Peacock adds three million subscribers in Q1 as losses reduced to $639m

Comcast hailed Ted as Peacock’s biggest original hit

Comcast-owned US streamer Peacock added around three million subscribers in the first quarter of the year to reach 34 million, while its losses narrowed but remained substantial.

Peacock was helped by Oscar winner Oppenheimer becaming the most-watched first-run movie in its history.

In the three months ending March 31, Comcast reported an adjusted loss of US$639m related to Peacock, compared with US$704m a year ago and US$825m in the previous quarter. The streamer’s revenue was up to US$1.1bn in Q1, versus US$685m a year ago.

Outside Peacock, Comcast’s studios segment saw revenue fall 7.2% to US$2.96bn while media revenue grew 3.6% to US$6.37bn.

Comcast CEO Mike Cavanagh said Peacock was “seeing traction in our approach to providing a service for consumers that is a combination of both entertainment and sports and how those two go together.”

Earlier in the year, Peacock picked up the exclusive rights to an NFL Wild Card game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was watched by an average audience of 23 million, making it the most-streamed live event in US history, according to Comcast, and driving the largest internet usage day ever in the country.

The game drove a lot of new sign-ups, many of which Peacock has managed to retain.

“In the weeks that followed, our viewing was at record highs across all parts of our non-sports portfolio. And in the quarter, we launched our biggest original, Ted, to the greatest success of any of the originals we’ve ever launched, and Traitors season two, our reality series on Peacock. Both of those were in the Nielsen top 10 streaming [chart] in the earlier part of the year. I think we see the two parts of the portfolio interplaying well with each other,” said Cavanagh.

Elsewhere, Cavanagh hinted that price increases could be on the way, noting that the average revenue per subscriber on Peacock is around US$10 but that the service will have “some pricing power over time.”

Peacock lost US$2.8bn in fiscal 2023 but Comcast said the streaming service’s losses will reduce in future years.