Max 'Made the Turn' to Profitability, Parent Says
Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming business "made the turn," generating a $100 million profit in 2023, Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said Friday as the company announced Q4 2023 financial results. This "will be a pivotal year for Max," he said,…
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pointing to relaunches and rebranding in European and Latin American markets in the next few months. Wiedenfels said Max finished Q4 at close to 98 million subscribers, with more than 1 million international subs added in Q4 more than offsetting smaller U.S. declines. CEO David Zaslav said Max's ad-supported offering, available in the U.S. only, will debut in more than 40 markets globally by year's end. Asked about the forthcoming sports streaming joint venture with ESPN and Fox (see 2402070006), Zaslav said it should "coexist" with its cable networks. "We don't see a lot of people unsubscribing to cable in order to get this," he said. The target audience are cord-nevers, Zaslav added. Q4 revenue was $10.3 billion, down from $11 billion the same quarter a year ago. Wiedenfels said network revenue was off 8% in Q4 due to a soft U.S. linear advertising market. In addition, he said Q1 is showing improvement, with domestic ad sales rising. The company said TV revenue was down "significantly" due in large part to the impact of the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes.