Peacock Adds 3 Million Customers in Q4 2023 to Hit 31 Million; Still Lost $825 Million
Peacock may not have the power to add subscribers on the scale of a streaming service like Netflix, but its growth is impressive nonetheless. The streamer announced today as part of Comcast’s fourth quarter 2023 earnings report that it had grown to 31 million subscribers, an increase of 3 million from the 28 million it could claim at the end of the third quarter and an extra million from the 30 million it announced as its total in December.
Comcast continues to tout Peacock as “the fastest growing streamer in the U.S.” With a 55% year-over-year increase in subscribers, it is difficult to argue. Revenue-wise, it was also a good quarter for Peacock. The streamer garnered $1 billion in revenue, an increase from the $830 million it pulled in during Q3, a jump of 57%.
However, the NBCUniversal streamer still lost $825 million, proving how difficult it is for still-fledgling streaming services to make a profit. With its increased content investment, including for live sports rights, Peacock still has a long way to go to make money. On the bright side, the losses were considerably smaller in Q4 than the $978 million from the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
What Was Peacock Up to in the 4th Quarter?
Peacock has had football fans buzzing lately because of its exclusive offering of an NFL Wild Card game on Jan. 13. Before that game, however, Peacock got an exclusive regular season game as well, a December matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills. It used that game as a testbed for a commercial-free fourth quarter, a gimmick it repeated for its Wild Card game.
Speaking of football, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be sticking by Peacock for the foreseeable future. NBC announced an extension of its deal with Notre Dame in November, which means NBC and Peacock will continue to be the exclusive home of the university until 2029.
Unfortunately for sports fans, Peacock did lose access to one sport during the quarter, at least potentially. NBCUniversal’s deal with Major League Baseball to stream a Sunday morning game on Peacock each week of the season expired in December, and there has been no word of renewal or any negotiations between the two since.
What Other Content News Came from Peacock in Q4?
Because of strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA that did not end until November, there was a dearth of new scripted TV episodes on Peacock during the third quarter. However, the streamer used the opportunity to draw closer to unscripted brands from Bravo, such as the “Real Housewives” franchise. Peacock livestreamed several panels and events from BravoCon 2023, where it was announced the streamer would become home to uncensored reunion episodes of Bravo favorites like “Vanderpump Rules” and other reality series.
The streamer saw big success from its adaptation of “Five Nights at Freddy's,” the popular horror video game franchise. The movie debuted in theaters and on Peacock just ahead of Halloween, and it became the most-watched title on Peacock in its first five days of availability in the service’s history. Peacock will also be the streaming home of “Oppenheimer,” which leads all films with 13 nominations for 2024 Academy Awards, including Best Picture; the movie will debut on Peacock Feb. 16.
Has Peacock Made any Technical Improvements Recently?
Peacock’s engineers haven’t been doing much public tinkering with the service or its user interface, but it did streamline its interface with some new features in November. Peacock added “Watch,” “Resume,” “More Info,” and “More Episodes” prompts to home screen tiles, in the name of easing the viewer’s way to watching the content they want instead of having to go to a show’s page to access those options.
The service managed to expand its customer base meaningfully in late November when it announced a deal with Instacart to provide free access to Peacock for all Instacart+ members. Instacart+’s annual plan is $99.99, but customers can now save $59.99 every year thanks to the free Peacock access the service grants.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.