PHILADELPHIA—While cord cutting continues to plague Comcast, the nation’s largest cable TV provider reported higher Q1 2023 profits driven by its broadband and theme park divisions.
The company said it lost 614,000 video subscribers during the quarter, an increase from the 444,000 it reported in Q4 2022. Paid subscriptions to its Peacock streaming service increased 2 million to 22 million total in Q1, which represents a 60% increase year over year. Peacock’s revenues also were up 45% to $685 million, however it reported a loss of $704 million, a decrease from the $978 million it reported in Q4.
With NBC broadcasting the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LVI in Q1 2022—bringing in $1.5 billion in incremental revenue—the numbers were expected to be lower and they were—a decrease of 4.3% to $29.7 billion. However net income for the company was up 8% to $3.83 billion compared to $3.55 billion in the same quarter last year.
Subscriptions to Comcast’s “Connectivity & Platforms” unit (i.e. broadband) increased by 82,000 to 52.5 million with revenue increasing 4.8% to $6.3 million. Video subscriptions fell 614,000 with video revenues down 7.7% to $7.4 million.
Ad revenues fell 15.5% to $907 million, which the company partly attributed to the lack of political advertising in the same quarter a year ago.
The bright spots for Comcast were the studios and its theme parks. Revenue for studios increased 13.3% to $277 million, growing 1.7% to $3 billion primarily due to higher theatrical revenue from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and M3GAN. Theme park revenue jumped 46% year over year to $658 million, which the company attributed to the easing of Covid restrictions and higher revenue at their domestic theme parks, including Universal Studios Hollywood which opened Super Nintendo World during the quarter.
“We delivered strong first quarter results as our team executed exceptionally well," said CEO Brian Roberts. “We accomplished all of this while continuing to invest in future growth initiatives. Also, importantly, we had solid revenue growth in our high-margin connectivity businesses, while increasing our Peacock subscribers more than 60% year over year.
“Our theme parks set a new record of Adjusted EBITDA for a first quarter. In addition, we returned a healthy amount of capital to our shareholders and maintained an enviable balance sheet. As we look ahead, we have great momentum across the company, including Studios where Super Mario Bros. has smashed global box office records to become one of the most successful movies of 2023,” Roberts said.
