Comcast and Disney are confident that their financial performances will improve after spending on their streaming businesses hit new heights in 2022 with peak spending expected to be reached this year. The streaming giants expect that once this peak is hit, costs will decline while revenue stabilizes.
In 2022, Comcast’s streaming service Peacock incurred an operating loss of $2.5 billion; a 47% increase from the previous year. Comcast president Michael Cavanagh told investors during an earnings call in January that he expects losses to peak at around $3 billion this year after which they will improve.
Disney’s direct-to-consumer division suffered a loss of over $4 billion for the 2022 fiscal year ending October 1, having spent over $33 billion on content during the course of the year. Disney’s CFO Christine McCarthy claimed during a company earnings call in November that “peak losses are now behind us.”
Reduced losses across the industry are expected to be a result of cost-cutting, with the likes of Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish stating that his company is set to embrace cost-cutting. This comes after Paramount reported a loss of roughly $1.82 billion in 2022.