Comcast Reports Record Internet Customers, 33M Peacock Subs

Comcast Corp. finished a challenging 2020 with $3.4 billion in fourth-quarter profits, an improvement of 6.9% from a year earlier despite headwinds from the pandemic.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the cable and media giant reported strong subscriber gains in its broadband business, signing up 538,000 internet customers during the quarter. But the coronavirus continued to crush its theme parks, dragging down revenues at NBCUniversal.

Comcast’s overall revenue during the quarter was $27.7 billion, down 2.4% from the same period in 2019. The company ended the year with $103.6 billion in annual revenue, a 4.9% drop from the previous year. Comcast made $10.5 billion in profits in 2020, a decrease of 19.3% from 2019.

Brian Roberts

“With the vaccines rolling out throughout the world, we are optimistic that the parts of our business that had been most impacted will soon be back on a path towards growth,” Comcast CEO and Chairman Brian Roberts said in a statement. “While this is certainly the most challenging period we have faced, I could not be more proud of how our management team and employees continue to pull together and deliver.”

Here’s how Comcast’s divisions did for the quarter: 

• Cable communications accounted for $15.7 billion in revenue, up 6.3%.
• Cable networks brought in $2.7 billion in revenue, down 6.4%.
• Broadcast television accounted for $2.8 billion in revenue, down 12%.
• Filmed entertainment brought in $1.4 billion in total revenue, down 8.3%.
• Theme parks brought in $579 million in revenue, down 63%. 

The company’s broadband business boomed before the pandemic, but it is likely benefiting from consumers working and studying from home, too. Comcast’s cable unit added a record 1.6 million customers in 2020, boosting the division’s annual revenues by 3.4% to $60 billion. Fourth-quarter cable revenues rose 6.3% to $15.7 billion.

Consumers continued to flee pay TV for cheaper online streaming in rising numbers. The cable company lost 248,000 video customers during the quarter and 1.4 million in 2020. But Comcast has now embraced streaming, bundling internet service with its Flex streaming devices and Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service. Peacock has 33 million sign-ups since soft-launching in April.

But NBCUniversal’s hard year continued in the fourth quarter, when revenues fell 18.1% to $7.5 billion. Its annual revenues dropped 17.3% to $28 billion, as it saw declines across theme parks, film studios, broadcast television, and cable channels.

The coronavirus hit theme parks the hardest, as government restrictions kept its California park closed and reduced capacity at others. Theme park revenue plummeted to $1.8 billion in 2020, a 69% decrease from the $5.9 billion in 2019. In the fourth quarter, theme park revenue declined 63%, but Roberts said theme parks in Orlando and Osaka, Japan broke even.