Comcast exceeded expectations in its latest earnings report with the help of live sports programming.
The telecommunications conglomerate generated $30.55 billion in revenue in Q4 2022, beating analysts’ estimates of $30.32 billion.
Comcasts’ NBCUniversal segment, which includes NBC Sports and streaming service Peacock, reported $6 billion in media revenue — a 3% uptick year-over-year. The revenue included profits from the World Cup, Olympics, and Super Bowl.
- NBCUniversal reported that $263 million of its media revenue came from Telemundo’s and Peacock’s broadcasts of the World Cup.
- Peacock added 5 million paying subscribers in Q4, bringing its total number of subscribers to more than 20 million.
- Total losses for Peacock reached $2.5 billion in FY2022, and Comcast expects the service to lose roughly $3 billion in 2023.
Despite these setbacks, Peacock, which launched in 2020, continues to build its portfolio of offerings.
In 2021, Peacock added WWE with a five-year, $1 billion deal after the wrestling promotion shuttered its digital TV platform WWE Network. Last year, the service secured a two-year deal with MLB reportedly worth $30 million per year to broadcast 18 regular-season games.
Peacock booked $1 billion in upfront ad revenue in 2022, up from $500 million the year prior.
Up in the Sky
Comcast is reportedly considering a sale of Sky Deutschland that could value the media company at $998 million.
Comcast acquired Sky DE in 2018 when it purchased British broadcaster Sky for $39 billion.
