Comcast CEO Touts Peacock As the Fastest-Growing Streamer: How It Stands Up Against Rivals

Peacock is still smaller than streaming giants, but it's growing rapidly.

During Comcast’s fourth-quarter earnings call today (Jan. 25), CEO Brian Roberts boasted the success of Peacock, the streaming service under Comcast’s NBCUniversal, calling it “the fastest-growing streamer in the U.S.” in the past quarter ended December. 

At the end of 2023, Peacock had 31 million subscribers, up around 50 percent from the year prior, and reached 1 billion in revenue for the first time. The streaming service, launched in 2020, has yet to turn a profit. But its loss narrowed to $825 million in the October-December quarter from $978 million a year ago. 

Peacock’s subscriber number continues to grow rapidly in 2024. The streamer started the new year with an exclusive deal to stream the NFL’s AFC Wild Card playoff between the Kansas City Chief and the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 13. Almost three million new subscribers signed up in that weekend alone, according to estimates by the research firm Antenna.

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said on today’s call Peacock is also expected to get a subscription boost from other deals like the exclusive streaming of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and NBC’s coverage of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.  

“These next Olympic games promise to be nothing short of spectacular,” Cavanagh said. “With the NBC broadcast network airing more content than ever before, Peacock as the streaming home for all games, NCBUniversal will be the most comprehensive Olympic destination in US media history.”

Other media and entertainment conglomerates have also recently found streaming is a bright spot in their company financials. When Apple (AAPL) reported 2023 third-quarter earnings in November, Apple TV+ stood out in an otherwise mixed report. The tech company’s services sector, which includes Apple TV+, brought in $22.31 billion in revenue that quarter, 16 percent higher than the year prior. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) also revealed in third-quarter earnings last year its direct-to-consumer division, which includes streamers Max and Discovery+, were on track towards profitability.  

Comcast as a whole had a strong fourth quarter, bringing in $121.6 billion in revenue versus $121.4 billion a year ago and a free cash flow of $13 billion. Comcast stock is up 3.35 percent today to $45.27.

Here’s how many subscribers major streaming services currently have, based on recent disclosures:

• Netflix: 260 million
• Amazon Prime: 200 million
• Disney+: 150 million
• Max and Discovery+: 95 million
• Paramount+: 63 million
• Hulu: 48.5 million
• Peacock: 31 million