Comcast posted strong earning for the sector, boosted by the successful launch of its new ad-supported streaming service, Peacock, under its NBCUniversal arm.
The takeaways:
- Comcast beat analyst estimates on both earnings per share and revenue. Peacock subscribers have reached 10 million since its launch in April.
- Comcast’s NBCUniversal division suffered a revenue decline of 25.4% year-on-year to $6.1 billion. This is primarily due to cutbacks in advertising and the closure of theme parks.
- The company fears the effects of delayed production in NBCUniversal’s film divisions are yet to hit. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell commented on the report saying: “The negative financial effects will be felt in the coming years, particularly in 2021.”
The bigger picture: Advertising revenue for cable networks declined slightly less than for broadcast television, losing 27.o% and 27.9% respectively. This is primarily a result of lost ad revenues due to cancelled sports programming.
What the numbers say: The company reported stronger than expected internet customer growth, reaching a quarterly record of 217,000 net new customers. This highlights the trend away from traditional TV.
- Earnings per share: 69 cents adjusted, compared to 55 cents expected by Refinitiv.
- Revenue: $23.72 billion, compared to $23.57 billion expected by Refinitiv.
- High-speed internet customers: 323,000 net adds compared to 247,000 expected in a FactSet survey.
The roll-up: MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett told Deadline, “Even if the losses were not as dramatic as some might have feared, NBCU will continue to do very badly until after there is a vaccine… and the cable networks business, in particular, may not get much better even when there is“.
