Peacock, the streaming service from Comcast NBCUniversal's entertainment division, grew third-quarter revenue and narrowed its loss to $436 million from a loss of $565 million in the same period a year ago, but the loss increased slightly from the $348 million loss. released for the second quarter of 2024. Boosted by the Paris Summer Olympics, the streamer ended September with 36.0 million paying subscribers, up from 33.0 million at the end of June, the company also said Thursday.
“Peacock revenues increased 82% (year over year) to $1.5 billion; Adjusted EBITDA improved from the prior-year period,” Comcast noted.
Discussing the Summer Games, the conglomerate touted Thursday: “Comcast's exclusive broadcast of the Paris Olympics in the United States showcased the combined capabilities of our entire company and captured the nation's attention for 17 days. Average daily Games viewership on our linear networks and Peacock of 31 million increased 82% compared to the previous 2021 Summer Olympics.”
And he highlighted that the Olympics' incremental media revenue reached a record high of $1.9 billion.
Peacock had its best month to date in August, gaining the largest share of U.S. TV usage in the streamer's four-year history thanks to the Summer Games. However, the streamer also previously revealed price increases that went into effect on July 18 for new customers and August 17 for existing subscribers.
TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams had forecast Peacock's third-quarter loss of $366 million and subscriber gain of 36 million.
As streaming profits, which have thus far been elusive for most industry giants, remain the focus of attention for Wall Street, Peacock previously reported a full-year 2023 loss of $2.75 billion. But Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong pointed out earlier this year that “2023 marked the peak of annual losses for Peacock, and for 2024 we expect to show significant improvements in losses, compared to 2023.”
Meanwhile, Comcast on Thursday also reported that its core cable and telecom businesses once again lost pay-TV and broadband subscribers in the third quarter. Video subscribers fell by 365,000, after a loss of 490,000 a year ago, to more than 12.83 million; broadband users fell by 87,000 to 31.98 million.
Quarterly revenues in the conglomerate's studio segment were driven by strong box office performances of Despicable Me 4 AND Twister. Also released on Universal Don't speak badly AND The wild robot in September.
“We hosted an incredibly successful Paris Summer Olympics that helped fuel double-digit percentage growth in Peacock revenue and paid subscribers and contributed to NBC's No. 1 ranking for the 2023-2024 season,” he said Roberts. “We also released the universally acclaimed film Despicable Me 4which grossed nearly $1 billion at the global box office, and announced the grand opening of the Universal Epic Universe in May 2025, which will be the most ambitious and technologically sophisticated theme park ever created. Overall, it was a very active and successful quarter and I couldn't be happier with how our team is executing and positioning our company for long-term growth.”