Comcast Delivers Strong Q1 Results, With Super Bowl LVI And Beijing Olympics Helping It Over Wall Street’s Bar

deadline.com:

Comcast began 2022 on a strong note, reporting first-quarter results ahead of Wall Street expectations with highlights including ad revenue from Super Bowl LVI and the Beijing Olympics.Total revenue climbed 14% from the year-earlier period to $31.01 billion, while earnings per share came in at 86 cents, up 13%.Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimates were for earnings of 80 cents a share and revenue of $30.5 billion.NBCUniversal had a powerful quarter, with revenue jumping 47% to $10.3 billion.

That tally included $1.5 billion of incremental revenue from the Beijing Olympics and the Super Bowl, both in February. The Games brought in $963 million, while the Super Bowl drew $519 million.

Excluding that windfall, media revenue still went up 7%.Universal Pictures also had a strong quarter, with Sing 2 and licensing activity driving a 15% increase in revenue to $2.8 billion.

Comparisons were favorable, as theaters were largely still closed in the first quarter of 2021. Theme parks followed a similar trajectory, coming back to life after a dormant first quarter a year ago.In the cable division, Comcast shed another 512,000 video customers to reach 17.7 million by the end of the quarter.