Peacock Lost 500,000 Subscribers Before Hiking Its Prices

This month, Peacock hiked up the rates for its upper tiers ahead of this week’s Olympic games in Paris. Apparently, half a million Peacock subscribers didn’t wait around for those price increases to go into effect. According to the Comcast’s shareholder report for its second quarter of 2024, Peacock shed 500,000 paying subscribers between April and June.

Via Variety, Comcast admitted that it slightly fudged the numbers of its 2024 first quarter results that claimed Peacock had 34 million subscribers. The real number was 33.5 million subscribers, because Comcast rounded up from there. Now, following the latest losses, Peacock has approximately 33 million paid subscribers.

Comcast has yet to make a profit from Peacock, and the report notes that the streamer lost $348 million during the second quarter. That’s less cash than Peacock has bled in the past, but it’s still pretty far from profitability. Comcast paid $7.65 billion to secure the media rights for the Olympics through 2032, but it also streams an extraordinarily large lineup of sporting events that couldn’t have been cheap.

The new rate for Peacock Premium is now $7.99, while Peacock Premium Plus has gone up to $13.99 per month. The annual rate for Peacock Premium has also gone up to $59.99, with Peacock Premium Plus’ annual rate rising to $139.99. These rates are already in effect for new subscribers. Current Peacock subscribers will start paying the new rates beginning with their next billing date on or after August 17.