Roku Q2 Revenue Up 11% as Streaming Platform Keeps Lid on Rising Expenses

“Red, White & Royal Blue” is making a royal entrance on Prime Video.

NBCUniversal and Roku are expanding their streaming relationship, adding to the roster of classic and nostalgia TV titles available on the Roku Channel. 

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, whose $375 million acquisition of Redbox closed about a year ago, delivered second-quarter financial results reflecting the company’s struggle to fully digest the deal.

Endeavor Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel pledged loyalty to company clients involved in Hollywood’s dual strikes and the company said it expects a $25 million monthly hit to revenue from the labor impasse.

Disney has wrapped up its 2023-24 upfront sales process, with gains in sports and streaming helping it return to 2022 revenue and volume levels.

Naman Ramachandran Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based RTL Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, slid 5.1% to €3.1 billion ($3.4 billion) for the first half of 2023, financial results released on Tuesday have revealed. Adjusted EBITA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization) was down to down to €250 million compared to €501 million during the same period in 2022 and group profit was at €132 million, more than 50% down €304 million in 2022. The company attributes this to “challenging TV advertising markets, in particular in Germany.” RTL group’s TV advertising revenue declined 12.5% to €1.18 billion (H1/2022: €1.35 billion).

AMC Networks posted a 17% decrease in domestic advertising revenue in the second quarter, preventing the company from meeting Wall Street revenue expectations.

The Miss Universe Organization is sticking with streaming.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Miss Universe” is extending its relationship with The Roku Channel and Telemundo. The Miss Universe Organization, which has been undergoing an overhaul under new owners JKN Global Group PCL, has sealed a multi-year deal with Roku and Telemundo to continue as the U.S. streaming and broadcast homes for the pageant, in both English and Spanish, respectively.

Naman Ramachandran Revenues in the U.K. streaming sector soared 21.5% year-on-year to £3.3 billion ($4.1 billion) from 2022, a study from media regulator Ofcom has revealed. The growth is driven by a combination of price rises – notably by Netflix in March 2022 and Amazon in September 2022 – and overall growth in subscriptions, which increased from 39.7 million in Q4 2021 to 42.2 million in Q4 2022, the Media Nations U.K.

Lisa Hochstein blissfully celebrated her birthday with boyfriend Jody Glidden before finding out that her estranged husband, Lenny Hochstein, had gotten engaged.

Roku executives spent some time today talking about M&E and the company’s Media & Entertainment advertising business that they expect to take a hit in the second half of the year as Hollywood strikes disrupt the television calendar.

Roku blew past estimates, albeit with a net loss of $155 million last quarter, but on revenue that jumped 11% to $847 million. Advertising-driven Platform sales beat forecasts, up 11% at $744 million despite a difficult market.

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.

YouTube posted 4% advertising revenue growth in the second quarter as parent Alphabet rode momentum in search and cloud services to smash Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Snap, still wrestling with softer ad sales amid stiff competition in the digital advertising sector, saw its top line drop 4% in the second quarter of 2023 — and while it managed to beat Wall Street earnings estimates, the Snapchat owner’s stock fell on a weaker-than-expected Q3 outlook. For Q2, the company reported revenue of $1.07 billion and a net loss of $377 million million, or an adjusted loss of 2 cents per share.

announced it would be raising the price on it US plans by $1.A student plan will now cost $5.99 per month, a single premium plan will star at $10.99 and families can expect to pay $16.99.The music and podcast streaming app has embarked on a number of drastic cost cutting moves in recent months. In January, it cut 800 jobs, and it laid off additional 200 people in June.

Wall Street reviews of Netflix’ latest earnings ranged from upbeat to more cautiously optimistic, with the latter taking hold today after a major jump in net new subscribers failed to ignite sales last quarter.

Netflix is hoping that its paid sharing option will “accelerate” revenue growth in the second half of 2023, the streamer revealed during its second quarter earnings report. This news comes in the wake of the company’s mass password crackdown. The streamer officially launched its paid sharing option in May, allowing users outside of a subscribed household to subscribe to the household’s plan for an additional monthly fee.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix touted strong momentum for its push into advertising, claiming subscribers on its ad-supported tier nearly doubled in the second quarter of 2023. However, the streamer said, advertising revenue in Q2 was still not material in the context of its overall business. The company announced Q2 earnings Wednesday. Overall, Netflix netted 5.9 million new paid subscribers, amid its broader crackdown on password-sharing violators. On the ad front, “While we continue to grow our reach — ads plan membership has nearly doubled since Q1 — it’s still off a small membership base, so current ad revenue isn’t material for Netflix,” the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders. “Building an ads business from scratch isn’t easy and we have lots of hard work ahead, but we’re confident that over time we can develop advertising into a multibillion-dollar incremental revenue stream.”