WC helps propel Peacock to record subscribers

Peacock, a Comcast streaming service under the NBC umbrella, gained record numbers of subscribers ​thanks in part to its airing of ‌the World Cup, Comcast reported on Thursday.

The streaming service this summer aired live Telemundo's Spanish-language coverage of ​the World Cup. The event being ​hosted in North America meant many games ⁠aired in primetime, boosting viewership numbers to ​record levels for all affiliates.

Sharing a quarterly summary ​that showed profit for the first time in the service's six-year history, Comcast revealed an additional two million ​subscribers for the April-June quarter, taking the ​streamer's total up to 48m.

Revenue also rose to ‌approximately USD1.9bn, while earnings reached USD189mn.

All figures were ahead of estimates.

Co-CEO Mike Cavanaugh warned that profitability may still vary quarter to quarter, while also ​expressing confidence ​that Peacock's ⁠involvement in the distribution of such sports programming as the National Football League, ​Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, Olympics and the Premier ​League ⁠will continue to provide stability.

"In six years, it's gotten to incredible scale at a pace ⁠that ​we're very proud of and ​very much dovetails with the strategy for how we build ​and programme NBC itself," Cavanagh said.