TelevisaUnivision reported higher net income in the third quarter as revenue rose by double-digits for the second straight quarter.
Net income was $46.4 million in the quarter, up from $33.6 million a year ago.
The company said it reduced direct-to-consumer losses by 60% as year-old ViX expanded to 40 million monthly average users.
Revenue grew 11% to $1.3 billion, thanks to double-digit growth of ad sales in Mexico and increases in the company’s global direct-to-consumer business. Ad revenue was up 7% to $777.4 million.
In the U.S., where the ad market has been sluggish at best, TelevisaUnivision posted a 3% gain excluding political and advocacy spending. Including political spending, U.S. ad revenue was down 1% to $459.4 million.
Subscription and licensing revenue rose 18% to $473.2 million. Growth was helped by adoption of ViX’s premium tier, pricing growth for linear subscribers and increased content-licensing revenue driven by demand for ViX premium content, according to the company.
In the U.S. subscription and licensing revenues were up 11% to $328.9 million.
“TelevisaUnivision delivered another strong quarter of double-digit growth, which propelled us to historic highs in a number of areas in our business, including record third-quarter revenue in the U.S.,” CEO Wade Davis said.
“On the linear screen in the U.S., we achieved our highest primetime Spanish-language market share in nearly a decade and in Mexico our flanker Channel 5 out-delivered the main channel of our largest competitor for the first time in history,” Davis said. “As of September 30, ViX has been live in the marketplace for four full quarters and has surpassed 40 million MAUs. Importantly, our relentless focus on efficiency and financial discipline is paying dividends as we saw nearly 60% improvement in our DTC losses this quarter and remain on track to deliver a profitable DTC business in the middle of next year, which would be the fastest trajectory to profitability for any major streamer in history.”
