Sportcal

Peacock adds 3 million new subscribers, losses narrow in Q1

The streaming service's losses fell year-on-year to $639 million from $704 million in 2023.

US streaming service Peacock, owned by the NBCUniversal Media conglomerate (a subsidiary of Comcast), saw a growth in subscribers and shrunk its losses in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.

Peacock losses fell year-on-year to $639 million from $704 million in 2023, driven mostly by 3 million new subscribers to the service.

Speaking to analysts, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh stressed that despite another year of nine-figure losses for the streamer, the outlook is not a negative one, stating that its mix of sports content and broad entertainment is “interplaying well with each other”, highlighted by record streaming viewership on its NFL American football playoff broadcasts in January.

Having launched almost four years ago, Peacock's revenue rose to over $1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023. It hit $1.1 billion in Q1 this year, bolstered by the growing subscriber numbers which themselves were attracted in part due to its sports broadcasts.

Peacock’s American football coverage (covering both the NFL and college conference Big 10) was specifically highlighted by chief financial officer Jason Armstrong as a major driver of growing subscriber numbers late last year.

The streaming platform has also added exclusive streaming NFL broadcast rights once more for its 2024 season, most notably its high-profile international markets fixture in Sao Paulo between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, the first NFL game ever to take place in Brazil.

Although Cavanagh stated that Q2 will likely be a leaner month due to the lack of sports occurring over the three months, NBC’s exclusive US rights to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (which will begin in July) are expected to drive growth once again through the third quarter of the year.

Peacock will be the home of NBCUniversal’s Paris 2024 coverage as it looks to simplify the audience experience following low viewership figures during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the streamer being the home of all of the Olympics’ 329 medal events, a first for the sports broadcast mix in the US.