Comcast's Peacock Takes Well-Timed Flight

Comcast Corporation CMCSA rolled out its contender in the streaming wars Wednesday with the limited launch of Peacock. The service is immediately available to Comcast customers and will open to all U.S. consumers July 15.

According to one team of analysts, Peacock took flight not a moment too soon.

“In this COVID-19 streaming friendly environment, this is a good time in our opinion for Peacock and its massive 15,000 hours of content to garner subscribers as consumers are in an unprecedented lockdown mode globally,” Wedbush analysts Daniel Ives and Strecker Backe wrote in a note.

Binge Time

Millions of viewers are under shelter-at-home orders with little to do but binge hours upon hours of episodes. With titles like "The Office" and "Saturday Night Live," Comcast expects to lure 30 million to 35 million active accounts by 2024 — an easily exceedable goal, by Wedbush’s estimates.

“We believe given the massive content library, sports properties, and distribution footprint and the current COVID-19 consumer environment that these sub numbers are very conservative as we believe 20 million to 25 million subs over the next 12 to 18 months is a realistic goal for this flagship effort,” Backe and Ives wrote.

They expect the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021, to drive incremental subscription growth down the line.

Viable Competitor

Given such exclusive content, Wedbush considers Peacock a viable competitor to Netflix Inc NFLX, Apple Inc. AAPL and Walt Disney Co DIS.

“A key differentiator in our opinion for Peacock is its monetization approach, Comcast plans to make its money from revenue earned from the commercials streaming with its programs unlike the traditional subscription fee approach,” they wrote.

At the time of publication, Comcast shares traded up 1.7% at $37.80.

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