Peacock finished the June quarter with 24 million subscribers, up from 22 million at the end of March — but the streamer lost $651 million over the same three months.
Sadly, those losses have pretty much become par for the course. The NBCUniversal streaming platform lost $704 million in the prior quarter (and $467 million in Q2 2022). The company expects to post “peak” losses from streaming — to the tune of $3 billion — in 2023. Good thing Comcast is soon to come into about $9 billion in streaming bucks through the sale of its Hulu stake to Disney.
Peacock revenue rose 85 percent year to year, mostly thanks to advertising, as the vast majority of subs are on the service’s “Premium” tier. Until recently (and since its June 2020 launch), the ad-supported option cost $4.99 per month; following a July price hike it’s now $5.99. Commercial-free “Premium Plus” increased from $9.99/month to $11.99/month.
NBCU parent company Comcast did top Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations for the second quarter of 2023. Media analysts collectively forecast Comcast’s Q2 earnings at 97 cents per share on revenue of $30.13 billion. The company reported $1.13 of adjusted earnings per share (or $1.02 without adjustments) on $30.51 billion in revenue. Net income was $4.72 billion.
In a prepared statement, Comcast’s Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts called the financial results “excellent.” He shouted out Theme Parks for their “best quarterly adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) ever.”
He’ll have much more to say at 8:30 a.m. today, when Comcast’s senior executive team hosts a conference call to discuss the quarterly results in greater detail. We expect some strikes talk, and about a half-million mentions of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” Hey, Universal Pictures has earned it.
“Mario,” an April 5 release, made more than a half-billion dollars domestically and more than $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office. It almost single-handedly sent the quarter’s theatrical revenue soaring 66 percent vs. the same three-month period in 2022.
Universal’s “Fast X” also came out in the quarter, though that one disappointed. Results for “Oppenheimer,” which is currently part (2) of the “Barbenheimer” craze, will be reflected in the third quarter.
