Comcast revealed its fourth quarter 2022 earnings on Thursday, reporting that the corporate had managed to exceed analyst projections for the yr regardless of dropping broadband and video subscribers and widening losses from its Peacock streaming service.
Peacock — the streaming platform for Comcast-owned NBCUniversal — reported a lack of $978 million throughout the firm’s fourth monetary quarter, a large leap from the $559 million loss reported in the identical quarter final yr. Comcast expects Peacock’s complete losses to peak at round $3 billion. “We consider 2023 will likely be peak losses for Peacock and, from there, steadily enhance,” stated Comcast president Michael Cavanagh throughout an organization earnings name (via CNBC).
Peacock’s annual income has virtually tripled to $2.1 billion
Comcast additionally introduced that Peacock’s annual income had virtually tripled to $2.1 billion and that the service had gained 5 million extra paid subscribers throughout its fourth quarter, surpassing 20 million complete subscribers. “It’s very clear we picked the appropriate enterprise mannequin,” stated NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. “We made that funding… and made clear from the beginning we’re going to make a return on that funding. I feel we really feel higher about that now.”
Total, Comcast reported $8 billion in earnings over its fourth quarter, a decline of virtually 5 p.c in contrast with the identical interval final yr. Whole income for the yr got here in at $30.55 billion, a smidge increased than the $30.32 billion determine beforehand estimated by analysts.
The corporate stated it misplaced 26,000 broadband clients in This autumn due to injury brought on by Hurricane Ian after hitting Florida and South Carolina in September however estimates that it could have added 4,000 new clients when excluding the impression of the storm. Comcast additionally reported a lack of 440,000 video clients throughout the identical quarter.
Comcast’s Xfinity Cellular now has over 5.3 million wi-fi clients
Alongside the earnings report, Comcast unveiled plans to convey a number of of its streaming and cable providers underneath a single UI system later this yr. “In 2023, we’ll launch one world consumer interface for Sky Glass, X1, Flex, Xumo, and our US and worldwide companions,” stated Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts.
A lot of Comcast’s media providers already run off its global technology platform however will even presumably assist the identical apps and share the same (if not an identical) visible fashion after migrating to the unified UI. “Each leisure buyer around the globe will get the identical Emmy Award-winning voice-controlled expertise,” stated Roberts.
Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s mum or dad firm.