NBCU Revenues Down 19 Percent in Q3

Largely due to decreases in its filmed entertainment and theme park businesses, revenues at NBCUniversal fell by 18.9 percent to $6.7 billion in the third quarter, while overall revenues at parent company Comcast Corporation slipped by 4.8 percent to $25.5 billion.

NBCUniversal’s cable networks delivered revenues of $2.7 billion, down just 1.3 percent year on year, with lower distribution and ad revenues but higher content licensing and other revenues.

Broadcast television was up by 8.3 percent to $2.4 billion, driven in large part by a 65.6 percent increase in content licensing revenues. Distribution and other revenues rose by almost 5 percent, while ad revenues fell by 11.5 percent.

Filmed entertainment took a 25 percent hit, with revenues falling to $1.3 billion. Theatrical was down by 94.7 percent due to theater closures, with other revenues (movie ticketing, entertainment, live stage plays) down 44.8 percent, also due to COVID-19 closures. Content licensing revenues rose by 14.5 percent and home entertainment was up 49.1 percent.

At the theme parks, revenues plunged by almost 81 percent to $311 million as Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Japan operate at limited capacity, while Universal Studios Hollywood remains closed as a result of COVID-19.

Sky’s revenues were up 5.2 percent to $4.8 billion (and stable on a constant currency basis), with higher content revenues (up 17.5 percent) and slight dips in direct-to-consumer and advertising. The company ended Q3 with 23.7 million customer relationships, a fall of 21,000 from last year.

At Comcast Cable, revenues rose by 2.9 percent to $15 billion, driven by high-speed internet, wireless, business services and advertising gains.

“We are nearly eight months into this pandemic—and despite many harsh realities, I couldn’t be more pleased and proud of how our team has worked together across the company to find safe and creative solutions to successfully operate in this environment,” said Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast. “We are executing at the highest level; and perhaps, most importantly, accelerating innovation, which will drive long-term future growth. This third quarter, we delivered the best broadband results in our company’s history. Driven by our industry-leading platform and strategic focus on broadband, aggregation and streaming, we added a record 633,000 high-speed internet customers and 556,000 total net new customer relationships. At the same time, we’re growing our entertainment platforms with the addition of Flex, which has a significant positive impact on broadband churn and customer lifetime value. Our integrated strategy is also driving results in streaming with nearly 22 million sign-ups for Peacock to date, and we are exceeding our expectations on all engagement metrics in only a few months. And Sky continues to add customer relationships at higher prices while reducing churn to all-time lows in our core U.K. business. Going forward, and as we emerge from the pandemic, we believe we are extremely well-positioned to provide seamless and integrated experiences for our customers and to deliver superior long-term growth and returns for our shareholders.”