AMC Networks — the company behind such cable channel brands as AMC, IFC and Sundance TV, as well as such streaming services as AMC+, Acorn TV and Shudder — reported a 13 percent drop in first-quarter U.S. advertising revenue Friday, following a 23 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2023.
After returning to streaming subscriber growth in the third quarter of last year after two quarters of declines, the company added 100,000 users in the first quarter to end March with a total of 11.5 million subs, compared with 11.4 million as of the end of the year and 11.2 million as of the end of March 2023.
Quarterly streaming revenues increased 3 percent to $145 million, “primarily driven by year-over-year subscriber growth and price increases,” AMC Networks said. Affiliate revenue fell 14 percent, “primarily due to basic subscriber declines.” Content licensing revenues declined 40 percent to $62 million as the year-ago period included deliveries of Silo, an AMC Studios-produced series. Excluding Silo, content licensing revenues rose 31 percent.
Ad revenue decreased to $140 million in the first quarter, in which AMC aired such original series as The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, “due to linear ratings declines and a challenging ad market, partly offset by digital and advanced advertising revenue growth,” AMC Networks said.
The company, led by CEO Kristin Dolan, has been leaning into data-led audience targeting for ad buying as marketing dollars continue to shift from linear TV networks to ad tiers being rolled out by streaming platforms. “It’s a huge opportunity to finally swing the pendulum back from digital-first to shared purchase of traditional television as well as digital to support the advertiser efforts,” Dolan said earlier this year.
First-quarter total revenue at AMC Networks fell 17 percent, or 6 percent when excluding onetime year-ago factors, to $596 million. Operating income dropped 36 percent to $110 million and adjusted operating income fell 31 percent to $149 million
Restructuring initiatives cost the company $4.8 million in the latest period, including “cash payments of $1.3 million for content impairments and other exit costs and $3.5 million for severance and employee-related costs.” The year-ago figure had amounted to $56.9 million, including “cash payments of $41.0 million for content impairments and other exit costs and $15.9 million for severance and employee-related costs.”
Dolan succeeded Christina Spade in early 2023 after a cost-cutting program, including layoffs, was unveiled in late 2022.
Friday’s earnings update also highlighted recent streaming moves by AMC Networks. Among them is a plan to roll out stand-alone ad-supported versions of the firm’s streaming services Acorn TV, Shudder, ALLBLK and HiDive in 2025 and the launch of AMC Stories and AMC Reality in the U.K. on ad-supported streamer ITVX.
“In the first quarter, we continued to execute on our strategic priorities, including the ongoing delivery of healthy free cash flow,” Dolan said. “As new technologies transform the way media is consumed, we continue to produce great content and make it available to viewers whenever and wherever they want to watch.”
She also touted financial moves. “We recently strengthened our balance sheet by completing a series of financing transactions that meaningfully extended our debt maturities,” Dolan highlighted. “This creates substantial flexibility for us as we continue to leverage our core strengths and reorient our business around the consumer-driven changes that are happening across the industry.”
