With Wall Street turning away from subscriber numbers to focus on profits and sustainable balance sheets, Peacock was known to be in an unenviable position. While all of the streaming platforms bar Netflix itself are still finding their way into the black, Peacock’s deepening losses and slow growth have been working against it for a while. With the news of another steep and painful loss for Q1, and no real sign of it turning around any time soon, does this mean Peacock could find itself on the chopping block as we inevitably see shrinkage in the streaming market? Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, unpacks the news.
$700M Loss
Unveiled as part of the wider Comcast earnings update, Peacock managed a staggering $700M loss in Q1 despite an upward turn in subscriber numbers. Now at 22M, a 60% increase on the same period last year, it wasn’t enough to match operating costs. Peacock’s revenue total was $685M, significantly behind the EBITDA loss of $704M.
2023 was predicted to be the peak of Peacock’s losses, and it seems they weren’t exaggerating! It’s currently estimated they could turn in an overall loss of $3B this year.
Overall Declines
While the overall Comcast balance sheet looked a little better, it still hasn’t brought anything to the table to get excited about. Overall we see their content and experiences division drop by 9.5%, with adjusted earnings ending flat. The studio division did see a 13% upturn, but the advertising division turned in a dull 21% drop on the back of a tighter advertising environment. With an unanticipated high-level departure in their ranks, too, it seems Peacock has a lot of ground to regain if it wants to make a case for itself as a true streaming competitor.
While execs were keen to write these dull returns off as just an expected part of the business, it’s hard to see a compelling argument for that competitiveness at present. Unless 2024 brings considerably better things for the platform, Peacock may yet find itself on the streaming chopping block.
Film and Television 