quarterly reports

What should be the final year of AT&T’s WarnerMedia ownership concluded in December. The fourth quarter itself was a strong one, with WarnerMedia drawing $9.9 billion in revenue, which was up 15.4%. Wall Street forecast 4Q earnings per share of 76 cents on $40.43 billion in revenue, according to a consensus compiled by Yahoo Finance. Today, AT&T reported adjusted EPS of 78 cents on $41 billion in revenue.

The Los Gatos, Calif., company added 8.3 million worldwide subscribers during the October-December period, about 200,000 fewer than management had forecast. Besides releasing its fourth quarter results Thursday, Netflix also projected an increase of 2.5 million subscribers during the first three months of this year, well below analysts’ expectations for a gain of 4 million, according to FactSet Research.

Disney on Wednesday reported that its net income was $159 million in the three months through Oct. 2, compared with a loss of $710 million in its fiscal fourth quarter a year ago. Earnings per share came to 9 cents, or 37 cents after one-time items. Revenue climbed 26% to $18.53 billion.

The drop to $331 is pegged to lower political ad revenue, that more than offset an 18% increase in core advertising to $167 million.

The decrease to $126.5 million is due to a $24.1 million decrease in political advertising revenue and partially offset by increased local and national advertising demand, Summer Olympics money and higher retrans revenue.

Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications, which late last year sold a majority stake to an investor group led by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis and then agreed to a merger with Mexican TV giant Televisa, reported a big increase in third quarter advertising revenue. The company said on Thursday that its quarterly revenue rose 20.3% to $754.7 million.

ViacomCBS cracked the $1 billion mark in streaming revenue in the third quarter, but overall results were more mixed, with total revenue rising 13% to $6.6 billion and earnings per share declining to 69 cents. Advertising inched up 1%. Cable network ad revenue gained 6%. Free, ad-supported streaming outlet Pluto TV continued to be a mainstay, with revenue up 99% and monthly active users rising to 54 million, paced by global expansion.

The increase to $756 million is driven by record third quarter subscription revenue and advertising and marketing services revenue.

The company finished the quarter with 10.98 million pay TV subscribers, down from 10.99 million at the end of the second quarter.  It had 8.42 million Dish TV subs, down from 8.55 million, but it grew its streaming Sling TV subscribers to 2.56 million, up  from 2.44 million.

However, total core ad revenue (which excludes political) climbed 23% to $292 million, increasing by $55 million, from 3Q 2020. Also, retrans money climbed 49% to $266 million.

Roku stock dropped sharply in after-hours trading after the company reported third quarter revenue that fell just short of Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate. Revenue of $680 million missed the Street number by a bit more than $3 million. On the bottom line, though, earnings per share of 48 cents far outpaced the estimate of 6 cents.

Fox Corp. posted a strong September quarter Wednesday afternoon, including a 12% pop in sales to $3.05 billion, beating Wall Street forecasts and fueled by a 17% uptick in ad revenue, citing continued growth at Tubi, the return of a full schedule of live events at Fox Sports and more scripted programming at Fox Entertainment — all versus last year when the industry was still staggering under COVID.

That’s tagged to the absence of political advertising. Core revenues grew 11% to $434 million.

Discovery reported its third-quarter 2021 financials early Wednesday morning. Wall Street had forecast earnings per share (EPS) of 41 cents on $3.14 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate compiled by Yahoo Finance. Discovery reported diluted EPS of 24 cents on $3.15 billion in revenue. That revenue figure was up 23% from the comparable quarter last year, with growth of 12% domestically and 44% internationally. Expenses also soared: +26% in the U.S. and +77% overseas.

The increase to $1.15 billion from 3Q 2020 was boosted by core ad revenue growth of 13%, higher distribution fee revenue (up 15%) and digital revenue growth of 47%.

After a difficult period earlier this year, when Nielsen was criticized for undercounting national TV viewers, the media measurement company says business has been good of late. Nielsen says third quarter revenue was up 5.5% to $882 million — with its audience measurement business gaining 3.9% to $637 million and its Outcomes & Content unit improving 9.9% to $245 million. Net income was $103 million versus $10 million in the year-ago period.

Political spot was the culprit for the drop to $209 million, with non-political spot, digital and retrans all advancing from a year ago.

NBCUniversal parent company Comcast beat on both revenue and earnings expectations in the third quarter of 2021, which featured both the (delayed) Tokyo Olympics and “F9.” Wall Street had forecast earnings per share of 75 cents on $29.87 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate compiled by Yahoo Finance. Comcast reported adjusted EPS of 87 cents on $30.298 billion in revenue. The adjustment made up just one penny per share.

Sony Pictures fiscal 2Q profit dipped to 31.6 billion yen ($278 million), a decline of 3.7% from the same period a year ago when its profit amounted $299 million. On the bright side, revenue was up in the pictures unit, rising 35% in U.S. dollars to $612 million.

The San Francisco-based company said Tuesday that its net loss was $536.8 million, or 67 cents per share, in the July-September quarter. That’s down from a profit of $28.7 million, or 4 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc. said Tuesday that it earned $18.94 billion, or $27.99 per share, in the July-September period. Revenue rose 41% to $65.12 billion. The advertising business, the core of the company, rose 43% to $53.13 billion. YouTube’s ads jumped 43%, to $7.21 billion, and the cloud-computing business climbed 45% to $4.99 billion.

Facebook said its net income grew 17% in the July-September period to $9.19 billion, or $3.22 per share, , buoyed by strong advertising revenue. That’s up from $7.85 billion, or $2.71 per share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 35% to $29.01 billion. The company’s latest show of financial strength follows both an avalanche of reports on the Facebook Papers — a vast trove of redacted internal documents obtained by a consortium of news organizations that included The Associated Press — but also of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony to British lawmakers.

HBO Max and HBO have a combined 45.2 million U.S. subscribers, AT&T revealed in its 3Q earnings report Thursday. That’s down from the 47 million combined subs the WarnerMedia parent company reported for its premium cable channel and streaming service at the end of 2Q, and a loss the company saw coming after removing the HBO subscription option from Amazon Channels. But globally, the services have topped 69 million customers.

Netflix beat forecasts for subscriber growth — its own as well as Wall Street’s — in the third quarter, reaching 214 million worldwide. The company matched revenue estimates in the period ending Sept. 30, reporting $7.48 billion, but demolished earnings per share estimates. After forecasting $2.55, it posted $3.13.

Second quarter earnings saw ear-to-ear smiles on broadcasters’ faces with ad categories like services and sports betting continuing to lead the pack. “Advertisers [are] coming out of the woodwork,” Nexstar said.

Non-political spot advertising, retrans money and digital drove the station group total to $204 million.

Streaming pay TV provider FuboTV reported second-quarter results far better than Wall Street analysts expected, showing a gain of 91,000 subscribers compared with the year-ago quarter. Total revenue nearly tripled to a record $130.9 million and adjusted losses of 38 cents a share came in more than a dime lower than forecasts. Advertising revenue jumped 281% to $16.5 million.

The second quarter loss was $18.5 million, or 28 cents a share, compared to a loss of $10.4 million, or 15 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue slid to $87.7 million from $88.6 million a year ago.

The increase to $733 million is driven by record second quarter subscription revenue and advertising and marketing services revenue.

The increase to $325 million outperformed expectations. It was driven by higher core advertising and retrans revenue.

The total of $34 million was the result of higher local and national ad revenue.

ViacomCBS beat Wall Street estimates in the second quarter, with revenue rising 8% to $6.56 billion and earnings per share coming in at 97 cents on an adjusted basis. Analysts had expected earnings of 96 cents and revenue of $6.48 billion. Streaming revenue soared 92%, with advertising revenue more than doubling to $502 million.

It says the increase from a year ago to $547 million was driven by combined local and national broadcast advertising revenue of $279 million and retransmission revenue of $242 million.

Fox Corp. closed its fiscal year with a solid performance in its fourth quarter, beating Wall Street revenue and earnings forecasts. The TV and streaming company thrived on a bounce-back for advertising compared with the depths of COVID-19 a year ago. Total revenue climbed 20% to $2.89 billion and earnings per share came in at 65 cents, up from 62 cents in the year-ago period.

It attributes the increase to $1.6 billion to the general recovery of the advertising market from the pandemic and the resumption of professional sports games compared with none being played in the prior year quarter. Core revenues totaled $466 million, an increase of 109%.

The increase to $1.1 billion from 2Q 2020 was boosted by core ad revenue growth of 42%, higher distribution fee revenue (up 15%) and digital revenue growth of 57%.