Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, is one of the biggest new competitors in the field. Unfortunately, things aren’t looking too good, as it’s been revealed that the platform has lost $565 million in its fiscal third quarter. Now it’s expected that Peacock could lose as much as $2.8 billion in 2023.
This information, as shared by Comcast via THR, reveals that “the entertainment conglomerate earlier pointed to ‘peak losses’ at around $3 billion for Peacock this year, which on Thursday were reduced to a $2.8 billion loss outlook.” The publication also notes that “streaming revenues” are “coming in at $840 million, up 64 percent from a year-earlier.”
In spite of these numbers, Comcast Corp. president Mike Cavanagh made it clear that they’ll be sticking with their plans for Peacock, which currently offers a number of properties including the hit series Chucky.
“We continue to be pleased with our progress in the few short years since we’ve pivoted our streaming strategy as a result of the ownership changes at Hulu,” Cavanagh stated.
Additionally, Comcast executives predict that Peacock will provide an improved financial performance going into 2024. Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts also shared a statement that Peacock will include a larger emphasis on live sports:
“A big part of that is a commitment and belief that we see all sports finding a way over the next years to be more and more streamed. And that’s going to require more bandwidth. And that’s going to require and create an opportunity for us to have the superior product in the market. That’s our strategy and sports really is at the heart and soul of a lot of what we do,” Roberts shared with analysts.
As such, we’ll have to see how Peacock continues shaping up in the coming years. The platform will no doubt have some enticing offerings in the near future, including a television series based on Friday the 13th, and it’s already performed well with its day-and-date release of Five Nights at Freddy’s which premiered in theaters at the same time.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.