Corus Studios sold over 1,300 hours of original content in 12 months
TORONTO – When Corus Entertainment Inc. announced its fourth quarter and year end results last Friday, the company also highlighted that as of Oct. 21, it reached a milestone number of paying subscribers to STACKTV, Nick+ and other streaming platforms.
Corus now has 675,000 paying subscribers, up 75,000 from the end of June when it reported its Q3 results, according to a press release.
In terms of financial results, Corus reported a 13% increase in consolidated revenue in its fourth quarter of this year, which ended Aug. 31.
In Q4, Corus’s television subscriber revenue increased 3% from the same quarter in 2020, and its television advertising revenue increased 21%. Merchandising, distribution and other revenues increased 9% in Q4.
Overall revenue for television for Q4 was $336 million and was $25 million for radio – increases of 12% and 32% from Q4 2020 respectively.
Full year results for the year ended Aug. 31, show television subscriber revenue has increased 1% from 2020, and television advertising at Corus has increased 2% in the same timeframe. Merchandising, distribution and other revenues were up 13%. Consolidated revenue for the year increased 2%.
For the full year, television revenue was up 3% and radio was down 6% compared to the previous year.
“The benefits we are seeing from the disciplined execution of our strategic plan, in concert with emerging powerful tailwinds from the economic recovery, have resulted in yet another impressive quarter of top and bottom-line growth,” said Doug Murphy, president and CEO of Corus in the press release.
“Our winning Fall schedule is already delivering a strong start to the new fiscal year. We will maintain the focus on our balanced capital allocation strategy, with free cash flow directed towards the pursuit of our leverage target while we fund our attractive dividend and invest in the incredible opportunities we see in digital video, advertising innovation and our owned content business.”
In a separate press release last Friday, Corus announced it finished the year having sold over 1,300 hours of original content in 12 months. The company also indicated it has already sold 70 hours of content to international markets in Q1.
The company has expanded the Corus Studio’s worldwide sales team in response “to the increased popularity of its slate,” the press release says.
“Corus Studios’ incredible momentum this past twelve months has continued into the fall,” said Lisa Godfrey, senior vice-president of original content and Corus Studios.
“Our success reflects our commitment to grow our multi-season catalogue and produce high quality content that appeals globally.”
