- Revenue of $547 million, a year-over-year decrease of 9% and a drop compared to the $555 million predicted by analysts at Yahoo Finance
- A co-exclusive streaming deal for “TheWalking Dead” between Netflix and AMC+ valued at $500 million was announced at the time of the report
- Shares of AMC Global Media dropped by more than 4% as the market opened
AMC Global Media, previously known as AMC Networks, saw a 9% drop in revenue during its second quarter of the year. The reason was one that AMC is all too familiar with: overall subscription and affiliate declines in the cable environment. It was part of what CEO Kristin Dolan described an expectedly “lumpy quarter.”
Diluted earnings per share came in at a loss of $0.51, a year-over-year decrease of 9% and compared to the $0.07 loss predicted by analysts at Yahoo Finance.
However, AMC did have two bright spots. Streaming revenue increased by 6% during the quarter to hit $180 million, owing to price increases. And at long last, the company announced what’s going to happen to “The Walking Dead.” As part of a $500 million co-exclusive deal that will run for five years, Netflix and AMC+ will serve as the streaming homes for both the original series and its six spinoffs, with Netflix paying AMC to stream all the shows from the franchise on its service.
As for domestic operating revenue, that decreased 11% compared to last year, hitting $470 million. Subscription revenue was down 5%, coming in at $306 million, and affiliate revenue was down 17%, coming in at $126 million. This was largely due to cable’s ongoing decline. Streaming growth was up 6%, hitting $180 million largely due to price increases. During the quarter, streaming revenue represented over a third of revenue for the Domestic Operations segment.
Advertising revenue also saw a decline of 11%, coming in at $109 million. That segment included a one-time impact of a now resolved system integration. If that one-time impact were removed, the decline in advertising revenue would be in the mid-single digits. Finally, content licensing revenue decreased 34% to $56 million due to the timing and availability of deliveries in the period.
Given “The Walking Dead” deal, AMC Global Media updated its outlook for 2026, estimating that its full-year consolidated revenue will be in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.45 billion.
How “The Walking Dead” deal came together
For several quarters now, AMC has been transparent about wanting the streaming rights to “The Walking Dead” for its own streaming service, AMC+. So the decision about which company to partner with came down to whether the company wanted all iterations of “The Walking Dead” to live on the same streamers or if it wanted the show to remain divided across platforms.
“Netflix has been an incredible partner for us and for this franchise, and at the end of the day, it was just the right choice for us to make,” Dolan said on Thursday morning’s earnings call. “The overall engagement that we’re seeing on our streaming services is really giving us a lot of optimism here for the value of streaming and the way that we present it. For AMC+ in particular, that is a destination for our core fan base. The co-exclusivity regarding Netflix, I think we we feel really positive that it is going to increase and build on the increasing engagement that we’re already seeing for AMC+ and our other services.”
An increase in affiliate activity
The quarter also saw significant affiliate activity, including renewals with Comcast and YouTube that included the distribution of AMC’s linear networks, streaming services and FAST channels. AMC-owned networks will be included as part of the launch of YouTube TV’s upcoming genre packages, and AMC’s long-term deal with YouTube will include the company’s seven streaming services, five linear networks and many of its FAST channels.
Additionally, AMC renewed its distribution agreements with four of the top five major domestic multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) in the last 12 months, including Comcast, DirecTV, Dish and YouTube.
“It was a smooth and very constructive renewal, completed without any disruption for our viewers. This is notable at a time where recent renewals across the industry have involved a lot of public dispute and blackouts,” Kim Kelleher, president and chief commercial officer for AMC Global Media, said. “We think it says something about the value of our programming strength and of our affiliate relationships and the impact of really our partner-focused approach to distribution.”
AMC did note that subscriber growth was less than expected in the first half of the year owing to the interest around live sporting events like the World Cup this summer. However, the company is also seeing what Dolan referred to as “green shoots.” Specifically, she pointed to engagement from subscribers who are part of bundles that include AMC+, a 21% improvement on WeTV audiences during the quarter and promising performance from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as well as AMC’s other sports-adjacent content. That vertical in particular is a newer investment for the company.
“We think things are are starting to settle in,” Dolan said.
An updated outlook
As previously mentioned, AMC Global Media updated its outlook for 2026 to be in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.45 billion. As part of that updated outlook, overall streaming subscribers are expected to drop by 3% compared to 2025, owing to the interest around sporting events like the World Cup in the first half of the year.
Streaming subscribers dropped by 1% last quarter, though the company reported that ad-supported AMC+ hard-bundle agreements were up 200%. In May, AMC also said that it will no longer report streaming numbers on a regular basis moving forward.
AMC’s updated revenue outlook includes the inclusion of about $200 million to $225 million in content licensing revenue connected to “The Walking Dead” agreement. The company expects domestic operations content licensing revenue for the year to be in the range of $460 million to $485 million. Adjusted operating income is now expected to be in the range of $410 million to$ 420 million.
Earlier in the year, AMC also took a $4 million restructuring charge. About $3 million went to the company’s voluntary buyout program for U.S. employees, and about $2 million was earmarked for a restructuring plan tied to AMC’s international segment as several Latin American offices were closed during this time period.
