In its Q4 earnings this week, Comcast shed light on the growth of its Peacock streaming service, which has amassed a subscriber base of 24.5M monthly users in the U.S., up from 20M in June. Among those subscribers, 9M pay for the Premium ($4.99 with limited ads) or Plus ($9.99, ad-free) tiers of service, which provide access to its full range of programming. The remaining subscribers access Peacock without a separate charge through bundles on Comcast’s platforms or other pay-TV distributors.
On a call last week with investors, Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts mapped out a strategy for Peacock to increase its subscriber count by spending an additional $3B during 2022 to create or license new content. Peacock’s Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is now approaching $10 per month, driven by the combination of user subscriptions and ad revenue. This is a high mark compared to other streaming services such as Disney+, which has nearly five times the number of subscribers at 118M but an ARPU of only $4.12.
Comcast’s execs had originally projected that Peacock would reach financial break-even in 2024, but now acknowledge that their timeline to profitability will likely stretch out further, because they decided to increase investments in new content. Some analysts doubt Peacock’s long-term viability as a stand-alone service, currently on a track to lose billions annually for years to come.
See also: Peacock Hits 24.5M Active Accounts, Lost $1.7B In 2021; Comcast Q4 Tops Forecasts As ‘Halloween Kills,’ ‘Sing 2’ Buoy Universal (Deadline)
