As a seasoned gamer and tech enthusiast with a knack for keeping tabs on the latest streaming trends, I must say the recent performance of Peacock, Comcast’s streaming service, has been nothing short of intriguing. The Summer Olympics in Paris seemed to have played a significant role in boosting its subscriber base and revenue, making it their best month yet.
Peacock, a streaming service under Comcast’s entertainment division NBCUniversal, reported an increase in third-quarter revenue and reduced its loss to $436 million from a loss of $565 million in the same period last year. However, the loss expanded slightly compared to the loss of $348 million recorded during the second quarter of 2024. The growth was driven by the Summer Olympics held in Paris, which helped Peacock reach 36.0 million subscribers paying for its service as of September 30th, up from 33.0 million at the end of June, according to a statement released on Thursday.
Comcast noted that Peacock’s earnings rose by 82% year-on-year, reaching a total of $1.5 billion, and their adjusted EBITDA showed improvement compared to the previous year.
As a sports enthusiast, I can’t help but share my excitement about Comcast’s exceptional broadcasting of the Paris Olympics this summer. For seventeen unforgettable days, their exclusive coverage kept our nation enthralled. Remarkably, daily viewership on our linear networks and Peacock combined surged by 82% compared to the previous Summer Games in 2021, reaching an impressive average of 31 million viewers each day!
Moreover, the report underscored an unprecedented increase in Olympic revenue from media sources, reaching a staggering $1.9 billion. Additionally, it broke down these earnings as follows: $1.43 billion stemmed from extra domestic advertising income, while another $473 million came from additional domestic distribution income.
In August, Peacock experienced its most successful month yet, holding the highest share of TV usage in the United States throughout its four-year existence, primarily due to the Summer Games. Notably, this growth came amidst the introduction of price increases, which took effect on July 18 for new clients and Aug. 17 for existing subscribers.
According to TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams, it was projected that NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, would report a loss of approximately $366 million during the third quarter and an increase in subscribers to around 36 million.
Wall Street continues to closely watch streaming profits, a goal that has been hard to achieve for many major corporations. Initially, Peacock reported a loss of $2.75 billion for the full year of 2023. However, Comcast’s Chief Financial Officer, Jason Armstrong, previously stated that the losses at Peacock peaked in 2023 and anticipated significant improvements in losses for 2024 compared to the previous year.
Simultaneously, Comcast reported on Thursday that its primary cable and telecommunications business experienced a decrease in pay-TV and internet subscribers during the third quarter. The number of video subscribers fell by approximately 365,000, compared to a loss of 490,000 at the same time last year, leaving them with over 12.83 million; the count of broadband users decreased by 87,000, resulting in a total of 31.98 million.
The studios division’s quarterly income was boosted significantly by the impressive box office earnings of Despicable Me 4 and Twisters. Additionally, Universal launched Speak No Evil and The Wild Robot during September as well.
Roberts stated that we had an exceptionally triumphant Paris Summer Olympics which boosted Peacock’s revenue and subscriber numbers by double digits and solidified NBC’s top spot for the 2023-2024 season. We also introduced the critically praised Despicable Me 4, earning approximately $1 billion globally at the box office, and announced the opening of Universal Epic Universe in May 2025, a theme park that promises to be unparalleled in ambition and technological advancements. All in all, it was an extremely productive and thriving quarter, and I am thrilled with how our team is propelling the company towards sustained growth.
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2024-10-31 14:24