NBCU Sees Full-Year, Q4 Gains

NBCUniversal’s fourth-quarter revenues were up 7.1 percent to $9.4 billion, while full-year revenues rose by 8.9 percent to $35.8 billion.

In Q4, cable revenues were up 8.9 percent to $2.9 billion, with distribution revenues rising 10.3 percent, content licensing and other revenues up 28.4 percent and ad revenues remaining stable. Broadcast television revenues were up 3.7 percent to $3.1 billion, as distribution and other revenues gained 18.5 percent and ad revenues were up 2.1 percent. Content licensing revenues, however, decreased by 2.5 percent. On the filmed entertainment side, revenues were up 14 percent to $2 billion, driven by gains in theatrical revenues while home-entertainment and content-licensing revenues fell. Theme parks revenue increased 3.5 percent to $1.5 billion.

In Comcast’s cable communications segment, revenues were up 5.2 percent in the quarter to $14.1 billion, driven by increases in high-speed internet, advertising, business services and other revenue, partially offset by decreases in video and voice revenues. For the full year, revenues were up 3.9 percent to $55.1 billion. The segment ended the year with 30.3 million customer relationships, including just under 22 million video customers, having lost 370,000 video subscribers in 2018.

Comcast Corporation reported a 26.1 percent increase in Q4 revenues to $27.8 billion.

“2018 was a successful and pivotal year for Comcast,” said Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts. “I’m pleased with the strong operational and financial results that we delivered across the company. Highlighting a few of our accomplishments during the past year, Comcast Cable’s customer relationship growth accelerated, driven by our 13th consecutive year of over 1 million broadband net additions. 2018 Cable EBITDA growth was the highest in seven years, underscoring the financially attractive transition of our business to connectivity. NBCUniversal had a great year, fueled by double-digit growth in our TV businesses, reflecting our terrific broadcasts of big events like the NFL’s Super Bowl LII, the 2018 Olympics, and the FIFA World Cup, and overall robust demand for our leading sports, news and entertainment content. We truly became a global company with our acquisition of Sky, and are excited about its future and the potential of our combined company in 2019 and beyond. Comcast’s track record of consistent financial performance and our confidence in our outlook for continued, profitable growth is what underpins our announcement of a 10 percent increase in our dividend in 2019, our 11th consecutive annual increase.”