Olympics Boost Discovery’s $3.15B Quarter

Discovery reported a 23% year-over-year increase in revenue to $3.15 billion and a total of 20 million paying subscribers in Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings report.

The 3 million subscribers added in the quarter were largely due to Discovery’s broadcasting of the Tokyo Olympics in Europe. It has a $1.5 billion deal for European rights to the 2018-2024 Olympic Games.

The company said it “reached over 372 million people in Europe across TV and digital platforms, and delivered 1.3 billion minutes of Olympics content” on its streaming services during the Summer Games. 

U.S. advertising and distribution revenue increased a respective 5% and 21% during the quarter, while international ad and distribution revenue rose 28% and 7%.

Expenses from the Olympics and streaming growth offset the success.

• The platform’s year-over-year earnings fell to $156 million in Q3, down from $300 million.
• Discovery’s linear subscribers dropped 8% year-over-year, partially due to the sale of its Great American Country network.
• U.S. operating expenses increased 26% to $895 million, and international operating expenses skyrocketed to $1.27 billion — up 77%.

The broadcaster has a merger pending with AT&T’s WarnerMedia. The combined company is expected to have $52 billion in revenue next year.