Comcast’s streaming service Peacock, which launched nationwide earlier this month, has attracted 10M sign-ups to date.
AVOD streaming service Peacock was launched in April for Comcast subscribers and nationwide this month.
Comcast reported quarterly financial results that exceeded analysts’ expectations, but NBCU was hit by a 27% drop in advertising revenue.
The operator said it lost 427,000 residential video subscribers and another 51,000 business services video subscribers for a total net loss of approximately 477,000. The company has now lost 815,000 residential video subscribers through the first six months of 2020.
High-speed internet customers in the US grew at a faster-than-expected rate, reaching a second quarter record in cable with more than 217,000 net customer relationship adds.
Comcast also said it has retained 95% of Sky sports customers since the beginning of the pandemic, despite the postponement of major live sports events. Sky revenue fell 15.5% during the quarter to $4.1 billion, which included a 43% decline in Sky advertising revenue.
“Our response to COVID-19 has been extraordinarily fast and effective, and our products and brands continue to resonate strongly with our customers across all segments and all geographies. The solid results that we delivered in the quarter highlight the resilience of our company. Cable delivered record second quarter customer relationship net adds, driven by the best second quarter high-speed internet net adds in 13 years.
“NBCUniversal successfully launched Peacock in Cable’s footprint in April, ahead of the streaming service’s U.S. nationwide launch earlier this month, with 10 million sign-ups to date. NBCUniversal also just recently announced a deal with AMC Theatres in the US that allows Universal to release titles across PVOD platforms after a 17-day exclusive theatrical window. At Sky, our flexible strategy helped retain customers until key sports returned in May and June.
“Overall, based on our results and the many organic growth opportunities that we have across our company, I am confident in our ability to continue to successfully navigate the impact of COVID-19, and emerge from the crisis even stronger. I could not be more proud of how our teams across Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal and Sky are together managing the business,” commented Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation.
