Comcast talks up Xumo and Peacock with ‘best streaming aggregator’ strategy

Comcast aims to become “the best aggregator of streaming” both in and out of its cable markets in the US and internationally with a set of offerings that includes Xumo, its joint-venture with Charter Communications, according to CEO Brian Roberts.

Source: Comcast

Speaking to analysts after Comcast posted its Q3 numbers last week Roberts said that Xumo was an “amazon platform” that “will be all over the nation and frankly all over the world” with a range of devices including televisions.

Roberts said that Xumo would take Comcast prodicuts and entertainment experience outside its footprint  and would be available to users “whether you buy the cable bundle or not”.

“As most of our sales now are broadband only, we want to make sure we are the best aggregator for streaming. And then a logical next step will be us or others beginning to try to make it even easier for consumers to purchase and to switch packages,” he said.

Comcast has meanwhile improved its financial expectation for US streamer Peacock this year on the back of it growing its paid subs base rise by 80% year-on-year.

Peacock’s growth took its subs total to 28 million, including four million additions in the third quarter.

Comcast president Michael Cavanagh said that the company now expected 2023 Peacock losses “to come in around $2.8 billion versus our original $3 billion loss outlook. And for 2024, we expect to show meaningful EBITDA improvement over 2023”.

Cavanagh said Peacock’s growth was driven by “continued success in converting free Comcast bundled subscribers to a paid relationship as well as organic growth”.

Comcast’s international connectivity and platforms business, which includes Sky, added 74,000 net ‘customer relationships’ in the quarter to September, offsetting a 39,000 decline in Comcast’s domestic relationships base. A modest uplift in business services meant overall customer relationships increased by 40,000.

The additions take the international residential RGU base to 17.958 million, compared with a domestic base of 31.722 million.

Comcast’s overall revenue rose by 0.9% to US$30.1 billion, with adjusted EBITDA growing by 5.1% to US$10 billion.