Peacock lost $372 million over the final three months of 2024, when it added…zero subscribers. The good news is it didn’t lose members either: Peacock’s 36 million subscribers at the end of the year stayed stagnant with the prior quarter’s results. The platform’s Q4 revenue was $1.3 billion.
Losing hundreds of millions of dollars is nothing new for Peacock. It lost $436 million in the prior quarter — and that one included the Paris Olympics. The streamer added 3 million subscribers in the summer period — they (more or less) stuck around.
The dollar losses continue to improve quarter to quarter. Peacock lost $825 million over the final quarter of 2023; management has yet to announce when they expect Peacock to turn a profit.
One thing management certainly has announced is a gigantic restructuring of TV and digital assets. Cable channels MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, Syfy, and Golf Channel — as well as holdings like Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, and Sports Engine — are being spun off into a new independent company, leaving NBC, Peacock, Bravo, the studios, theme parks, and Telemundo behind. Donna Langley gets those remaining goodies, Matt Strauss inherits the goners.
NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast, which reported third quarter earnings on Thursday morning. Overall, the company bested media analysts’ financial expectations for Q4.
Wall Street forecast Comcast would report earnings per share of 86 cents on revenue of $31.62 billion; Comcast reported adjusted EPS of 96 cents on $31.92 billion in revenue.
For Universal, much of the box office for “The Wild Robot” (September 27, 2024; $325 million worldwide) was realized in the fourth quarter. The biggie was “Wicked” (November 22, 2024), while Focus Features’ “Nosferatu” (Christmas Day 2024) snuck in under the wire. “Wicked” has made more than $700 million worldwide; a sequel, now titled “Wicked: For Good,” will come out for Thanksgiving 2025.
Streaming-wise, Universal’s films are actually much more successful on Netflix (read: revenue for NBCU!) than they are on Peacock. On Peacock, the usual “Grinch” movies came back around to the Nielsen charts at Christmastime, and the return of “Despicable Me 4” was a winner. “Twisters” and TV series “Yellowstone” made appearances on the Nielsen streaming charts as well, though none of that stuff really set the world on fire. “The Day of the Jackal” starring Eddie Redmayne on Peacock (in the U.S.) was received well critically — though not here at IndieWire! — but didn’t move the needle in terms of audience. As per usual for fall/winter, NBC and Peacock enjoyed TV’s most-watched show, “Sunday Night Football.”
