Comcast reported a notable increase in subscribers to its premium streaming service Peacock and reduced its streaming losses in its Q3 2023 earnings report compared to the numbers its reported a year earlier in Q3 2022.
Peacock paid subscribers increased nearly 80% compared to the prior year period to 28 million, the company said and added 4 million in the quarter, the company reported.
Comcast also reported that Peacock’s revenue Increased 64% to $830 Million and adjusted EBITDA improved compared to the a year earlier in Q3 2022 and the prior quarter, Q2, 2023.
Overall Peacock had $830 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA8 loss of $565 million in Q3 2023, compared to $506 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA8 loss of $614 million in the prior year period.
The company “materially improved Peacock paid subscriber and financial metrics compared to the prior year period as well as on a sequential basis,” said chairman and CEO of Comcast, Brian Roberts.
In the Q3 earnings call Comcast president Michael Cavanagh said that Peacock “added 4 million paying subscribers during the quarter, saw greater than 60% revenue growth versus a year ago, and had the first year-over-year improvement in EBITDA since our launch in 2020.”
“While we report standalone Peacock metrics given the significance of this initiative, we manage it as part of the broader NBCU media segment which includes the broadcast and cable networks to best leverage the advantages we bring to the streaming landscape,” Cavanaugh explained. “We continue to be pleased with our progress in the few short years since we've pivoted our streaming strategy as a result of the ownership changes at Hulu. Looking ahead, we are sticking to our plans and still expect 2023 to be the peak year of EBITDA losses for Peacock, though we are now expecting 2023 Peacock losses to come in around $2.8 billion versus our original $3 billion loss outlook. And for 2024, we expect to show meaningful EBITDA improvement over 2023.”
