NBCUniversal CEO Expects Disney to Write ‘Big Check’ for Remaining Share of Hulu
The UBS Global TMT Conference began on Monday, Dec. 5, and one of the first executives to speak with analysts and investors at the event was NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. The big news item from Shell’s panel at the conference was the announcement that NBCU’s streaming service Peacock had doubled its paid subscriber total in 2022, going from 9 million in January to over 18 million as of December.
Shell spoke on a myriad of other topics during the conference, including the company's planned sale of its stake in Hulu to Disney. Shell still believes that the sale will take place in 2024, despite Disney’s abrupt change in CEOs from Bob Chapek to Bob Iger.
“I think there’s no indications that anything else is going to happen [other than] Disney writing us a big check for Hulu in ‘24,” Shell said.
The movement of NBCU shows from Hulu to Comcast earlier this fall has been highly beneficial to Peacock, according to Shell. He said that series like “Saturday Night Live,” which air initially on NBC and stream on Peacock the next day, have performed “above our expectations” in their new home.
Shell also spoke about how the company plans to turn even more users at the free service level — either over the top (OTT) or via a Comcast cable and internet package — into paid subscribers. A subscription to Peacock’s ad-supported tier is included free for every Comcast internet subscriber in the United States. Shell didn’t provide specifics on how the company planned to monetize further those customers, but suggested that a plan for such monetization could be coming soon.
“The increases in subscribers that we’ve seen over the last six months — driven by our movies, driven by the content coming off Hulu, driven by World Cup primarily — has also happened on the bundled side where we see more people using it in Comcast homes, which increases the size of the pool we have to then convert to paid,” Shell said. “So over the next year or two, we’ll be probably moving towards that model.”
Shell also singled out the animation segment of NBCU’s movie business for praise coming off of an incredibly successful year with multiple box office hits and one more major property to come before the end of the year.
“I honestly think that not only are we challenging Disney in animation, but I would take our animation business over theirs right now,” he said. “We have the only bonafide global hit in animation right now with ‘Minions’ and ‘Despicable Me.’ DreamWorks is doing really well, and we have ‘Puss in Boots’ coming in a couple of weeks, which will be our first new part of the Shrek franchise, which is a great thing.”
It cannot be argued that Universal’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” was a smash hit for the company. The film saw a theatrical release of 84 days, and a box office return of over $920 million to date. Disney, meanwhile, is set to take a loss of $100 million on its latest animated theatrical release “Strange World,” according to Variety.
Happy days are apparently here to stay at Peacock, where both subscriber numbers and average revenue per user are increasing. But Comcast customers currently enjoying the service for free will want to keep an eye out in the next couple of years, as they will likely have to start paying for Peacock in that time frame.
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.