Olympics, Theme Park Rebound Drive NBCU Growth

Comcast Chairman-CEO Brian Roberts today proclaimed it a “wonderful quarter” as the company reported its third quarter results. He told Wall Street analysts that Universal Orlando had the most profitable quarter in its history, despite having virtually no foreign visitors. And as the theme park business recovers from pandemic restrictions, both the linear and streaming TV businesses added to NBCUniversal’s successful quarter.

Media revenues for NBCU were up 47.5% to $6.8 billion. Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh noted that included approximately $1.8 billion attributed to the Tokyo Olympics. But excluding the Olympics, revenues were still up 9.2%, driven by higher distribution and advertising revenue.

“Advertising revenue increased 7.2%, reflecting an overall market recovery compared to last year, very strong demand in pricing for our ad inventory, a higher contribution from Peacock, and a solid start to the new fall season, including strong NFL ratings — partially offset by the timing of sporting events compared to last year, when several events had shifted from the second quarter to the third quarter,” Cavanagh told the analysts.

Advertising also gained for Comcast’s Cable Communications sector, rising 4.6% to $705 million in the quarter. Excluding political, that gain would have been 19%.

“Everything on Peacock is heading in the right direction,” said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell of the company’s streaming service. “All metrics are pointed up,” he added, and noted that advertising has now moved beyond selling sponsorships on the growing platform. “And that is going spectacularly well,” he said.

“We’re very excited about next year with everything that we’ve got coming across NBCUniversal,” he added. “From the Olympics and Super Bowl, to a spectacular movie slate, to a very strong advertising business. Ratings at our linear networks are improving. I think Peacock, I would add to that that Peacock is doing really well right now without most of its programming strength.

“So, if you look at the future, as you look at where we’re headed with Peacock — because of the pandemic we’re behind on our original productions, we’re going to see a ramp-up in originals on Peacock, which is very necessary to continue to grow to have robust and successful original programming — we’re excited about a lot of the things that we’re making for the service,” Shell said of the outlook for NBCU.

For the third quarter overall, NBCU posted a 57.9% gain in revenues to just over $10 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose 48.2% to $1.3 billion.

For all of Comcast, revenues were up $18.7% to $30.3 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose 18.1% to just under $9 billion.