Sky lost over a quarter of a million customer relationships in Europe in the second quarter of 2022. In the United States, Comcast lost almost half a million residential video customers. The number of online video subscribers to Peacock remained relatively flat at 13 million. Investors were unimpressed, reducing the value of Comcast Corporation by 8% overnight.
Sky lost 255,000 total customer relationships in Europe in the second quarter of 2022, on top of 106,000 in the first quarter, ending the first half of the year with 22.7 million.
A decrease in customer relationships and average revenue per customer relationship in Germany and Italy was partially offset by an increase in the United Kingdom. However, Sky Glass became the third highest selling brand of ultra-high-definition television.
Revenue for Sky fell to $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2022, down 13.8% on the same period the previous year. Of that, direct-to-consumer revenue decreased 2.4% to $3.7 billion.
For Comcast cable in the United States, residential customer relationships fell by 38,000 to 31.86 million. Comcast lost 497,000 residential video customers in the second quarter, taking total losses in the first half of 2022 to 982,000, for a total of 16.51 million. Residential broadband customers were down 10,000, having gained 253,000 in the first quarter, taking its total to 29.83 million.
Paid subscribers to Peacock were relatively flat at 13 million, following a gain of 4 million the previous quarter, while monthly active accounts fell by a million to 27 million. Subscription and advertising revenue attributable to Peacock came to $444 million of revenue, with a loss of $467 million, compared to $122 million of revenue and a loss of $363 million in the prior year period.
“Going from zero to 13 million paid subs in a couple of years at Peacock is a great achievement,” Comcast chairman Brian Roberts told analysts.
Comcast saw group revenue rise to $30.02 billion for the second quarter, up 5.1% compared to the same period the previous year.