Comcast Revenue Falls 6.1% as World Cup Ads and Peacock Lift the Quarter

Comcast's revenue fell 6.1% in the third quarter, to nearly $29.3 billion, yet its profit rose. Net income reached nearly $3.45 billion, or 97 cents a share, up 3.5% from $3.33 billion, or 90 cents a share, a year earlier. Variety reported the figures on Thursday, October 22, the day the company held its earnings call with investors.

The biggest push came from advertising. Comcast's U.S. ad sales jumped 14.6%, helped by commercials sold around the World Cup. Much of that lift came from the Spanish-language broadcasts on NBCUniversal's Telemundo. Comcast said that without the tournament, its domestic ad sales would have risen just 0.3%.

Not every part of the business grew. Comcast's connectivity and platforms unit, which includes its broadband internet and cable TV services, brought in $19.66 billion. Broadband internet users fell by 144,000 in the quarter, compared with a drop of 91,000 a year earlier. Domestic video customers, meaning people who pay for cable TV in the United States, fell by 274,000, up from 257,000 a year before.

Revenue from TV, film and theme parks rose 6.5% to $10.54 billion. Box-office results for films including The Odyssey helped. Theme park revenue fell 4.4%, because fewer visitors paid for park admission.

Peacock, the company's streaming service, brought in $1.82 billion in revenue, and its subscribers rose 17% from a year earlier. It posted a pre-tax profit, meaning profit before tax is taken out, of $261 million. A year earlier it had lost $217 million in the same period.

Separately, a jury in Tampa, Florida, found on October 15 that Comcast owes $213 million in a video-streaming patent dispute, according to Reuters. A patent is a legal right to an invention, and a patent case asks whether one company used another's technology without permission.

For people who watch, the quarter shows where Comcast's money came from: a single football tournament on advertising, a streaming service that turned a profit, and a film slate that drew cinema audiences. For the people behind those numbers, the quarter also shows the strain. Fewer broadband and cable customers mean fewer bills paid, and fewer park admissions mean fewer tickets sold at the gates.