Comcast (CMCSA) Q3 2024 Results

Comcast beat third-quarter earnings expectations on Thursday as the Summer Olympics in Paris boosted NBCUniversal's revenue and Peacock's subscriber base.

Shares of Comcast rose 6% in early trading Thursday.

Here's how Comcast compared to estimates from analysts surveyed by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $1.12 adjusted versus $1.06 expected
• Revenue: $32.07 billion versus expected $31.66 billion

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, net income fell 10% to $3.63 billion, or 94 cents per share, compared with $4.05 billion, or 98 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, fell 2% to about $9.74 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, Comcast reported earnings per share of $1.12 for the quarter.

The company's revenue rose 6.5% to $32.07 billion compared to the same period last year. Total revenue was boosted by the Summer Olympics in Paris, which NBCUniversal broadcast exclusively in the US, and domestic broadband revenue, despite continued slowing subscriber growth.

Revenue from the media segment — primarily comprised of NBCUniversal — rose nearly 37% to $8.23 billion, largely driven by the Olympics. Excluding the Summer Games, revenue rose nearly 5%.

This more than offset the decrease in Adjusted EBITDA in the Media segment due to higher operating costs related to the Olympics as well as higher programming costs at Peacock and other sports television programming.

The Summer Olympics in Paris proved to be a success for NBCUniversal, drawing an average daily viewership of 31 million people across NBC's TV and streaming platforms and generating a record $1.2 billion in advertising revenue, as CNBC previously reported reported.

As a result, total revenue for the content and experiences segment – ​​which also includes theme parks and film studios – increased by 19.3% to around $12.6 billion. This total includes $1.9 billion in additional revenue from the Paris Olympics.

Peacock also benefited from the Olympics, streaming the entire games exclusively, adding 3 million new subscribers. The platform's paid subscribers increased 29% year-over-year to 36 million. Peacock's revenue rose 82% to $1.5 billion.

Peacock-related losses improved for the segment, with an adjusted EBTIDA loss of $436 million in the quarter, compared to $565 million in the same period last year.

The company's film studios, which are also part of the Content and Experiences segment, reported a 12.3% year-over-year increase in revenue to $2.83 billion. Box office revenue was boosted by the recent successful releases of Despicable Me 4 and Twisters.

NBCUniversal's theme park revenue fell 5.3% to about $2.3 billion due to lower attendance. The theme parks have weighed on the company recently as increasing visitor numbers have slowed following the coronavirus lockdowns.

Meanwhile, broadband — the cornerstone of Comcast's business — continued to reflect current industry trends.

Cable broadband subscriber growth has declined across the industry. Comcast executives attribute this to a slowdown in home buying and selling. Competition from mobile phone providers such as Verizon and T-Mobile has also increased.

It was a mixed picture for Comcast this quarter. The government's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which had provided a rebate to qualifying low-income households, ended earlier this year.

Total domestic broadband net losses were 87,000, but excluding losses attributable to the ACP demise, the company estimates a gain of 9,000 customers.

Domestic broadband revenue rose 2.7% year-over-year to $6.54 billion, and average revenue per user – the segment's continued source of growth despite delayed additions – rose 3.6%.

Comcast's wireless business has now added 319,000 customers, bringing the total to around 7.5 million connections. The company lost 365,000 cable TV customers during the quarter.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics owns the U.S. broadcast rights for all summer and winter games through 2032.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.