Comcast doubles Peacock spending as broadband business takes hit
Comcast is ramping up spending on its Peacock streaming service, executives said on Thursday, aiming to catch up to big media rivals in the global battle for viewers.
Unlike the majority of its rivals, Peacock offers a free, ad-supported version and two paid options: a $5-per-month tier with “light ads” and an ad-free version costing $10 per month.
In a call with investors on Thursday, Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said the “vast majority” of Peacock’s paid subscribers choose the $5 tier over the $10 tier. Going forward, the company will focus its strategy around the ad-supported tiers.
It is doubling Peacock content spend to $3 billion in 2022 and plans to increase domestic content spend for Peacock to $5 billion over the next couple of years, an additional investment that will result in an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) loss of roughly $2.5 billion. It plans