What TV and streaming companies’ latest earnings reports say about the state of the industry

In this week's Future of TV Briefing, available exclusively to Digiday+ members, senior media editor Tim Peterson [takes a look at what TV and streaming companies’ most recent earnings reports]( indicate about the state of the business. This week’s Media Briefing, another member exclusive, looks at [the latest round of earnings reports from publishers]( to see what they signal about the media industry’s ability to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. You can get a taste below and [subscribe to Digiday+]( annually for less than $1 a day for full access to all briefings as well as original research, reports and guides, tutorials, unlimited stories and much more. [Future of TV Briefing: What TV and streaming companies’ latest earnings reports say about the state of the industry]( By Tim Peterson Peak TV It’s all TV now. That is the main takeaway from TV and streaming companies’ latest quarterly earnings reports. In the second quarter of 2021, the broader TV industry flatted further. That showed up in the general growth on the streaming side of the industry. But it may be most apparent in the mixed bag that was the period from April through June for some companies. The key hits: - A year after the streaming surge in the immediate wake of the pandemic, subscribers seem to be spreading out. - TV and streaming ad revenues have rebounded, in some cases to pre-pandemic levels. - The pay-TV industry continues to shed subscribers, but the trend is more nuanced than just the numbers. Streaming subscribers spread The streaming wars may be beginning to take a toll on Netflix, which lost subscribers while its competition gained them in the second quarter. With 209 million paying subscribers globally, Netflix remains the dominant subscription-based streamer. However, it lost 433,000 subscribers in the U.S. and Canada during the period. What exactly contributed to the latter subscriber loss is anyone’s guess. A few factors to consider are: - Netflix is still refilling its programming pipeline following last year’s in-person production hiatus. - Netflix’s first-quarter price hike has made the service less of a must-buy for some people. - As people got vaccinated and began to spend more time outside their homes and away from screens, some were less willing to pay for Netflix. - The influx of other subscription-based streamers is taking a toll. Any and all of those factors may be at play, but let’s consider the last a little more. In the same period as Netflix lost subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, other subscription-based streamers added customers. - Disney reached 173.7 million subscribers across its three subscription-based streamers, a 9% increase quarter over quarter. - WarnerMedia’s HBO and HBO Max gained 3.6 million subscribers, including 2.8 million in the U.S., to total 67.5 million subscribers. - ViacomCBS added 6.5 million streaming subscribers during Q2 2021 to hit 42 million subscribers across its streaming services, which include Paramount+. - Discovery’s Discovery+, which debuted in January, ended the quarter with 17 million paying subscribers (and has since added 1 million more). What we've heard “I think there is going to be mass under-delivery again.” — Agency executive on the likelihood of TV networks fulfilling viewership guarantees made during this year’s upfront Subscribe to Digiday+ below to access the full briefing. [SUBSCRIBE]( [Media Briefing: What four publishers’ latest earnings reports say about the media industry’s recovery]( By Tim Peterson The key hits: - Traditional print publishers continued their transition to running digital-led businesses. - Digital ad revenue and digital subscriptions, in particular, have picked up to surpass pre-pandemic levels. - Some publishers saw advertising revenue rebound stronger than subscription revenue; others saw the opposite. Dow Jones Dow Jones’ transition into becoming a primarily digital publisher has led to the News Corp. division securing its largest profit “since its acquisition in 2007,” according to the parent company’s latest earnings release. The division, which is home to The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch and Barron’s, recorded $69 million in profit — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, in financial jargon — compared to $60 million in 2020 and $53 million in 2019. Dow Jones saw its revenue for the quarter increase by 18% and by 13% compared to the same period in 2019 to reach $449 million. Dow Jones’ digital business also grew to represent an even larger majority share of its overall business, accounting for 72% of revenue in the quarter, up from 71% in 2020 and 63% in 2019. News Corp. doesn’t break out raw revenue figures for Dow Jones’ subscription and advertising businesses. The company did state that digital circulation revenue represented 65% of total circulation revenue for the quarter, up from 61% in 2020, and that digital advertising revenue represented 56% of total advertising revenue, up from 54% in 2020. Dow Jones’ subscriber base reached 4.5 million subscriptions in Q2 2021, up 19% over Q2 2020 and 36% over Q2 2019. While News Corp. did not break out digital-only subscriptions across the division, it did disclose that The Wall Street Journal had more than 2.7 million digital-only subscribers in the quarter and that those subscribers accounted for 79% of the newspaper’s total subscriptions. What we've heard “I do probably an extra 20% in traffic in Apple News versus web traffic, and it’s more or less unmonetized. Monetization in Apple News is terrible.” — Publishing executive Subscribe to Digiday+ below to access the full briefing. [SUBSCRIBE]( Further reading - [Cheat Sheet: What Future plc is really getting from Dennis acquisition]( The M&A deal between Future plc and Dennis Publishing shows how much more important first-party data is becoming to publishers, while also giving Future audience fortification in some verticals. - [‘Harder than I expected’: Confessions of a media employee on their experience returning to the office]( In this edition of our Confessions series, a senior editor at a digital publisher shared her experience of going into the office since it opened this summer in NYC, after joining the company during the pandemic. - [How El Dodo’s Facebook and YouTube strategy led to profitability in three years]( The Dodo is expanding its digital presence to reach its Spanish-speaking audience. 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