Peacock expected to hit 52 million subs by 2024

NBCUniversal’s hybrid streaming service Peacock will exceed 50 million by 2024.

According to a new report from Macquarie, the streamer will hit 52.1 million in 2024 with revenues of US$1.96 billion.

In the immediate future, the report expects Peacock to hit US$604 million in revenue this year – up from US$296 million in 2020. The majority of the predicted 2021 revenue is expected to come from subscriptions, with US$407 million of revenue generated from subscriptions vs US$197 million from advertising.

Ads will become an increasingly central part of Peacock’s income in the latter part of 2021, when the research firm notes that many of Peacock’s initial integration deals with “core advertiser partners on integrated ads with NBCU fall away.” From that point on, ad revenue will be “predominantly programmatic” via NBC’s One Platform for ad sales

In terms of growing subscribers, synergies with other Comcast platforms will continue to be a point of strength for Peacock. The streamer, which is offered to free for Comcast’s Flex and Xfinity X1 subscribers, will, the report says, contribute to a “rare increase” in quarterly subscribers for Comcast’s cable operations – particularly impressive considering that more than a quarter of Americans plan on cutting the cord this year.

On the back of the positive outlook, Macquarie’s Tim Nollen has raised Comcast’s target price from US$53 to US$58, with the analyst expecting solid broadband subscriber growth in the upcoming Q4 2020 results.