‘Oppenheimer,’ sports content boost Peacock viewership

Last summer’s smash hit Oppenheimer keeps paying off.

The historical drama made more than $970 million at the global box office for Universal Pictures, and it’s now doing record numbers on Peacock. Oppenheimer is its most-viewed pay-one film (meaning a movie available for the first time on TV after leaving theaters and after a rental or purchase period) in the streamer’s history, CFO Jason Armstrong told investors during Comcast’s first quarter earnings call last Thursday.

Oppenheimer’s strong viewership is just one win for Peacock. The platform’s losses have continued to narrow, totaling $639 million in the quarter, smaller than the $704 million loss a year earlier. Peacock’s revenue, meanwhile, jumped to $1.1 billion in the quarter, compared to $685 million in Q1 2023. The service now counts 34 million paid subscribers, a 12 million year over year increase, according to Michael Cavanagh, Comcast president; average revenue per user in the quarter was around $10, the company reported.

Touchdown: Sports programs have helped deliver some recent viewership wins as well. Peacock’s exclusive airing of the NFL Wild Card game in January was the largest live-streamed event ever, NBCU said, and Armstrong added that it contributed to an influx of paid subscribers; the airing of WWE’s WrestleMania, meanwhile, was the platform’s most-watched entertainment event yet, the company previously said. Next on Peacock’s roster are the Kentucky Derby on May 4, as well as the Paris Olympics, which have already earned $1.2 billion in ad sales. The service will also air NFL games, including one in São Paulo, Brazil, Cavanagh said.

Non-sports content, like TV shows Ted and The Traitors, has been creating strong engagement too, according to Cavanagh.

Overall, viewers are “spending 90% of their time on the platform viewing non-sports programming,” he said.