The streamer, Warner Bros. Discovery, experiences its largest single-quarter increase of 7.2 million Max subscribers.

• During the third quarter, Max, the streaming platform owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, gained 7.2 million new global customers, increasing its total subscriber count to 110.5 million.
• Since its launch in international markets earlier this year, the media giant's streaming service has experienced rapid growth in its subscriber base.
• Warner Bros. Discovery reported third-quarter earnings before the bell on Thursday.

In the third quarter, Max, the streaming platform, gained 7.2 million global subscribers, as stated on Thursday.

Since its inception, Warner Bros. Discovery's flagship streaming service has experienced its largest quarterly growth, with 110.5 million subscribers as of Sept. 30. The streaming platform has been growing its subscriber base rapidly this year, expanding internationally during the first half.

Despite the challenges faced by its traditional TV networks due to cord cutting and a weak advertising market, Warner Bros. Discovery has found success in the streaming business. In the last quarter, the company reported a $9.1 billion write-down on its TV networks.

On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery reported a 4% decrease in revenue to $9.62 billion compared to the same period last year, while total adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization decreased by 19% to $2.41 billion.

Despite declines in both distribution and advertising revenue for the TV networks segment, their revenue rose 3% to $5.01 billion compared to last year. Meanwhile, the studios segment revenue dropped 17% to $2.68 billion, with theatrical revenue falling 40%, excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange, due to the lower box office performances of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and "Twisters" compared to that of "Barbie" last year.

The streaming business's revenue grew by 8% to $2.63 billion, resulting from an increase in global subscribers, higher advertising revenue, and global average revenue per user. The adjusted EBITDA for the segment increased by $178 million compared to the previous year.

Subscriber growth

Despite Wall Street's shift towards prioritizing streaming profits over subscriber growth, media companies have still reported customer additions this quarter.

Netflix reported 5.1 million subscriber additions in October, driven by its ad-supported plan and exceeding Wall Street predictions. The company now has a total of 282.7 million memberships.

Starting in 2025, Netflix will no longer provide subscriber numbers to investors, as it will shift its focus to revenue and other financial metrics as performance indicators.

During the third quarter, Peacock gained 3 million subscribers due to the Summer Olympics in Paris, resulting in a total of 36 million subscribers as of Sept. 30.

Despite earlier guidance that it wouldn't add new customers during the fiscal third quarter, Disney+ Core subscribers increased by 1% to 118.3 million in August, excluding Disney+ Hotstar in India and other countries in the region.

Hulu's subscriber count grew by 2% to 51.1 million, and Disney will report its next quarterly earnings on Nov. 14.

Despite a 2.8 million subscriber drop in its Paramount+ streaming platform, Paramount's streaming division swung to an unexpected profit last quarter. The company will report its quarterly earnings on Friday.

Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics, the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.