Peacock’s Paid Subscribers Inch Up to 36 Million While Revenue Grows More Quickly
Peacock’s Paid Subscribers Inch Up to 36 Million While Revenue Grows More Quickly
The NBCUniversal streamer isn’t competing with Netflix and Prime Video in terms of subscribers, but it is slowly moving toward profitability.
All of a sudden it’s late October, and for many entertainment companies that means it’s time to start reporting third-quarter earnings. NBCUniversal revealed its quarterly earnings report for Peacock on Thursday, Oct. 31, and as part of the report informed analysts and observers that it had gained 3 million subscribers, taking its new total to 36 million after ending Q2 with 33.5 million customers.
Financially, Peacock had another encouraging quarter. Its revenue brought in during the quarter was $1.5 billion, a year-over-year increase of 82%. An increase in revenue is hardly surprising, considering Q3 was the first full quarter in which Peacock's new prices were in effect, and the streamer also had the benefit of hosting the Olympics and the starts of new NFL and college football seasons.
Peacock also took a bit of a step back as far as losses are concerned. The streamer lost just $348 million last quarter but failed to improve on that number in Q3, losing $436 million. That is still significantly lower than the third quarter result in 2023 which saw the NBCU platform lose $565 million.
How Much Did the Olympics Help Peacock?
Peacock’s Q3 earnings report helps quantify how successful the streamer was at keeping customers who came to the service to watch the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. In the first week of the games, the streamer added 2.8 million customers, and the report shows it was able/unable to keep most of those subscribers.
The Olympics were clearly a big boost to Peacock ratings-wise. Nielsen measured that during the height of the games in August, Peacock accounted for 2.1% of all TV watched in the United States, a highly impressive figure and the best Peacock has ever managed to achieve.
Peacock made a couple of moves that will bring even more live sports to the streamer in the future. To start with, NBCU finalized a deal with the WNBA to begin airing games on NBC as well as streaming them on Peacock starting in 2026. Those games will join NBA contests on the service, telecasts of which begin in 2025.
The streamer will also begin showing content from NBC Sports regional sports networks in markets where those channels are available. Reports indicate NBC Sports channels will debut on Peacock in early 2025.
Spectrum TV customers will soon be able to access free Peacock accounts with their cable plans. In early October, Spectrum announced as part of its new carriage deal with NBCU that it would offer ad-supported Peacock at no cost to Spectrum TV Select customers.
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,” “The Office,” and original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports and NBC programming, including the NFL, MLB, WWE, the Olympics, the Premier League, NASCAR, the French Open, college football and basketball, and the PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.