Comcast Loses Broadband Users, Gains Five Million Peacock Subscribers
Comcast Corp.
CMCSA 0.31%
said its Peacock streaming service grew its paying-customer base by a third in a single quarter but lost nearly $1 billion over the period, contributing to a decline in profitability at its media unit.
The cable and entertainment giant also lost broadband subscribers last quarter, due in part to continued disruptions caused by Hurricane Ian, which destroyed swaths of Florida last fall.
Overall, the Philadelphia-based company, owner of Xfinity-branded broadband and cable services, the NBCUniversal media empire and the Sky TV business, said fourth-quarter revenue rose 0.7% to $30.55 billion, while net profit slipped by 1.1% to $3.02 billion.
Comcast said Peacock added 5 million paid subscribers in the quarter, which it said was its best quarterly result since the streaming service launched in 2020. Peacock surpassed 20 million paid subscribers in the quarter, or 2 million more than the 18 million NBCUniversal CEO
Jeff Shell
said it had when he spoke at an investor conference in early December.
The company has spent heavily in an effort to grow its streaming service, which was among the latest entrants in the streaming wars. Comcast said Peacock posted an adjusted loss before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization of $978 million in the fourth quarter, compared with an adjusted loss of $559 million in the year-earlier period. The streaming service lost $2.5 billion on an adjusted basis for the full year.
The company’s broadband business, the cornerstone of its operations, generated higher revenue despite losing 26,000 customers during the fourth quarter. Comcast has recently said that broadband customer additions wouldn’t be a significant driver of growth, but noted it expects to maintain strong financial performance in the cable business by growing sales to businesses and earning higher average revenue per user.
Comcast said its broadband and cable businesses were negatively affected by Hurricane Ian, which hit the southeast of the U.S. in late September and early October. Excluding the broadband subscribers in the area who were still without service as of the end of the fourth quarter due to the disruptions, the company said it would have gained 4,000 broadband users in the period.
The company lost 440,000 video subscribers in the quarter, while its Xfinity Mobile service added 365,000 lines. Overall, Comcast’s cable-communications unit saw revenue rise by 1.4% in the quarter to $16.64 billion.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal division reported a 5.9% rise in revenue to $9.89 billion, boosted by strong gains at its movie-studio unit and its Universal Studios theme-park business, whose revenue rose by 13% and 12% respectively. The media unit, home to Peacock and TV stations including NBC, posted revenue growth of 2.6%.
Comcast said NBCUniversal got a revenue boost from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, for which Telemundo and Peacock had the Spanish-language rights.
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Like many companies that rely on advertising revenue, Comcast saw demand in the ad market soften in the fourth quarter. It also engaged in belt-tightening to shrink its head count and booked $541 million in higher severance expenses.
The Peacock losses and severance expenses weighed on profitability at the media unit, which declined by 82% to $132 million.
Sky, the European pay-TV unit that Comcast acquired in 2018, added 129,000 customers in the fourth quarter, but its revenue fell by 13%. That decrease was intensified by foreign-currenty fluctuations in foreign currency. Factoring out these fluctuations, Sky’s revenue slipped by 0.8%.
Last quarter, Comcast took an $8.6 billion write-down on its $40 billion acquisition of Sky, in part due to macroeconomic conditions in Sky territories in Europe.
Write to Patience Haggin at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Comcast Corp.
CMCSA 0.31%
said its Peacock streaming service grew its paying-customer base by a third in a single quarter but lost nearly $1 billion over the period, contributing to a decline in profitability at its media unit.
The cable and entertainment giant also lost broadband subscribers last quarter, due in part to continued disruptions caused by Hurricane Ian, which destroyed swaths of Florida last fall.
Overall, the Philadelphia-based company, owner of Xfinity-branded broadband and cable services, the NBCUniversal media empire and the Sky TV business, said fourth-quarter revenue rose 0.7% to $30.55 billion, while net profit slipped by 1.1% to $3.02 billion.
Comcast said Peacock added 5 million paid subscribers in the quarter, which it said was its best quarterly result since the streaming service launched in 2020. Peacock surpassed 20 million paid subscribers in the quarter, or 2 million more than the 18 million NBCUniversal CEO
Jeff Shell
said it had when he spoke at an investor conference in early December.
The company has spent heavily in an effort to grow its streaming service, which was among the latest entrants in the streaming wars. Comcast said Peacock posted an adjusted loss before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization of $978 million in the fourth quarter, compared with an adjusted loss of $559 million in the year-earlier period. The streaming service lost $2.5 billion on an adjusted basis for the full year.
The company’s broadband business, the cornerstone of its operations, generated higher revenue despite losing 26,000 customers during the fourth quarter. Comcast has recently said that broadband customer additions wouldn’t be a significant driver of growth, but noted it expects to maintain strong financial performance in the cable business by growing sales to businesses and earning higher average revenue per user.
Comcast said its broadband and cable businesses were negatively affected by Hurricane Ian, which hit the southeast of the U.S. in late September and early October. Excluding the broadband subscribers in the area who were still without service as of the end of the fourth quarter due to the disruptions, the company said it would have gained 4,000 broadband users in the period.
The company lost 440,000 video subscribers in the quarter, while its Xfinity Mobile service added 365,000 lines. Overall, Comcast’s cable-communications unit saw revenue rise by 1.4% in the quarter to $16.64 billion.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal division reported a 5.9% rise in revenue to $9.89 billion, boosted by strong gains at its movie-studio unit and its Universal Studios theme-park business, whose revenue rose by 13% and 12% respectively. The media unit, home to Peacock and TV stations including NBC, posted revenue growth of 2.6%.
Comcast said NBCUniversal got a revenue boost from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, for which Telemundo and Peacock had the Spanish-language rights.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What’s your outlook on Comcast? Join the conversation below.
Like many companies that rely on advertising revenue, Comcast saw demand in the ad market soften in the fourth quarter. It also engaged in belt-tightening to shrink its head count and booked $541 million in higher severance expenses.
The Peacock losses and severance expenses weighed on profitability at the media unit, which declined by 82% to $132 million.
Sky, the European pay-TV unit that Comcast acquired in 2018, added 129,000 customers in the fourth quarter, but its revenue fell by 13%. That decrease was intensified by foreign-currenty fluctuations in foreign currency. Factoring out these fluctuations, Sky’s revenue slipped by 0.8%.
Last quarter, Comcast took an $8.6 billion write-down on its $40 billion acquisition of Sky, in part due to macroeconomic conditions in Sky territories in Europe.
Write to Patience Haggin at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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