Warner Bros. Discovery released its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates despite battling with a sluggish advertising market and two Hollywood strikes. The company, which is a merger WarnerMedia and Discovery, reported a Q3 revenue of $9.98 billion.
Free cash flow for the quarter was $2.06 billion, exceeding both the $1.72 billion in the previous quarter and analysts’ estimates of $1.74 billion. Advertising revenue at its network segments, which was rocked by a persisting inflation crisis and global geopolitical tensions, slumped 12% to $1.71 billion.
Although Hollywood’s film and television writers ratified a new three-year agreement in September to bring an end to the strike action, the SAG-AFTRA actors union launched a strike of its own in July that has persisted. This strike has largely disrupted the 2024 film calendar and is severely limiting the amount of new content that media companies are able to sell.