Peacock, the streaming service of Comcast’s entertainment unit NBCUniversal, grew its fourth-quarter revenue by 57 percent to surpass $1 billion for a quarter for the first time, while narrowing its loss. The streamer ended 2023 with 31 million paying subscribers, the media, entertainment and technology giant disclosed on Thursday.
Comcast president Mike Cavanagh had said at an investor conference in early December that Peacock had reached 30 million subs. It had ended September with 28 million subscribers after adding 4 million during the third quarter. That meant a gain of around 3 million in the final quarter of 2023.
NBCU’s loss related to Peacock amounted to $825 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a year-ago loss of $978 million on revenue of $660 million.
The entertainment conglomerate previously had vowed to reach “peak losses” at around $2.8 billion for Peacock in 2023, down from $3 billion previously. On Thursday, it disclosed that the 2023 loss had amounted to $2.75 billion. Peacock’s revenue continued to grow in the latest period and for all of 2023.
As legacy media cedes streaming subscriber scale to Netflix, streaming profits have been in focus for Wall Street. For comparison, in its most recent quarter Warner Bros. Discovery posted a $111 million profit for its direct-to-consumer division that includes Max/Discovery+, while Paramount Global disclosed a $424 million streaming loss and Disney lost $387 million on its Disney+/ESPN+/Hulu combined business.
The latest Peacock updates were part of Comcast’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report.
The company also reported its highest-ever fourth-quarter and full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for its theme parks unit. Earnings increased 11.6 percent to $872 million in the fourth quarter and 24.7 percent to $3.3 billion for the full year.
Comcast lost 389,000 pay TV subscribers in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of 440,000 in the year-ago period. It also lost 34,000 broadband subscribers in the latest period after losing 23,000 in the fourth quarter of 2022, a datapoint that Wall Street analysts will closely analyze.
Comcast, led by chairman and CEO Brian Roberts and Cavanagh, has frequently been mentioned by bankers and Wall Street analysts as a possible player in future industry M&A. But management has signaled it would not easily be pulled into dealmaking. Cavanagh reiterated late last year that the “bar is very high” for the company to pursue any deals. “Our job always is to look at things, but all I can say is the bar is really high because I really like the organic hand we have,” he explained. “We don’t need to do anything inorganic acquisition-wise.”
Roberts on Thursday touted the company’s performance. “We capped off 2023 and the fourth quarter with excellent operational and financial performance,” he said. “(We) were the #1 studio in worldwide box office for the first time since 2015; and maintained Peacock’s position as the fastest growing streamer in the U.S.
“For the third consecutive year, we generated the highest revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share in our company’s history,” Roberts emphasized. “At the same time, we invested in future growth, returned $16 billion to shareholders and maintained a healthy balance sheet.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said: “2024 is already off to a great start – I couldn’t be more proud of how our company came together to deliver a record-breaking NFL Wild Card game on Peacock and the nation’s biggest night on the Internet ever. Our unique and complementary capabilities will enable us to capitalize on the many opportunities ahead.”
Comcast’s board increased the company’s dividend for the 16th consecutive year.
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