AMC stages modest streaming recovery

AMC’s streaming offerings staged a modest recovery in the third quarter after two quarters of decline, with 100,000 or so additions in the three months to September taking the total of 11.1 million. At the same point last year the company had 10.7 million streaming customers.

The numbers were not enough to compensate for a decline in the linear business. Overall revenues were down 6.6% to US$637 million, while adjusted operating income fell by 8.8% to US$177 million.

Domestic subscription revenues decreased 5% to US$332 million due to declines in the linear subscriber universe, partially offset by streaming revenue growth.

Kristin Dolan (Source: AMC)

Affiliate revenue decreased 13% due to basic subscriber declines including the 3% revenue impact of a strategic non-renewal that occurred at the end of 2022.

Content licensing revenues increased 7% to US$62 million due to the timing and availability of deliveries in the period.

Domestic advertising revenues decreased 18% to US$147 million due to anticipated linear ratings declines, a challenging ad market and fewer original programming episodes within the quarter, partly offset by digital and advanced advertising revenue growth. The quarter saw the launch of an advertising-supported version of AMC+.

International ad revenues were down 11%, but international revenues overall were down 2% to US$98 million, with distribution and content licensing sales also dropping, even though subscription revenues increased.

“During this period of experimentation and change in our industry, we continue to execute on our plan and effectively manage the business with a focus on high-quality programming, strong partnerships and profitability. In addition to introducing an ad-supported version of AMC+, we extended our leadership in TV advertising through the launch of programmatic buying on our linear networks, an industry first,” said CEO Kristin Dolan.

“Partnership examples included a promotional pop-up on Max and strong presence on the new Xumo offering from Comcast and Charter. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon was the biggest ever debut for AMC+, one of many programming highlights in the quarter. We are well positioned to achieve our free cash flow goals for the year and remain focused on responsible content investment and monetization across a wide array of distribution platforms and licensing opportunities.”