Comcast, the parent organisation of NBCU and Sky, released impressive financial results for the last quarter of 2023. Revenues from the Media segment, encompassing NBCUniversal's television and streaming platforms like Peacock, increased by 3% YoY to $6.9 Billion. The Studio segment, covering NBCUniversal's film and television studio production and distribution operations, saw a 4% YoY increase to $3 Billion. This growth is primarily attributed to Peacock's subscriber base rising by approximately 50% YoY to 31 Million in the financial year 2023 and NBCU's distribution arm, Universal, achieving the highest box office collection globally in 2023, breaking Disney's dominance since 2015.
This growth in revenue has occurred despite the studios’ growth in vertically integrated its scripted series onto its own services abroad, with the launch of SkyShowtime in Europe being a major recent growth factor. Show Tracker reveals that vertical integration implemented by the studio within its global distribution strategy has continuously increased over the years.
NBCU has been shifting away from its strategy of premiering its Scripted TV content First Window on its Pay-TV Channels like Sky Atlantic, and Sky Comedy to SVOD platforms like SkyShowtime and Peacock. This is attributable to the rollout of “SkyShowtime” into 20 European countries starting in September 2022 which enabled NBCU to directly license its content on it.
Universal Pictures claimed the title of the highest-grossing studio for the 2023 worldwide box office, dethroning Disney, which held the #1 spot since 2015. The company earned $4.91 billion from its 24 theatrical releases, with ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ securing the second and third spots, respectively. Movie Tracker reveals the Pay-1 Windows of the Top 10 Grossing movies. Typically, theatrically released movies take three months to have a Pay-1 premiere in international markets, but ‘Oppenheimer’, one of the biggest movies of 2023, has had an extended wait for its Pay-1 premiere as it did for its TVOD release. It will make its first world premiere on Peacock on February 16, 2024.
All this points towards a studio that is working effectively to balance the demands of their own services for content, supporting them through vertical integration, while continuing to maximise revenue from the box office with the years’ biggest hits.
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