Total revenues were $39.3 billion, a 4 per cent ex-FX decrease compared to the prior year.
    • Distribution revenues decreased 1 per cent ex-FX, as growth in global DTC subscribers was more than offset by continued domestic linear pay TV subscriber declines and an unfavorable impact from the AT&T SportsNet exit.
    • Advertising revenues decreased 7 per cent ex-FX, as the growth in domestic DTC ad-lite subscribers was more than offset by domestic linear audience declines and the continuing softness in the domestic linear advertising market.
    • Content revenues decreased 8 per cent ex-FX, due to the strong performance of Hogwarts Legacy and Barbie in the prior year, partially offset by the sublicensing of Olympic sports rights in Europe.
  • Net income available to WBD was $(11.3) billion, which includes $7.5 billion of pre-tax acquisition-related amortisation of intangibles, content fair value step-up, and restructuring expenses and a $9.1 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge in the Networks segment.
  • Total Adjusted EBITDA was $9 billion, an 11 per cent ex-FX decrease compared to the prior year.
  • Cash provided by operating activities was $5.4 billion. Free cash flow was $4.4 billion.
  • Ended the year with $34.6 billion of net debt.

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