NBCUniversal’s Peacock Lost $2.7 Billion in 2023

In 2023, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, experienced significant financial losses, amounting to $2.7 billion, surpassing the previous year’s loss of $2.5 billion. Despite having around 30 million subscribers, Peacock lags far behind industry leader Netflix, which boasts approximately 80 million domestic subscribers.

Peacock’s struggle to garner widespread enthusiasm for its original content has contributed to its financial challenges. The platform heavily relies on the popular series Yellowstone, leased from Paramount, rather than generating breakthrough original programming. Notably, Peacock has been actively promoting Seth MacFarlane’s Ted, a comedy series based on the R-rated film franchise. Although the show debuted as Peacock’s most-viewed series, MacFarlane acknowledged its “outrageously expensive” production costs.

One of Peacock’s offerings includes streaming content from the left-leaning MSNBC, such as The Reid Out hosted by Joy Reid. However, the platform faced challenges with its original production, The Mehdi Hasan Show, leading to the removal of the ratings-challenged host Mehdi Hasan.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Peacock’s losses amounted to $825 million, with only a modest increase of 2 million subscribers compared to the previous quarter. The financial struggles of legacy Hollywood studios, including Disney, in competing with Netflix for streaming supremacy have raised concerns among investors and sparked internal conflicts over the future direction of these companies.