AMC Networks reported that its first-quarter earnings fell by half, with advertising revenue dropping 13%.
Streaming was a bright spot for AMC, with revenues up 3% to $145 million. The company added 300,000 subscribers for a total of 11.5 million.
Overall, AMC’s net earnings plunged to $45.8 million, or $1.03 per share, from$103.6 million, or $2.36 per share, a year ago.
Revenue dropped 17% to $596 million. A year ago, the company had $56 million of revenue from licensing Silo to Apple TV Plus.
At AMC’s domestic operations, adjusted operating income fell 26% to $162 million.
Domestic revenues were down 14% to $493 million. Excluding last year’s content revenue from licensing Silo, domestic revenues were down 6%.
Advertising revenues decreased 13% to $140 million. The company blamed ratings declines and a challenging ad market.
Distribution revenue fell 15% to $384 million.
The company noted that it signed a multiyear renewal with Verizon for continued carriage of its linear networks and streaming services.
“In the first quarter, we continued to execute on our strategic priorities, including the ongoing delivery of healthy free cash flow,” CEO Kristin Dolan said. “As new technologies transform the way media is consumed, we continue to produce great content and make it available to viewers whenever and wherever they want to watch.
“We recently strengthened our balance sheet by completing a series of financing transactions that meaningfully extended our debt maturities,” Dolan added. “This creates substantial flexibility for us as we continue to leverage our core strengths and reorient our business around the consumer-driven changes that are happening across the industry.”
