Comcast closed out 2024 with a strong quarter, delivering $31.9 billion in revenue—beating the Wall Street overlords’ expectations. However, despite growth in streaming and film, the company’s stock dropped nearly 13% as broadband subscriber losses overshadowed positive earnings results.
Peacock’s Revenue Growth and Loss Reduction
Peacock, NBCU’s streaming service, continues to show progress in its financials. The service generated $1.3 billion in Q4 revenue, up 28% year-over-year, and trimmed its quarterly EBITDA losses to $372 million—a dramatic improvement from the $825 million loss in Q4 2023.
For the full year, Peacock’s revenue surged 46% to $4.9 billion, while losses narrowed by nearly $1 billion compared to 2023. Subscriber count remained at 36 million, unchanged from Q3 but up 16% year-over-year.
NBCU execs remain bullish on Peacock’s long-term profitability, citing upcoming NBA rights, which will add 50 exclusive regular-season and playoff games starting in the second half of 2025. Management also pointed to recent price increases and higher ad revenue as additional revenue drivers for 2025.
NBCU Studios Rides ‘Wicked’ Box Office Success
NBCU’s studios division posted an 85% EBITDA increase, driven by the theatrical success of Wicked and The Wild Robot. Studio revenue grew 7% year-over-year to $3.27 billion, with theatrical revenue alone up 50%.
Wicked’s global box office revenue of $717 million helped Universal maintain a dominant market position in film. Executives credited lower marketing and promotional expenses with further improving profitability.
NBCU’s Streaming & Broadcast Strategy Post-SpinCo
Following the planned spinoff of most linear cable networks into a standalone entity (SpinCo), NBCU is restructuring around broadcast and streaming. Key assets remaining with NBCU include:
- NBC Network & NBC Sports
- Bravo, a key driver of Peacock viewership
- Peacock, which continues to be NBCU’s streaming priority
- Universal Studios & Theme Parks
Comcast does not see SpinCo as critical to Peacock’s success. CEO Brian Roberts noted that 98% of Peacock’s viewership does not come from the spun-off networks. NBCU will now double down on aligning its streaming and broadcast strategy, emphasizing leveraging NBC to drive Peacock and vice versa.
“We’re not running a Peacock-only strategy,” Comcast President Mike Cavanagh emphasized. “We’re running a broadcast-plus-streaming strategy and looking to optimize that over the years ahead.”
NBCU expects the NBA to be a major subscriber growth driver in 2025, alongside existing sports rights such as Sunday Night Football, the Premier League, and the Olympics.
Comcast’s Pay-TV and Broadband Challenges
The traditional pay-TV business continues to shrink. Comcast lost 311,000 domestic video customers in Q4, an improvement from the 389,000 lost in Q4 2023. Comcast shed 1.6 million video subscribers for the full year, bringing its total to 12.5 million.
However, broadband subscriber losses accelerated, with 139,000 net broadband losses in Q4, far more than the 34,000 lost in Q4 2023. Executives cited increased competition from fiber providers like AT&T and Verizon and ongoing pricing pressure in key markets.
Despite subscriber declines, broadband revenue still increased 2% to $6.5 billion in Q4. Comcast is shifting its strategy to bundle broadband with wireless to reduce churn and launching skinny sports & news TV bundles to appeal to cord-cutters.
Looking Ahead: Streaming Growth, NBA, and M&A Possibilities
NBCU executives signaled openness to partnerships and bundling but made it clear they don’t need external deals to succeed. “We’re not looking to need anything other than our own assets and our own focus,” Cavanagh said, though he added, “We will consider anything.”
Comcast ended 2024 with record revenue, EBITDA, and EPS, but broadband losses remain a serious investor concern. The company enters 2025 with a leaner, more streaming-focused NBCU, a major new NBA content play, and a still-growing Peacock business—but it will have to manage significant broadband headwinds.
