TelevisaUnivision reported a fourth quarter loss after taking a charge against earnings, but said operating income and revenue increased and that its core business more than offset its investments in streaming.
Commenting on the size of its streaming business for the first time, the company said that its ViX streaming service had more than 25 million monthly active users on its free tier.
TelevisaUnivision recorded a $1.59 billion net loss in the fourth quarter. A year ago the company lost $9.8 million The 2022 loss includes a $1.7 billion non-cash impairment charge in the quarter.
The company said adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization grew 5% to $504.4 million in the quarter.
Revenue rose 22% to $1.45 billion. Advertising revenue was up 10% to $849.7 million. In the U.S. ad revenue was up 14% to $494.1 million.
Subscription and licensing revenue was up 47% to $567.9 million. In the U.S., revenue from that segment was up 55% to $457.6 million.
“A year ago, we created TelevisaUnivision to become the largest Spanish language media company in the world,” Wade Davis, CEO of TelevisaUnivision, said. “We executed a strategy to create a business without comparison, and our stellar results in 2022 demonstrate the power of our combined company.”
“Our content engine in Mexico continues to produce hits that resonate in both the U.S. and Mexico and is now powering our market-leading streaming platform as well as our linear networks,” Davis added. ”ViX is now fully launched and is the definitive leader in Spanish-language streaming in less than a full year of operations,” Davis said. “The growth and profitability of our core business more than offset the investments we made in ViX. The power of the combined assets in the U.S. and Mexico cause us to continue to expect ViX to reach profitability by the end of 2023.” ■
