On Thursday, Comcast revealed that its streaming service Peacock had lost about $2.75 billion in 2023—yet it considers this a victory, as it had previously expected a $3 billion loss (later revised to $2.8 billion). Additionally, Peacock boasted that it grew its revenue in the fourth quarter by 57 percent, hitting $1 billion in a single quarter for the first time in its history.
Peacock ended 2023 with 31 million paid subscribers, which is still a far cry from Netflix’s 260 million total subscribers.
Peacock ended the month of September with 28 million subscribers, having added four million in Q3 and three million in Q4.
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During a conference call, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh reportedly boasted about Peacock’s streaming of a Saturday night wildcard NFL playoff game which received 23 million average viewers. “Our investment in the network and our technology platforms built over decades enabled us to shine, delivering a seamless experience on the Internet and Peacock, demonstrating that our company is in an excellent position to win in this era of high bandwidth,” he reportedly told them.
Peacock Quarterly Loss Narrows to $825M As Streamer Hits 31M Subscribers https://t.co/pTMJdkvXj7
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 25, 2024
Cavanagh also bragged that Peacock had exclusive streaming rights over Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer starting February 16th, and that it would be streaming the 2024 Olympics live.
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In 2023, Peacock ended the year with 20 million subscribers and reported losses of $2.5 billion. At the time, Cavanagh said, “We will hit our peak loss this year and then improve steadily from there,” and said the stats made it “very clear that we picked the right business model.” He added that NBC Universal “wouldn’t be investing in Peacock if we didn’t think it was going to return the [media] segment to growth over time.”
In the conference call this past Thursday, Cavanagh referred to Peacock as “the fastest growing streamer in the US.” He also attempted to persuade investors to think about NBC Universal’s overall strategy rather than putting a magnifying glass on Peacock’s performance.
“I’m less focused on what standalone Peacock losses are doing than I am on doing what’s right for the long term and the totality of the media business, which is linear and streaming. I think we’ve navigated a very good path for us,” he said.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Jason Armstrong, added, “2023 marked the peak in annual losses at Peacock and for 2024 we expect to show meaningful improvements in losses, versus 2023.”
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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