BreAnna Bell Season 2 of “Heartstopper” soared to second place on the Netflix Top 10 during the July 31-Aug. 6 viewing window as fans jumped to reunite with Nick and Charlie. After premiering on the service on Aug.
19.07.2023 - 20:05 / variety.com
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix reported its second-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing its subscribers increased by 5.89 million in the quarter ended June 30. At the end of Q1, Netflix’s global subscriber count was 232.5 million. Analysts had project the streamer gaining 1.769 million new subscribers in Q2, which saw Netflix begin notifying customers in the U.S. and other countries that users on their accounts who live outside their households would need to be added as an “extra member” (or pay for their own subscriptions). Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of $2.86 on $8.3 billion in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by Refinitiv. Netflix reported diluted EPS of $2.88 on $8.2 billion in revenue.
Netflix stock closed Wednesday at $476.94 per share. The regular U.S. stock markets will reopen at Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Earlier Wednesday, Netflix confirmed it is eliminating its Basic plan, its cheapest streaming plan without ads, in the U.S. and U.K. in an attempt to boost customers on the ad-supported Standard With Ads, which the company first launched last November. In May, Netflix said it had signed up more than 5 million members for its ad-supported plans, with 25% of new subs taking the package. “Our starting prices of $6.99 in the U.S. and £4.99 in the U.K. [for Standard With Ads] are lower than the competition and provide great value to consumers given the breadth and quality of our catalog,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety. Netflix executives will speak about the quarter in greater detail during a pre-recorded analyst interview scheduled to post at 6 p.m. ET. More to come…
BreAnna Bell Season 2 of “Heartstopper” soared to second place on the Netflix Top 10 during the July 31-Aug. 6 viewing window as fans jumped to reunite with Nick and Charlie. After premiering on the service on Aug.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nexstar reported its second-quarter 2023 earnings Tuesday, revealing the TV stations group giant had turned a profit of $153 million in Q2, while its CW broadcast network posted a loss of $78 million for the April-June quarter. For the CW, which was formally acquired by Nexstar in October 2022 from Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, a year-over-year comparison can’t be drawn based on the lack of financial results disclosed publicly by its former parent companies.
Meghan Markle plans to dominate Hollywood - however, she has no interest in directing or acting.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery reported the Hollywood writers and actors’ ongoing work stoppage had brought the company savings in the “low$100 million range” during its Q2 earnings results call Thursday. “We’re in the business of storytelling.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery lost 1.8 million streaming subscribers from April 1-June 30, the quarter during which it launched new combined streamer Max. Streaming subscribers across WBD’s HBO, Max and Discovery+ now total 95.8 million, per the company’s Q2 earnings report released Thursday.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer New York City filming permits were down 65.7% year over year in July amid the beginning of the actors strike, and well into the ongoing writers work stoppage. Per the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), 260 permits were issued to 125 projects from July 1-31. Comparatively, 757 permits were granted to 173 projects in July 2022.
Naman Ramachandran Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for series “Guns & Gulaabs,” starring Dulquer Salmaan (“Chup”) and Rajkummar Rao (“Bheed”). The series is created by India-based filmmaking duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. – popularly known as Raj & DK – as part of a multi-year creative partnership with Netflix under their D2R Films banner.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It’s a “Barbenheimer” world, and we’re just living in it. The collective force of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” continued to rule the box office in their second weekends of release, providing another needed jolt as two Hollywood strikes threaten the fragile exhibition industry. Greta Gerwig’s cotton candy-colored fantasy comedy again led the way, adding a massive $93 million between Friday and Sunday.
Sadly, winning the lottery is a dream most of us will never make a reality in our lifetime.
Netflix has sparked an outcry by listing a vacancy for a new $900,000-a-year product manager role for their AI Machine Learning programme in the midst of the SAG-AFTRA strike.The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) union went on strike earlier this month, after negotiations broke down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over streaming residuals and safeguards against AI technology.According to the job description, the Product Manager position will focus on “increasing the leverage of our Machine Learning Platform.” The MLP is Netflix’s in-house AI program, which has traditionally been used to power the streamer’s algorithmic recommendations. Per Netflix’s research page, the company is now making more use of the program to “optimise” film and TV production, although it’s not clear how they plan to do so.We all know one of the biggest issues both of the striking guilds, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, have with AMPTP’s offer for a new contract is a lack of protection against and regulation of AI.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Traditionally a strong performer in the fall and holiday TV season, Food Network is sizzling this summer, too. From Memorial Day on May 27 through July 20, Food Network content has drawn more than 50.6 million total viewers across the linear TV channel, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamers Max and Discovery+.
Media giant Comcast beat on its top and bottom line for the three months ended in June with theme parks and studio strong, even as the latter basks in another giant opening, for Opppenheimer, in the current third quarter.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Comcast reported its second-quarter 2023 earnings Thursday, revealing theatrical revenue rose 65.9% year over year with the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” while Peacock added just 2 million more subscribers over the three month period. At the end of Q1, Comcast said the NBCUniversal streamer had reached 22 million U.S.
BreAnna Bell The reign of “Queen Charlotte” isn’t over yet. During the week of July 17-July 23, the Shondaland title joined Netflix’s most popular titles list at No. 10 with 80.3 million views to date.
What has coal meant to America? Central Appalachia saw the energy source build communities and jobs, all the while creating destructive consequences. Director Elaine McMillion Sheldon explores the area’s difficulties as well as its connections to coal in “King Coal.” The documentary highlights complex subjects through the lives of two young dancers — their journey intensified by Sheldon’s unflinching attention to detail.
Netflix is rolling out a new feature called My Netflix, which will replace the Downloads tab on the bottom right of the home screen on iOS apps starting today.
What has coal meant to America? Central Appalachia saw the energy source build communities and jobs, all the while creating destructive consequences. Director Elaine McMillion Sheldon explores the area’s difficulties as well as its connections to coal in “King Coal.” The documentary highlights complex subjects through the lives of two young dancers — their journey intensified by Sheldon’s unflinching attention to detail.
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shares of Netflix were down more than 8% in early trading Thursday, coming after the streamer blew away estimates on subscriber gains for the second quarter — and analysts saying the company continues to be well positioned to weather Hollywood’s double actors and writers strike relative to its peers. But investors had been anticipating a bigger bump from its new initiative to monetize password-sharing accounts. Note that Netflix’s post-earnings stock drop came amid high investor expectations leading into the Q2 report: Shares were up nearly 62% year to date in 2023. Revenue for Q2 came in at $8.19 billion, shy of Wall Street’s $8.3 billion consensus expectations. And Netflix’s guidance for Q3 revenue of $8.52 billion also was less than the $8.9 billion average forecast by analysts. The company added 5.9 million net new subs in the second quarter, more than double expectations, and said it expects to add about the same number in Q3.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed Hollywood’s dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes alongside the release of the company’s Q2 earnings results Wednesday. Sarandos said: “Let me start by making something absolutely clear: This strike is not an outcome that we want. We make deals all the time. We are constantly at the table negotiating with writers with directors with actors and producers with everyone across the industry. And we very much hoped to reach an agreement by now. So I also want to say, if I may, on a personal level, I was raised in a union household. My dad was a member of IBEW Local 640, he was a union electrician. And I remember his local because that union was very much a part of our lives when I was growing up. And I also remember on more than one occasion, my dad being out on strike. And I remember that because it takes an enormous toll on your family, financially and emotionally. You should know that nobody here, nobody within the AMPTP, and I’m sure nobody at SAG or nobody at the WGA, took any of this lightly. But we’ve got a lot of work to do there. There are a handful of complicated issues. We’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible, one that is equitable, and one that enables the industry and everybody in it to move forward into the future.
a crackdown on password sharing, which led to a huge subscription spike — presumably as freeloaders found themselves locked out.Unlike other services, Netflix did not show commercials until late 2022, when it began trialing an ad-supported plan. A recent report stated that just 5 million users had signed up for the option globally.