PHILADELPHIA—Comcast generally beat Wall Street estimates in its Q2 2022 earnings release. But it also reported over 1 million video sub losses in the first half of 2022, with 520,000 video sub losses in Q2, and it posted disappointing results for its streaming operations.
Paid subs for its streaming service Peacock were flat 13 million and losses rose to $467 million.
Even so, distribution revenue for its NBCU media group increased 8.4%, driven by increases at Peacock and contractual rate increases, partially offset by a decline in subscribers at its networks, the company reported.
The media results included $444 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $467 million related to Peacock, compared to $122 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA6 loss of $363 million in the prior year period.
Overall, the company has gained 166,000 customers in the first half of the year but lost 28,000 in Q2. Broadband customers were essentially flat in Q2 compared to Q1 2022, remaining at about 32.1 million, but were up 2.5% compared to a year earlier.
“Our financial results in the second quarter were very strong across the board, with Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky each delivering solid growth in adjusted EBITDA, resulting in a double-digit increase in adjusted earnings per share and healthy free cash flow generation. commented Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation. “Significantly we accomplished this while also continuing to invest in our businesses’ future growth, increasing our return of capital to our shareholders, and keeping our balance sheet in a great place. In Cable, we achieved our highest adjusted EBITDA margin on record even amid a unique and evolving macroeconomic environment that is temporarily putting pressure on the volume of our new customer connects. At NBCUniversal, terrific results at theme parks fueled our growth in the quarter, and we expect our recent premieres and planned slate of content and live events from our media and studios businesses, including Jurassic World: Dominion, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Nope, Sunday Night Football and The World Cup, to make significant contributions later this year, including to our subscriber growth at Peacock.”
