Peacock hit a total of 24 million subscribers during the second quarter of 2023 as Comcast beat Wall Street expectations.
The cable and media conglomerate reported adjusted net income of $4.7 billion on Thursday, or $1.13 per share. Total revenue grew 1.5% year over year to $30.5 billion, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew 4.2% year over year to $10.2 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected the NBCUniversal parent to report earnings of 98 cents per share on revenue of $30.3 billion.
Peacock posted revenue of $820 million during the quarter, but an adjusted EBITDA loss of $651 million, compared to $444 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $467 million in the prior year period. To help Peacock reach profitability, NBCUniversal is hiking prices on its Premium and Premium Plus subscription tiers to $5.99 and $11.99 per month respectively.
In Comcast’s Connectivity & Platforms segment, adjusted EBITDA grew 4.4% year over year to $8.3 billion and revenue grew 0.1% year over year to $20.36 billion. Residential connectivity and platforms revenue fell 0.5% year over year to 18.06 billion, while business services connectivity revenue rose 4% year over year to 2.29 billion.
Total customer relationships for the cable business decreased by 228,000 during the quarter to 52.3 million. Total domestic broadband customer decreased by 19,000 to 32.3 million and total domestic video customer dropped by 543,000 to 15 million. Meanwhile, total domestic wireless lines increased by 316,000 to 5.98 million.
In its Content & Experiences segment, adjusted EBITDA climbed 7.5% to $2.2 billion and revenue jumped 4% year over year to $10.87 billion. Adjusted EBITDA in the Media division dropped 18.2% year over year to $1.24 billion, while revenue grew 0.1% year over year to 6.2 billion. Domestic advertising revenue slid 4.9% year over year to $2.03 billion, domestic distribution revenue climbed 2.2% year over year to $2.6 million and international networks revenue surged 6.7% year over year to $1.04 billion.
In its Studios segment, adjusted EBITDA increased to $255 million, while revenue decreased 0.9% year over year to $3.08 billion. Theatrical revenue soared 65.9% year over year to $913 million, while content licensing revenue fell 19.8% year over year to $1.82 billion.
The latest quarterly results come as the cable giant and its competitors are contending with a historic double strike from SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. Legacy media is also facing a secular decline in linear television as cord-cutting continues to accelerate among consumers.
Additionally, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh recently restructured the NBCUniversal leadership team, elevating Donna Langley to NBCUniversal Studio Group chairman and chief content officer and Mark Lazarus to NBCUniversal Media chairman. The promotions, which are designed to streamline the network’s operations, prompted the departure of top TV executive Susan Rovner and followed the abrupt firing of CEO Jeff Shell in April and the exit of NBCUniversal sales chief Linda Yaccarino in May.
Comcast shares are up 2.8% in pre-market trading on Thursday and 20.6% year to date following the earnings announcement.
More to come…
