Comcast gave up defending cable. Peacock has lost more than $11 billion.
Comcast launched Peacock in 2020 to compete with its own cable business. Cumulative EBITDA losses passed $11 billion, but 2024 revenue reached $4.9 billion, up from $3.4 billion.
Transcript
In 2020, Comcast launched a streaming service that would compete with its own cable business. Peacock soft-launched on April 15, and fully launched on July 15.
What Comcast gave up was the option to defend cable. Cable was collapsing across the industry anyway. Comcast decided it would rather lose customers to its own app than to Netflix and Disney+.
The price: cumulative Peacock EBITDA losses of more than $11 billion, from 2020 through the first quarter of 2026.
But Peacock's revenue hit $4.9 billion in 2024, up from $3.4 billion, and its annual EBITDA loss shrank to $1.79 billion, from $2.75 billion.
In November 2024, Comcast said it would spin off cable networks such as MSNBC, CNBC and USA into a new company, later named Versant. Its CFO said Peacock expected to approach profitability in the second quarter of 2026.
Peacock is not yet profitable, so the verdict is open. What Comcast refused to give up was the customer. When your core is declining anyway, defending it is not the safe option.
The records behind this video
Every figure in the video comes from this Decision Record, each with its sources.
Run this decision
The Cannibalization Strategy Pack. “Should you launch the thing that takes revenue from your best business?” The framework, a model, a deck and the sourced cases, for running the same call on your own business. See the pack, $499 → Or start with the free guide to this decision →
