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Comcast, the parent company of Peacock, announced its earnings for the fourth quarter. Peacock announced that had added 11 million subscribers in the quarter, bringing its total to 33 million. That puts Peacock on par with other competitors like HBO MAX which now has 40 million, and Disney+ (which is a bit older) at 86 million.
What’s impressive is that this number is before The Office landed on Peacock, and before the entire WWE library comes to Peacock in March. Both of which are sure to bring in many more subscribers to Peacock.
However, where Peacock does offer a free tier. It’s tough to gauge how many of these customers are paying customers. Additionally, Comcast customers can get Peacock Premium (the $4.99/month tier) for free.
Nevertheless it is a good start for Peacock, which is only going to get better as it adds more content to the service. Adding the WWE Network to its service will also greatly enhance the amount of subscribers they get.
Comcast beat Wall Street’s expectations, despite the pandemic
Despite the pandemic, Comcast still managed to beat Wall Street’s expectations. It posted a revenue of $27.71 billion in the quarter. That is a 2.4% decline year-over-year.
However, Comcast did add 538,000 broadband subscribers in the quarter. And cable revenues also rose 6%. Though it did lose 248,000 video subscribers in the quarter.
Of course the theme parks is what really took a hit this quarter. Revenue fell 63% from the year-ago quarter. However its Orlando and Osaka, Japan theme parks did reach breakeven for the quarter.
Comcast is optimistic that the world will get back to normal soon, with the vaccine rolling out. CEO Brian Roberts stated that “We are optimistic that the parts of our business that had been most impacted will soon be back on a path towards growth.” Which is primarily the theme parks, as well as its filming division.