Comcast Loses 419K Pay TV Subs; Peacock Subs Hit 33M

PHILADELPHIA —Comcast reported improved results at Peacock, with paid subscribers growing to 33 million and losses at the streaming service continuing to decline. But it continued to hemorrhage pay TV subs, which fell by 419,000 in Q2 2024, and it lost 120,000 broadband subscribers.

Overall, Comcast’s pay TV subscribers fell from 14.495 million subs a year ago in Q2 2023 to 13.199 million in Q2 2024, a decline of nearly 1.3 million. Meanwhile broadband subs fell by 120,000 in Q2 2024 to 32.068 million, which was also down from the 32.305 million broadband subs in Q2 2023.

Overall the company exceeded earnings estimates but missed on revenue , thanks to problems with its theme parks and movie studio operations , pushing the stock down 4.2% at 12:05 p.m. ET on July 23.

However, adjusted earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for its media segment, which include its broadcast, network and streaming operations, increased 9.0% to $1.4 Billion, driven by improved performance at Peacock.

Peacock paid subscribers increased 38.0% compared to the prior year period to 33 million. Peacock’s revenue also jumped, increasing by 28% to $1.0 billion. That was the best year-over-year improvement in adjusted EBITDA for any quarter since launch in 2020, Comcast said.

Overall Peacock had $1.0 billion of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $348 million in Q2 2024, a notable improvement to $820 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $651 million a year earlier in Q2 2024.