As the Q4 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the consumer discretionary - media industry, including Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) and its peers.

The Consumer Discretionary sector, by definition, is made up of companies selling non-essential goods and services. When economic conditions deteriorate or tastes shift, consumers can easily cut back or eliminate these purchases. For long-term investors with five-year holding periods, this creates a structural challenge: the sector is inherently hit-driven, with low switching costs and fickle customers. As a result, only a handful of companies can reliably grow demand and compound earnings over long periods, which is why our bar is high and High Quality ratings are rare. Media companies create, aggregate, and distribute content—including news, entertainment, and advertising—across television, print, digital, and out-of-home channels. Tailwinds include growing digital advertising budgets, content licensing opportunities, and global audience expansion through streaming and social platforms. Headwinds are substantial: traditional advertising revenue from print and linear TV continues its structural decline as audiences migrate to digital alternatives. Content creation costs are escalating amid intense competition for talent and intellectual property. Media fragmentation makes it difficult to build sustainable audience scale, while AI-generated content threatens to commoditize production and disrupt established business models.

The 7 consumer discretionary - media stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 3.2%.

Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 6% since the latest earnings results.

Weakest Q4: Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD)

Formed from the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a multinational media and entertainment company, offering television networks, streaming services, and film and television production.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported revenues of $9.46 billion, down 5.7% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a softer quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ adjusted operating income and EPS estimates.

Warner Bros. Discovery delivered the slowest revenue growth of the whole group. The stock is down 4.9% since reporting and currently trades at $27.47.

Read our full report on Warner Bros. Discovery here, it’s free.

Best Q4: Warner Music Group (NASDAQ: WMG)

Launching the careers of legendary artists like Frank Sinatra, Warner Music Group (NASDAQ: WMG) is a music company managing a diverse portfolio of artists, recordings, and music publishing services worldwide.

Warner Music Group reported revenues of $1.84 billion, up 10.4% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 4.1%. The business had a very strong quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.

However, the results were likely priced into the stock as it’s traded sideways since reporting. Shares currently sit at $28.02.

Is now the time to buy Warner Music Group? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL)

Creator of the legendary Scholastic Book Fair, Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) is an international company specializing in children's publishing, education, and media services.

Scholastic reported revenues of $329.1 million, down 1.9% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 0.6%. It was a mixed quarter as it posted a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Scholastic delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. Interestingly, the stock is up 15.2% since the results and currently trades at $39.44.

Read our full analysis of Scholastic’s results here.

News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA)

Established in 2013 after a restructuring, News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a multinational conglomerate known for its news publishing, broadcasting, digital media, and book publishing.

News Corp reported revenues of $2.36 billion, up 5.5% year on year. This result beat analysts’ expectations by 3%. Overall, it was a strong quarter as it also recorded a decent beat of analysts’ revenue and adjusted operating income estimates.

The stock is up 1.6% since reporting and currently trades at $24.61.

Read our full, actionable report on News Corp here, it’s free.

fuboTV (NYSE: FUBO)

Originally launched as a soccer streaming platform, fuboTV (NYSE: FUBO) is a video streaming service specializing in live sports, news, and entertainment content.

fuboTV reported revenues of $1.55 billion, up 40% year on year. This number topped analysts’ expectations by 13.5%. Zooming out, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also logged an impressive beat of analysts’ revenue estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ EPS estimates.

fuboTV pulled off the biggest analyst estimates beat and fastest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is down 55.8% since reporting and currently trades at $12.03.

Read our full, actionable report on fuboTV here, it’s free.

Market Update

Late in 2025 into early 2026, there was hand wringing around artificial intelligence. For software companies, the fear was that AI would erode pricing power and compress margins as new tools made it easier to replicate what once required expensive enterprise platforms. Crypto investors had their own version of the same anxiety: if AI agents could trade, allocate capital, and manage wallets autonomously, what exactly was the long-term value of today’s crypto infrastructure?

These concerns triggered a noticeable rotation away from these sectors and into safer havens. But markets rarely dwell on one narrative for long. Spring 2026 came, and the focus shifted abruptly from technological disruption to geopolitical risk. The US’ conflict with Iran became the dominant driver of market psychology, and when geopolitics takes center stage, the script changes quickly. Investors stop debating growth rates and start worrying about oil supply, inflation, and global stability.

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