Yahoo Finance Peacock losses narrow as Comcast hints at future price hikes
Comcast's (CMCSA) flagship streaming service Peacock added 3 million subscribers in the first quarter, while revenue at the platform increased 54% year over year to $1.1 billion, the company said on Thursday.
Losses at Peacock narrowed to $639 million compared to a loss of $704 million in the prior-year period. The company previously said 2023 would be the year of "peak losses" at the streaming service.
"We are really pleased with Peacock's trajectory," Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong said during the company's first quarter earnings call. "We started the year with an incredibly successful NFL wild card game, which resulted in a nice lift to paid subs. But even more important was how our broad content offering enabled strong consumer acquisition, retention, and engagement."
In total, Peacock subscribers have climbed 55% year over year to reach 34 million. The company said consumers are spending 90% of their time on the platform viewing non-sports content, which includes original scripted series like "Ted" and "Apples Never Fall" along with reality programs like "The Traitors."
"Oppenheimer", which premiered exclusively on Peacock in February, was the most watched film across all of streaming in its first seven days on the platform, management added.
"Looking ahead, our content offering provides such a great value proposition that we should have some real pricing power over time," Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said.
Echoing its competitors' recent moves, Peacock raised prices for the first time ever in July, hiking monthly fees by $1 to $5.99 for the ad-supported Peacock Premium plan and by $2 to $11.99 for the mostly ad-free Peacock Premium Plus tier.
"Peacock’s losses remain stubbornly high, in part reflecting the cost of the [NFL] playoff game," MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote in reaction to the report. "Peacock is still clearly sub-scale. But [amid streaming challenges at both Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount], Comcast has the balance sheet to wait for the market to come to them. They have the luxury of time."
In the first quarter, media revenue, which included Peacock along with the company's TV networks, grew 3.6% year over year to $6.4 billion — above consensus estimates of $6.3 billion.
Domestic advertising revenue within the segment came in flat, primarily driven by lower network revenue, which was offset by an increase in revenue at Peacock, the company said.
But the upcoming Paris Olympics should serve as a boon to advertising dollars.
"Following the Kentucky Derby in May, we'll have the Paris Olympics for 17 nights this summer," Cavanagh said on the call. "With more programming hours on the NBC broadcast network than any previous Olympics and over 5,000 hours of live coverage on Peacock, the games are on track to generate the most advertising revenue in history with $1.2 billion in ad sales commitments."
The company recently recruited "Call Her Daddy" podcast host Alex Cooper to host a series of interactive Olympics watch parties for Peacock.
Despite the streaming improvements, Comcast's stock fell as much as 7.4% on Thursday as a year-over-year decline in domestic broadband subscribers weighed on shares.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
