Comcast‘s third-quarter results were buoyed by a surge in advertising tied to the Spanish-language telecast on NBCU’s Telemundo, a profit at its Peacock streaming service and the box-office performance of films like “The Odyssey,” but revenue in most parts of the company’s cable-and-media empire dipped as the Philadelphia media conglomerate faced challenges in its core cable-and-connections business as well as its theme parks.
Comcast said third quarter revenue fell 6.1% to nearly $29.3 billion, compared with nearly $31.2 billion in the year-earlier period. Net income, however, rose 3.5%, to nearly $3.45 billion, or 97 cents per share., compared with $3.33 billion, or 90 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue from the company’s connectivity and platforms operations fell to $19.66 billion. The company said its broadband users decreased by 144,000 in the third quarter, compared with a erosion of 91,000 in the year-earlier quarter. Comcast also lost 274,000 domestic video customers, compared with 257,000 a year earlier.
Revenue from the company’s TV, film, and theme parks operations — soon to be spun off as a separate NBCUniversal — rose 6.5% to $10.54 billion. Ad sales tied to the World Cup boosted the overall segment, with U.S. ad sale surging 14.6%. Without the World Cup, however, domestic ad sales would have increased just 0.3%. Comcast saw a 4.4% dip in revenue at its theme parks sales declined, citing lower revenue from park admissions.
The Peacock streaming service saw revenue surge 33% year over year to $1.82 billion, but it was down sequentially (from $1.90 billion in Q2). Paid subscribers remained flat at 48 million versus Q2, while the total was up 17% year over year. Peacock saw a pre-tax profit of $261 million, compared with a loss of $217 million in the year-earlier period.