Comcast Sees Investment In Live Sports Paying Off

Comcast Corp. saw Peacock subscribers jump nearly 80% year over year in the third quarter with revenue from the platform growing 64% as the media giant continues to battle its competitors in the streaming wars, according to The Philly Business Journal.

Peacock added 4 million subscribers in the three-month period ending Sept. 30, according to third quarter results released Thursday. The spike pushed Philadelphia-based Comcast to lower its projected losses from the streaming service from $3 billion to $2.8 billion for the full year after bringing in revenue totaling $830 million in the quarter. Comcast officials attributed the influx of new users and revenue to a growing number of live sporting events available on the NBCUniversal streaming platform, along with cutting Peacock out of its Xfinity bundle in June and converting those customers to paid subscribers.

Despite the promising Peacock numbers, Comcast stock was trading down more than 6% early Thursday afternoon at $40 per share with the market focused on the company's loss of another 18,000 broadband customers in the quarter. The company reported total revenue of $30.1 billion in 3Q but saw advertising revenue slip 11% year over year in what it attributed to a drop in political ads.

Mike Cavanagh

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said that advertising was soft on the linear cable market but strong on Peacock as subscriber numbers grew.

The streaming service, which launched in 2020, is now up to more than 28 million subscribers. It remains well behind competitors like Netflix, which now has almost 250 million subscribers, Disney+ with some 146 million users and Hulu with around 50 million. Still, Comcast's leadership sees momentum at Peacock and believe the increased emphasis on live sports, along with continued investment in producing new content from NBCUniversal, will boost the platform's standing in the competitive streaming industry.

Speaking on a call with investors Thursday morning, CEO Brian Roberts said he believes Peacock being home to more live sports than any other streaming platform "is a surprise to many people" but that it sets Comcast up for "being relevant in the transition" of live sporting events from traditional cable broadcasts to streaming platforms.

"Having a robust streaming service in a super quarter here garnering the kind of momentum that we garnered, a lot of that is driven by sports on Peacock," Robert said. "At the highest level we're creating the digital capability on Peacock in the most relevant content. That looks like a very winning combination for our business strategy."

Cavanagh said that in the future he believes sporting events will be viewed predominantly on streaming services and the company is committed to sports as it relates to Peacock.