Peacock Hits 28 Million Subs, With Streaming Sports Amping Up Data Use
Comcast's Peacock streaming service ended Q3 with 28 million paying subscribers, up from 16 million the same quarter a year earlier, the company said Thursday as it announced Q3 2023 financial results. President Mike Cavanagh said losses for the streaming service should peak this year, with "meaningful" earnings improvements in 2024.
Cavanagh said data usage has been juiced significantly by sports video content increasingly moving to streaming platforms. He said every ISP "will be really put to the test" by that transition, especially in January when Peacock exclusively streams the NFL Wild Card Playoff game.
Comcast had revenues of $30.1 billion in Q3, up 1% year over year. It said it ended the quarter with 29.8 million residential broadband subscribers, down about 56,000 from Q3 2022; 14.5 million video subs, down 2.1 million; and 6.3 million wireless lines, up 1.3 million. CEO Brian Roberts said the advertising market remains soft due to general uncertainty about economic conditions. The company said it has pulled back on some heavily discounted residential broadband service offerings, which helped result in lower connection activity. Asked about the status of its testing citizens broadband radio service network spectrum for use in carrying some of its mobile traffic, Comcast said it has seen progress but didn't say if it planned to scale up the spectrum use.
The video subscriber losses accelerate the decline of NBCUniversal's linear video business, leaving NBCU having to shift more and more of its best content to Peacock, making its cable service "increasingly untenable," MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors. The Comcast/Charter Communications Xumo streaming platform joint venture is "actually a surprisingly good answer to what video needs if it is to be ... saved: integrated search, a user-friendly user interface, and the distribution muscle of not just Comcast but Charter as well," he said, but added it's "too little, too late" to save video. "The bevy of content owners who steadfastly refuse to relinquish their claims on 'owning the customer' (of which Comcast is one) will continue to fight the good fight for streaming supremacy, all to their own demise," he said. "The linear video business, meanwhile, will continue to sink. The streaming video business will continue to burn cash. The satellite video distribution business will continue to slide into obsolescence."
Asked about the Charter/Disney carriage agreement and its streaming terms (see 2309110034), Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said Comcast as a streaming company has "great relationships with content providers" and will look at negotiations case by case.
Comcast still expects to meet or exceed its goal of its network passing a million new homes and businesses in 2023, with its 2024 goals to be larger, Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said.