NEW YORK: Time Warner Inc reported a higher second-quarter profit on Wednesday, as hit movies “The Great Gatsby” and “Man of Steel” boosted revenue in the film unit and basketball games drove up cable TV advertising by 11 per cent, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The company said it expected mid-teens percentage earnings growth for full year, up from the low double-digit forecast it previously gave. The analysts’ average estimate calls for a 14 percent rise, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of Time Warner rose 3.9 per cent to $66.59 in trading before the market opened.
The gain of $129m, or 11 per cent, in advertising at the cable network unit, which houses channels such as TNT, TBS and CNN, surprised analysts.
Sterne Agee’s Vasily Karasyov and Wunderlich Securities’ Matthew Harrigan both said they expected a nine per cent increase. Cable advertising at Time Warner also outpaced gains by rivals.
It rose six per cent at Viacom Inc, 10 per cent at Discovery Communications Incand 4 percent at Twenty-First Century Fox Inc in the second quarter.
Time Warner said pricing for ads had increased and demand was strong during the NBA playoffs on TNT, and the later part of NCAA basketball tournament also occurred in the quarter.
“Advertising, which has been a problem area for the company, seemed strong in the quarter,” said Gabelli & Co analyst Brett Harriss.