Comcast: 2018 v. 2019

Despite losing in the bidding war with Disney for the Fox assets, 2018 turned out to be a pretty good year for Comcast. It successfully acquired and integrated the Sky assets that now extends its reach into Europe.  While cable communications video and voice revenues were down for the year, overall cable communications revenues were up by more than $2B ($53.1B to $55.1B), in large part due to the 9.3% jump in high speed internet revenues ($15.7B to $17.1B).  Business Services and Advertising also saw big year-over-year percentage gains of 10.7% and 14.1%, respectively.  Additionally, NBCUniversal contributed $35.8 billion in revenue in 2018, an 8.9% jump from 2017.

Comcast reported 30.3 million customer relationships at the end of the year.  92% or 28 million were residential customers.  Of its residential customers, nearly 70 percent had at least two Xfinity products.  In the fourth quarter, Comcast added 351K internet customers, while losing only 29,000 video subscribers.

How does Comcast top 2018?  Simply, it leverages all its content, new and old, over all distribution channels, including those it owns here and abroad.  It continues to invest in technology and original content and bundle products and services.   It passes on “opportunities” to acquire other pay-tv operators or businesses that are shrinking.