Comcast beat Wall Street’s first-quarter revenue and profit estimates on Thursday, thanks to NBC’s February sports slate and improving broadband customer losses.
The company said it lost 65,000 broadband customers, compared to 183,000 losses in the same period last year. Increased competition from wireless providers like Verizon and T-Mobile has led to quarterly customer losses for Comcast and its cable peers in recent years, which has particularly weighed on those companies’ stocks.
In response, Comcast last year changed its strategy and introduced more competitive pricing offerings in an effort to reduce broadband losses. The company also relied on its mobile business for growth, which added 435,000 new lines during the quarter. In total, Comcast now has 9.7 million mobile customers.
The company also reported 322,000 cable TV customer losses, fewer than the 427,000 recorded during the same period last year.
Revenue at Comcast’s Connectivity and Platforms unit, which includes its Xfinity-branded broadband, cable TV and mobile businesses, fell 2% to $17.32 billion.
Shares of the company rose as much as 8% in premarket trading.
Here’s how Comcast performed for the period compared to average analyst estimates, according to LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 79 cents adjusted versus 73 cents expected
- Income: $31.46 billion versus $30.43 billion expected
Comcast’s net income fell nearly 36% to $2.17 billion, or 60 cents per share, from $3.38 billion, or 89 cents per share, during the same period last year. Accounting for one-time items including depreciation and investments, Comcast reported earnings per share of 79 cents.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell about 17% to $7.93 billion.
Comcast’s overall revenue increased about 5% to $31.46 billion for the quarter.
Revenue was boosted by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which aired a slew of sports — including the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and NBA All-Star Weekend, during the quarter — that the company called a “legendary February.”
The media business, which includes NBCUniversal, saw revenue increase nearly 61% to $7.28 billion in the quarter. Excluding the Olympics and Super Bowl – which significantly boosted advertising sales – the unit’s turnover increased by around 13%.
Live sports remain the highest-rated programs on traditional and streaming television, and attract the most advertising dollars. The Super Bowl, in particular, breaks records every year when it comes to its expensive commercial spots. NBC received an average of $8 million per 30-second ad, CNBC reported.
National advertising for the media unit increased 135% to $3.45 billion for the quarter. Excluding the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, it rose 4.7% to $1.54 billion.
NBC’s sports slate also helped grow streaming service Peacock during the quarter. Peacock subscribers increased 12% year over year to 46 million. Peacock nearly doubled its revenue to $2.1 billion compared to the same period last year. The streamer reported a quarterly loss of $432 million, compared to a loss of $215 million in the year-ago period.
Adjusted EBITDA for the media segment declined to a loss of $426 billion due to higher operating expenses related to costs associated with the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl as well as the cost of NBA rights.
NBCUniversal is part of the overall content and experiences segment, which also includes movie studios and theme parks, each of which has seen year-over-year sales increases.
The movie studio’s revenue rose 21% to $3.43 billion, while revenue from Universal’s theme parks rose 24% to $2.33 billion. Theme parks were energized by the opening of Epic Universe last May.