Media and entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has seen its first quarter (Q1) losses narrow year-on-year (YoY), with a drop in advertising and content sales offset by gains in its streaming business.
WBD, owner of the TNT, TBS, and CNN cable networks and Max streaming service, posted a loss of $453 million in Q1 of 2025, compared with a loss of $966 million in the same quarter last year, despite revenue falling 10% YoY from $9.96 billion to $8.98 billion.
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Total adjusted EBITDA was $2.1 billion, a 4% ex-FX increase compared to Q1 2024, primarily due to growth in the company’s streaming and studio divisions.
The company revealed global linear sales dipped 11% due to ongoing domestic audience declines. However, that has been more than offset by better trends in sports and international segments.
Streaming ad revenue, meanwhile, jumped 35%, driven by an increase in ad-lite subscribers.
The company ended Q1 with 122.3 million subscribers for its streaming services, which include Max and Discovery, up 5.3 million from the previous quarter, as it rolls out into new markets.
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By GlobalDataIt has recently launched in Australia and Turkey and plans to roll out further by year-end for a presence in over 895 markets globally. Launches in the UK and Ireland, Italy, and Germany are planned for 2026.
Content sales, meanwhile, dropped 27% to $1.87 billion due to lower box office and home entertainment revenues compared to Q1 2024, which included strong theatrical releases and carryover content from the fourth quarter of 2023.
WBD also noted this year’s Q1 did not feature any notable game releases, which affected its figures.
Across the company’s three divisions, streaming’s operating income jumped to $339 million from $86 million, while its revenue increased 9% to $2.6 billion. The studio division’s profit surged 63% to $259 million, while global linear networks saw operating profit fall 14% to $1.8 million with revenue down 6% to $4.8 billion.
Global Linear Networks has been reinvesting a section of the anticipated savings from its NBA package into additional domestic sports rights, while tennis’ French Open and stock car racing’s Nascar debut on TNT Sports in the second quarter will increase rights costs and production expenses in the next quarter.
WBD and NBA renegotiated their agreement in November 2024, with WBD losing live rights to the competition in the US, which it showed on TNT Sports. Instead, TNT Sports and its portfolio of brands gained a global license to create, produce, and distribute new and existing NBA content across its platforms.
Addressing the macroeconomic climate and tariffs, CEO David Zaslav said: “While we have yet to see any material impact over the last month, numerous aspects of our business, most particularly advertising, are sensitive to overall macroeconomic conditions.
“Significant inflation or other factors that negatively influence consumer sentiment and expenditure could have material impacts.
“In the past, we have effectively managed our business through periods of uncertainty, economic turbulence, and even recession, such as the COVID pandemic. As in those cases, we have again acted swiftly, though prudently, to control costs and are preparing for all ranges of scenarios over the months to come, while continuing to invest for future growth.”
