Executives at Lionsgate did not attempt to sugarcoat the company’s financial results for its latest financial quarter.
The results were “disappointing” and “underscores the need to adhere even more rigorously to the risk mitigated business models, slate diversification and strict financial discipline that have always served us well,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in a statement after the company reported $948.6 million in overall revenue during its fiscal second quarter (Q2) of 2025, which coincides with calendar Q3 of 2024.
The results were something of a mixed bag for Lionsgate, which is still in the process of a prolonged effort to spin out its Starz business. Motion picture revenue increased to $407.1 million, while segment profit decreased to $2.6 million. On the television side, revenue increased to $416.6 million, while profit dipped to $24.4 million.
Overall, revenue attributed to Lionsgate film and TV production increased 4 percent to $823.7 million.
Things were a bit different on the media side: The company earned $343 million during the quarter, relatively unchanged from the same period last year. Higher content licensing costs associated with shows and movies on Starz and a handful of free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels were partially to blame for a dip in segment profit, which came in at $26.9 million.
At Starz, a price increase on its premium multiplex TV network and related streaming service caused subscribers to flee, with the company losing around 1.2 million total customers. Streaming customers clocked in at 12.4 million by the end of the quarter, a loss of 800,000 subscribers, while linear TV subscribers fell to 7.75 million, down from 8.1 million.
Starz charges $11 per month for access to its direct-to-consumer streaming service, which includes hit series like “Power” and “Outlander.” The company is in the middle of a brand refresh that targets older audiences — “We’re all adults here” was prominently displayed on one billboard spotted by The Desk in Los Angeles in August — which the company hopes differentiates itself from other services like Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video.
On the production side, Lionsgate said the underperformance of its film “Borderlands” and other movies, as well as the lingering effects of last year’s twin Hollywood strikes that caused filming and development to stop for months, continued to weigh on its studio business. But things are looking ahead for Lionsgate’s TV and film units, Feltheimer affirmed, and the separation of Starz from Lionsgate — which is still on track to happen by the end of the year — will allow the company to refocus on content production and licensing.
“The combination of a return to strong content slates, the continued stellar performance of our film and television library and sure-handed execution will put us back on the path to solid growth and shareholder value creation,” Feltheimer said.
