Variety: Peacock Sheds 500,000 Subscribers in Q2 Ahead of Olympics, Price Hikes

Story from Variety:

NBCUniversal‘s streamer Peacock shed 500,000 customers in the second quarter, dipping from 33.5 million to 33 million paid subscribers.

The drop, reported Tuesday in parent company Comcast’s Q2 earnings results, comes amid price hikes at Peacock and just before NBCUniversal’s giant programming push for the Paris Olympics.

For its Q1 results in April, Comcast had reported 34 million paid Peacock subscribers. Representatives for the company have confirmed to Variety that those materials were rounding up from 33.5 million.

Comcast says it took a $348 million loss at Peacock for the April-June quarter compared to $651 in Q2 2023. Revenue for the platform was up 28% year over year to $1 billion.

Beginning in mid-July, the price for Peacock Premium (with ads) will increase by $2 to $7.99 per month, and Peacock Premium Plus (mostly ad-free) is also going up by $2 to $13.99 per month.  Peacock Premium’s annual price will increase from $59.99 to $79.99, while Premium Plus is going from $119.99 to $139.99 per year.

The new prices will be effective starting July 18 for new Peacock customers (ahead of the July 26 kickoff to the summer games in Paris) and for existing subscribers with their next billing date on or after Aug. 17.

On Tuesday, Comcast reported net income at the media giant fell 7.5% in the second quarter to approximately $3.93 billion, or $1 per share, compared with $4.25 billion, or $1.02 per share, in the year-earlier period. EBITDA fell about 1% to $10.17 billion.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a letter to shareholders that the company’s Media segment returned to adjusted earnings growth thanks largely to Peacock, delivering the “best year-over-year improvement for any quarter since its launch in 2020.”