Peacock TV is losing lots of money, as expected

Comcast lost a lot of money on Peacock TV last year. According to Variety, the streaming service lost over $1-billion in 2021, qnd is expected to lose even more in 2022.

Comcast, in reporting Q4 earnings Thursday, revealed that Peacock generated $778 million in revenue for the full-year 2021, with an adjusted loss of $1.7 billion. That’s compared with $118 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) loss of $663 million in 2020.

For 2022, Comcast expects Peacock losses to total about $2.5 billion as its investment in content doubles, CFO Mike Cavanagh said on the earnings call.

So, why is this a good thing? I mean, losing billions of dollars doesn't sound good, does it? But, launching a large streaming service is expensive, and Comcast thinks that in the long run, they can withstand these losses and end up making money overall. They're looking at it as a long-term investment.

In fact, for the 4th quarter of 2021, Comcast performed better than expected.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 5.48%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this cable provider would post earnings of $0.75 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.87, delivering a surprise of 16%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.

So, it looks like Comcast won't be cutting their losses. They expected them, and overall, business is better than expected.

What does this mean for the streamer? It means that Peacock TV will be hanging around for a while yet. It won't be going the way of PlayStation Vue, at least nor for a few years. And, if the better than expected performance continues, Peacock TV subscribers can expect to have that as a part of their Streaming Life for some time to come.