You’d be hard pressed to find any media company with more to cheer about this summer than Comcast. Between DESPICABLE ME and TWISTERS, they’ve effectively owned the theatrical box office and have almost single-handedly helped stave off the relentless naysayers who prematurely concluded that that business was heading for the same fate as Blockbuster Video.
And they’re arguably the envy of any media company who hopes to be in sports. Yesterday, the NBA officially announced that they are back in business with the NBC family of networks after a more than two decade hiatus. They are effectively replacing TNT as the home for what the league calls the “B” package. THE ATHLETIC’s Richard Deitsch was only too happy to gush over the specifics in his reporting that dropped yesterday:
Those rights include an NBA conference finals in six of the 11 years of the deal: 100 NBA national games each regular season across NBC and Peacock; first-round playoff games that will be exclusive in all markets; approximately 50 Peacock-exclusive national regular-season and postseason NBA games, including national Monday night games and doubleheaders. There’s also six NBA Conference Finals series (every other year beginning with 2025-26 season); “NBA Tip-Off” doubleheader each season; the rights to NBA All-Star Saturday Night and the NBA All Star Game on NBC and Peacock; more than 50 regular season WNBA games between Peacock, USA and NBC; the WNBA conference finals in 2026, 2028, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2034 and 2036; the WNBA Finals in 2026, 2030, and 2034; USA Basketball men’s and women’s games; the return of “Roundball Rock,” and …Sunday Night Basketball after the NFL season concludes.
You essentially had me in sympatico with Deitsch’s ebullience from the return of Roundball Rock alone (I guess FOX will have to rework their football theme yet again and retrofit Cletus for a tank top and shorts). But, then again, I’m not a Wall Street analyst.
Because also making news yesterday was Comcast’s second quarters earnings, and let’s just say those that write about that were hardly as favorable. Exhibit A: BARRON’s Emily Datillo:
Comcast easily beat second-quarter earnings estimates, but revenue fell short. The stock was sliding in Tuesday morning trading…The company reported a loss of 120,000 total domestic broadband customers and 419,000 domestic video customers in the quarter…
Seaport Research analyst David Joyce weighed in on the report.
“Due to continued Broadband subscriber losses (where growth is driven by pricing), an elevated competitive environment for the time being, and the mixed Media topline and profitability trajectories, we remain Neutral,” Joyce wrote.
Exhibit B: NEXT TV’s Jon Lafayette:
Peacock ended the quarter with 33 million paid subscribers, down from 34 million at the end of Q1. But losses at Peacock were $348 million, down from $651 million a year ago and $639 million in the first quarter. Thanks to rate increases, Peacock revenue hit $1 billion in the quarter, up from $820 million a year ago.
And perhaps most graphic and sanguine was ESNAP’s Evan Shapiro:
Comcast looks old. They lost broadband customers. Per usual, Pay TV is bleeding subs. They even lost the Peacock subs they gained from the $100 million streaming NFL game. Yes NBCUniversal has Twisters and The Olympics. But when you look at all the data, it’s surprising they haven’t lost more value since their call.
So even as it looms to own the lion’s share of linear viewing for the next fortnight plus as coverage of the Paris Olympics begins (even though the Opening Ceremonies are set for Friday night, preliminary round soccer, handball and water polo competitions are already under way), there are added pressures to deliver something significant enough to move those who aren’t quite buying the optimism being offered from Comcast’s brass.
Lafayette referenced the optimism being offered by CEO Brian Roberts:
“I am excited about the growth opportunities ahead, as our teams innovate and collaborate to connect our customers, viewers and guests to the moments that matter,” Roberts said. “The Paris Summer Olympics is a perfect example of this, where starting this Friday our company will be leveraging our most advanced technology and expertise in storytelling to provide millions of households in the U.S. with the finest, most expansive television and streaming coverage in media history for an Olympics or perhaps any televised event… and even more important, an experience they hopefully will never forget.“
To that end, in as unique a counterprogramming effort as anything attempted anywhere, NBCU will go up against opening night of Disney’s DEADPOOL and WOLVERINE like this:
IMAX will present NBC’s live coverage of this summer’s Opening Ceremony to more than 150 IMAX locations throughout the United States, providing fans with a unique and immersive theatre experience to enjoy what promises to be one of the most spectacular Opening Ceremonies in Olympic history. The plans for the Opening Ceremony are unlike any other. The first-ever Summer Olympic opening ceremony not held in a stadium, the organizers are turning one of the world’s most famous waterways, the River Seine, into the world’s biggest theatrical stage. Instead of walking into a stadium, a four-mile-long flotilla of nearly 100 boats will carry thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries past hundreds of thousands of spectators seated on the banks of the Seine. The river parade will follow the course of the Seine past the iconic sites of Paris, from Austerlitz Bridge, beside the Jardin des Plantes, crossing through central Paris and finishing in front of the Trocadéro, where the final elements of the show and ceremony will take place. Grammy Award-winning artist Kelly Clarkson and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning will join two-time Sports Emmy Award-winner and NBC Olympics primetime host Mike Tirico to host NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony.
Synergy and incremental out-of-home viewing on an engaging a screen as one can imagine. And, if I don’t miss my guess, an awful lot of promos for Peacock.
It would be foolhardy to imagine any scenario where going the OPPENHEIMER route for a Steven Spielberg-fronted extraganza comes anywhere near the amount of ticket sales that Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman will generate tomorrow night. But the mere fact that they’re trying, and have enough gravitas having outperformed expectations for TWISTERS so handily last weekend, is to be commended.
And with the onslaught of competitions about to begin, Peacock will emerge as a default destination for live Olympic coverage, and unlike its first two Olympiads that were both held in Asia the time zone difference is modest enough for the chance of larger audiences to have enough interest to subscribe and watch. Metrics that will undoubtedly be scrutinized by the same nitpickers that threw cold water on what should have a more celebratory Comcast summer.
But the fact still remains that there remains enough doubt about these businesses as a whole, particularly legacy entities such as theme parks and linear networks, for these Olympics to do more than merely improve upon the low bars of the post-pandemic era. And with a landscape that can be easily disrupted by breaking news in politics or climate, not to mention a younger generation more than content to get results via short form video, the challenge to deliver on those expectations are as daunting as ever.
So don’t be surprised if things don’t go quite as robustly as they might need it to if Roberts and company start brainstorming for even more out-of-the box ideas.
How about even more synergy? Minions winning Olympic medals, with Roundball Rock playing in the background to a cheering throng?
Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But what’s YOUR better idea?
- Until next time…