Full-year revenues at US studio Warner Bros Discovery declined by 4% to $41.3bn in 2023.
The company said that revenues from its studios business decreased 12% to $12.2bn, primarily driven by lower TV revenues because of the actors and writers’ strikes during 2023.
WBD said this more than offset higher game revenue from the release of Hogwarts Legacy and higher theatrical revenue from the release of Barbie.
Network revenues also fell 8% to $21.2bn, hurt by the ongoing decline in audiences for traditional television and a weaker economic outlook causing falling advertising
sales during the year.
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However, direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenues from streaming platforms such as Max and Discovery+ increased 5% to $10.2bn. WBD’s DTC unit had 97.7 million global customers at the end of the fourth quarter, including 1.3 million subscribers from its acquisition of BluTV.
WBD president and CEO David Zaslav said: “We have an attack plan for 2024 that includes the roll-out of Max in key international markets, a more robust creative pipeline across our film and TV studios, and further progress against our long-range financial goals and are confident in our ability to drive sustained operating momentum and enhanced shareholder value.”
A big hope for the company is the second instalment of sci-fi epic Dune, featuring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya, which is set to be released in March 2024. The release was delayed from November due to the Hollywood strikes.
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