AMC Networks ended the first quarter of 2025 with 10.2 million streaming subscribers. Considering AMC Networks closed out 2024 as a whole with 12.4 million streaming subscribers, the latest subscriber update confirms a major decrease on the previous quarter.
One of the contributors to this larger than usual loss appears to be a change in the way AMC Networks now defines streaming subscribers.
AMC Networks now only reports subscribers who register on an a la carte basis and pay a fee through the company’s direct-to-consumer applications or through one of its streaming platform arrangements.
This change resulted in the exclusion of subscribers who receive access to one of its streaming services as part of a video package that also includes access to the company’s networks.
As an example, Philo customers now get access to AMC+ as part of their base live TV package. As these customers also get access to AMC’s programming networks as part of their base package, they are now excluded from AMC’s definition of a ‘streaming subscriber.’
With this change in mind, the drop in subscribers during the most recent quarter was not as bad as it first appears. After adjusting to include the new subscriber definition, AMC Networks reported 10.42 million subscribers for the end of 2024. With 10.2 million reported for the most recent quarter, AMC Networks lost 217,000 subscribers during the first three months of the year.
According to AMC Networks, the quarterly decrease was a result of the company’s “continued focus on higher quality subscribers.”
On a year-over-year basis, AMC Networks saw very little change to its subscriber base. Using the adjusted figures under the new definition, AMC Networks reported a total of 10.17 million subscribers for the end of the first quarter of 2024.
While subscribers were largely the same on a year-over-year basis, the company did report a year-over-year improvement in subscriber retention. This was in addition to a double-digit increase in viewership hours per subscriber.
