The streaming service under Comcast’s NBCUniversal, Peacock, reported a rise in second-quarter revenue and a reduced loss of $348 million, down from $651 million in the same period last year and $639 million in the first quarter of 2024. As of June, Peacock had 33 million paying subscribers, slightly down from 33.5 million at the end of March. However, the company highlighted an increase from the previous year’s figure of 24 million subscribers.
Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said, I’m very confident that what we’re doing around Peacock in the media business, operating together, is going to put us on a path to optimize that business. And this is a year where we see the growth in Peacock offsetting the decline in some of our linear businesses, and that’s basically a trend I would expect to see carry forward.”
Notably, Peacock has announced upcoming price hikes, effective July 18 for new subscribers and August 17 for current ones. This change comes just ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, scheduled for July 26.
In its quarterly earnings report released on Tuesday, Comcast, under the leadership of chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, revealed significant variations in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) across different segments of NBCUniversal. The company has further secured an 11-year TV rights agreement with the NBA which is aimed at attracting new subscribers and retaining current ones as the streaming platform evolves.
Comcast, CEO Brian Roberts, said, “Opportunities like this come along very rarely when there’s a long term relationship up for grabs. There’ll be a lot of content on NBC, but way more content on Peacock and that allows for the trends that we’re seeing in viewing behavior.”
In the second quarter, Comcast’s core cable and telecom business experienced continued losses in pay-TV and broadband subscribers. The company saw a decline of 120,000 broadband users, a significant increase from the 19,000 lost in the same period last year. However, losses in video subscribers decreased, dropping from 543,000 to 419,000.
Furthermore, Comcast reported significant revenue declines in its studio and theme-park divisions compared to the previous year. Studio revenue fell by 27% to $2.25 billion, while theme-park revenue decreased by nearly 11% to $1.98 billion. Additionally, Comcast shares dropped $1.01, or 2.5 percent, to $38.52 in pre-market trading on Tuesday.