Peacock adds just 2 million subscribers ahead of price hike

Peacock adds just 2 million subscribers ahead of price hike

Peacock added just 2 million subscribers over the past three months, bringing the service up to 24 million subscribers in the US. That number was included in Comcast’s earnings report today, which says Peacock nearly doubled its subscribers year over year.

In addition to the small bump in subscribers, Peacock’s revenue grew 85 percent year over year to $820 million. The service still lost $651 million, however, up from $467 million at the same time last year.

Earlier this month, Comcast announced that it’s raising the price of Peacock on August 17th. While the ad-supported Premium plan is going from $4.99 to $5.99 per month, the ad-free Premium Plus plan is going from $9.99 to $11.99 per month. Comcast also took away the free tier for new members in February and stopped giving Xfinity subscribers the service at no extra cost.

Peacock has strengthened its content lineup in recent months, adding the Twisted Metal adaptation, a slate of Big Ten games, and the ultra-popular Super Mario Bros. Movie. Peacock will also exclusively air an NFL playoff game next year, which reportedly cost Comcast around $110 million.

Now, the question is whether all that’s enough to keep subscribers around over the long term.

Disclosure: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.

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