Comcast saw fourth-quarter profit surge by 7.8% as the cable giant increased the number of businesses using its communications services, its Peacock streaming hub added 3 million subscribers and its theme parks saw robust activity.
“Our unique and complementary capabilities will enable us to capitalize on the many opportunities ahead,” said Brian Roberts, the company’s chairman. Comcast is, like its rivals, navigating in a difficult period for media companies as one-time TV viewers migrate to streaming video, reducing interest in traditional linear entertainment services and traditional cable.
The Philadelphia owner of NBCUniversal said net income rose 7.8% to $3.26 billion, or 81 cents a share, compared with $3.02 billion, or 70 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 2.3% compared with the prior-year period.
The company eked out positive results despite losing 389,000 video subscribers and seeing a 6.9% decline in U.S. advertising at NBCUniversal.
Investors may be encouraged by performance at Peacock, where losses narrowed to $825 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of $978 million in the year-earlier period. Peacock had 31 million subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Comcast said its theme parks saw a 12.2% increase in revenue, a boost that it attributed largely to activity at Super Nintendo World. The company said it saw increased guest attendance, which offset higher operating expenses.
Revenue from the company’s theatrical operations rose 59% in the quarter, largely due to the performance of “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “Trolls Band Together,” “The Exorcist: Believer” and “Migration.”