NBCUniversal has had a strong start to the Olympic Games Paris 2024, attaining record-setting advertising revenue and strong viewership on both linear television and digital platforms within the United States. Retaining the traditional broadcast and prime time coverage, hosted by NBC Sports broadcaster Mike Tirico, along with new, innovative viewing options available through Peacock, the network is maximizing the U.S. media rights it renewed with the International Olympic Committee for 11 years and $7.65 billion. In a recent interview with Squawk Box on CNBC, Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Corporation, described the Olympic Games as being akin to a laboratory for research and development.
The company is coming off record-low prime time viewership of the Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the first five days of coverage of the Paris Olympics, the network has garnered an average total audience delivery of 34 million viewers within its Paris prime time (2-5 p.m. EST) and U.S. prime time (8-11 p.m. EST) broadcast windows, which is up 79% from the iteration of the event in Tokyo.
The company premiered its Gold Zone whiparound show, which features compelling Olympics action in real time, and more than doubled its viewership between its debut on Saturday and this past Tuesday. The current U.S. media rights deal for the Olympic Games allows NBCUniversal to handle all aspects of the technology, thus granting more room for innovation.
“It’s definitely unique,” Roberts said, addressing the Olympic Games as a whole. “It’s one of the proudest moments, I think, since we’ve owned NBCUniversal. The Olympics, really done perfectly, you reimagine our society. It’s the whole world coming together, putting their arms down, trying to celebrate the incredible personal achievements, team achievements, and French government and President Macron, they welcomed this whole operation that we have.
“Three-thousand people working to bring this broadcast – Peacock, Xfinity, NBC all working together – and then when it works and you have innovation like Gold Zone… and the Eiffel Tower and surfing from Tahiti – I can’t think of anything that makes me prouder, and the results so far are very reason we do this.”
Within its most recent earnings report, NBCUniversal divulged that Peacock helped its media division return to adjusted EBITDA growth and that paid subscribers increased 38% year-over-year to a total of 33 million. Additionally, revenue for the network’s direct-to-consumer service increased 28% to $1 billion, marking the best year-over-year improvement in adjusted EBITDA for any quarter since its launch in 2020.
Earlier in the year, Peacock carried the most-streamed event in U.S. history when it presented the AFC Wild Card Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony recently drove significant multiplatform viewership, accounting for the most-streamed entertainment event in the history of the Peacock and most-watched iteration of the event since 2012.
“This was a milestone moment for our company, and I’m so proud we delivered,” Roberts said of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. “That playoff game with Kansas City was the largest streamed event in history. That’s what this is now becoming, and so what imagines in the future, whether it’s betting or whether it’s camera angles or whether it’s higher depth quality or more choices, we want to be the company to bring you that.”
NBCUniversal reached a media rights deal to present live game broadcasts of the National Basketball Association, returning the league to its platforms for the first time since 2002. The 11-year agreement, reportedly worth $2.45 million, includes distribution of up to 100 NBA regular-season contests per league year, half of which will air on the NBC television network. Peacock will present an exclusive doubleheader on Monday nights during the regular season, while NBC will broadcast State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, the NBA All-Star Game and one of two Conference Finals in six of the 11 years.
“We’ve added more customers in Peacock than people have cord cut in the last 12 months [and] the last 24 months,” Roberts said. “We have a plan to make it to the other side, the digital side, and then being sports as essential.
“One of the reasons the NBA makes so much sense for us, and I believe we got the best package because we have the most regular-season games and the most playoff games, and if you’re looking for continuity when you buy a streaming service, you want to have the NFL on Sunday night. Now you have the NBA the next quarter on Sunday, then you go into an Olympics or a Premier League or a Tour de France, then you go to college football and on and on and on.”
Roberts expressed that he wishes the media rights deal with the NBA would start a year earlier but is nonetheless excited about the direction of the sport. Warner Bros. Discovery and its Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary filed a lawsuit against the NBA after the league did not match its exercise of matching rights in an attempt to continue broadcasting games. Although the resolution of the case remains unknown, Roberts looks forward to the return of the league to NBCUniversal and its platforms.
“I think the NBA’s super thorough in how they do their work,” Roberts said. “We’ve been very impressed with everything Adam Silver has organized.”
Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast Corporation, articulated that the company has strong businesses within its overall portfolio and does not consider itself a laggard in any area. The company pushes its teams to determine where it should grow and invest, and it reinvests significant capital back into its business.
Last quarter, Comcast returned $3.4 billion to its shareholders despite declines in its movie studios and theme parks businesses, resulting in an approximate 1% decline in EBITDA to $10.17 billion. The blend between traditional broadcast coverage and streaming has been a point of convergence in which NBCUniversal has performed strongly. Cavanagh emphasized that driving business and innovation, combined with returning capital to shareholders, is a formula that is working for the company.
“And so when we look around at the chess board that everybody wants to ask us about, inheriting a lot of other people’s problems is, it’s a tough way to do it versus go build around the great assets we already have,” Cavanagh said.
