Comcast reported higher first-quarter profits despite lower revenue following a 2022 in which the company benefited from broadcasting Super Bowl LVI, the Beijing Winter Olympics and a midterm election cycle.
Cord cutting continued, with the company losing 614,000 video subscribers — up from 444,000 in the fourth quarter — and the company racked up losses additional losses at Peacock, its direct-to-consumer streaming business.
Peacock paid subscribers increased to 22 million, up from 20 million at the end of 2022 and up 60% from a year ago. Peacock revenue increased 45% to $685 million, but the streaming service incurred a $704 million loss, down from the $978 million in red ink Peacock registered in the fourth quarter, but wider than its $456 million loss a year ago.
Overall, Comcast’s net income rose 8% to $3.83 billion, or 91 cents a share, from $3.55 billion, or 78 cents a share, a year ago.
Revenue fell 4.3% to $29.7 billion following NBC’s broadcasts of the Super Bowl and Olympics in 2022, which generated $1.5 billion in incremental revenue.
The figures topped Wall Street forecasts.
NBCUniversal, now known as Comcast’s Content & Experiences unit, reported a 1% drop in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to $1.6 billion. Revenue fell 9.5% to $10.3 billion.
Domestic advertising revenues were down 38.8%. Excluding the Olympics and Super Bowl, ad revenues were down 6.1%.
EBITDA at Universal Studios was up 13.3% to $277 million as revenue rose 1.7% to $3 billion, driven by the release of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and M3gan.
Comcast’s connectivity & platforms division — formerly known as Comcast Cable — increased EBITDA by 3.2% to $8.1 billion. Comcast added 253,000 residential broadband customers, but lost 614,000 video customers.
Broadband revenue rose 4.8% to $6.3 billion. Video revenue fell 7.7% to $7.4 billion.
Ad revenues fell 15.5% to $907 million following the election year of 2022.
“We delivered strong first quarter results as our team executed exceptionally well," chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said. “We accomplished all of this while continuing to invest in future growth initiatives. Also, importantly, we had solid revenue growth in our high-margin connectivity businesses, while increasing our Peacock subscribers more than 60% year over year.
“Our theme parks set a new record of adjusted EBITDA for a first quarter,“ Roberts added. “In addition, we returned a healthy amount of capital to our shareholders and maintained an enviable balance sheet. As we look ahead, we have great momentum across the company, including Studios, where Super Mario Bros. has smashed global box-office records to become one of the most successful movies of 2023.”
