The vast majority of Comcast’s Xfinity X1 customers tuned in to the 2024 Paris Olympics, according to a company blog post published Monday.

Comcast said 87% of active households that subscribe to its live cloud-based pay TV service, X1, watched Olympics programming.

A significant portion of that viewership came from NBC’s primetime marquee programs, Paris Prime and Primetime in Paris.

Also Read: NBCU Claims Ad Revenue Gold Medal for Paris Olympics

The news comes just a month after Comcast's NBCUniversal division announced that its primetime Olympics coverage averaged a total audience delivery of 30.6 million viewers across all platforms, for a total streaming time of 23.5 billion minutes.

During the Paris Olympics, coverage on NBCUniversal’s networks represented approximately 20% of total viewing across X1 and Xfinity Stream.

All told, viewership led by NBC was up 82% from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

That’s in part due to Peacock, which saw a 25% increase in its total share of U.S. TV viewing, according to Nielsen’s monthly Gauge report.

The streaming service also saw a 33% increase in total usage, driven by viewership for Olympic coverage.

According to Nielsen’s live and same day (L+SD) tracking, ratings for NBC’s daytime and primetime coverage on X1 were up 78% from the national average.

Notably for Comcast (and any invested advertisers), 65% of X1 customers also interacted with the service’s Olympics product features, designed to engage viewers with personalized playlists and other customized features.

View the figures below.

The golden age for Comcast’s voice-powered Xfinity X1 seems to have come and gone, with the video platform no longer billed as a ”churn buster“ in quarterly earnings reports — especially in the wake of a record 614,000 lost linear pay TV customers in Q1.

But X1 is still running hot and needs to cool down, as evidenced this week by a final judgment rendered in its favor by a federal court in Florida.

U.S. District Court Judge William Jung granted Comcast’s motion for judgment in the five-year-old patent-infringement suit filed against the cable operator by Fort Myers-based OTT tech startup WhereverTV.  

WhereverTV claimed Comcast’s integration of Netflix and other streaming services into the X1 platform infringed on its patent, “Global Interactive Program Guide Application and Device,” U.S. Patent No. 8,656,431.

For its part, Comcast claimed the patent covered an interactive program guide feature that the cable giant never ended up using. Judge Jung ruled that WhereverTV didn't convincingly prove X1 is infringing on its patent.  

Comcast said Wednesday that the MasterClass app, which offers instructive videos on topics ranging from gymnastics fundamentals to developing an original TV series, is now available across its Xfinity entertainment platforms, including Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex.

According to Comcast, the launch marks the first time the MasterClass app will be offered through a TV provider’s set top box.  

MasterClass's more than 150 instructors and classes span a wide variety of fields, including Arts & Entertainment, Culinary, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing and more. Each class on MasterClass features about 20 video lessons, at an average of 10 minutes per lesson—all taught by elite instructors like Serena Williams (Tennis), Malala (Creating Change), Simone Biles (Gymnastics Fundamentals), Roy Choi (Intuitive Cooking), Mashama Bailey (Southern Cooking), Richard Branson (Disruptive Entrepreneurship) and Neil deGrasse Tyson (Scientific Thinking and Communication).

Also: Charter, Comcast Set Joint Venture To Create New Streaming Platform

"With today’s launch, customers can now enjoy all of MasterClass's programming right alongside the movies and TV shows they love," Comcast senior VP strategic development Michael DelCiello said in a press release. "Whether customers want to enhance their learning, explore or develop a new passion, MasterClass's robust content library is a great addition to the expanding catalog of programming already available on our platforms."

New and existing MasterClass customers can access the service on X1 and Flex by saying "MasterClass" into their voice remote. Existing customers will be prompted to sign in, while new customers can start the membership sign up process right from the app. ■

Comcast has announced the native integration of Apple TV Plus on its U.S. pay TV and retail platforms. 

Starting Monday, Apple's SVOD service will be supported by Xfinity X and Xfinity Flex customer premises equipment, as well as smart TV's sold at Walmart powered by Comcast's XClass TV operating system. 

Apple TV Plus users will have access to the same X1 Voice Remote experience that users of Netflix and other already embedded services do -- they can say things like "Watch Ted Lasso," and the hit Apple TV Plus series will deploy before their eyes. 

Apple TV Plus already launched in December on Comcast's Sky devices (Sky Q and Sky Glass) in the UK and other parts of Europe.

To promote the integration, Apple will offer Xfinity X1, Flex and Stream customers, who are not already paying $4.99 a month to subscribe to its 28-month-old SVOD service, access to most popular Apple TV Plus original series and films from March 15-21. 

If they sign up by April 25, these customers are also eligible for a three-month free trial of the service. 

The move in some sense completes the full 180-degree turn made by both Apple and Comcast, which would have never imagined such an arrangement a decade ago. Apple, which used to confine its service's to its own devices, has proliferated Apple TV Plus to even Google TV. 

Once looking to compete directly with services like Netflix and Apple TV Plus, Comcast has long ceded its video business to an "aggregator of aggregators" approach. 

“With the launch of Apple TV Plus, our customers now have access to all of today’s most popular streaming services through our aggregated user experience and award-winning voice technology.” said Sam Schwartz, chief business development officer of Comcast, in a statement. “By leveraging our global technology platform, our partners can distribute apps on one tech stack to reach tens of millions of viewers.”

Added Peter Stern, Apple’s VP of services: “Apple TV Plus offers the highest quality programming from the finest creators in the world, and one of the best ways to enjoy it is on the big TV in your living room. Our work with Comcast lights up that experience for tens of millions of new devices, and we are thrilled that so many Comcast customers have a compelling way to enjoy their new favorite shows on Apple TV Plus."

Effectv, the Comcast Cable ad-sales division, is offering advertisers opportunities to reach advertisers on the Xfinity X1 platform.

Features available for sponsorship on X1 include a virtual auto showroom, a career center and a hometown hub. The company is also launching a Comcast Knowledge Center, a video library focused on opportunities for continuing education.

“Brands are always looking for ways to make their message stand out,” said Pooja Midha, chief growth officer at Comcast Advertising. “Through Xfinity X1, we are able to offer Effectv clients the opportunity to  reach their audience with rich, relevant brand content that goes beyond a simple TV commercial — an opportunity especially powerful for small businesses that may be struggling with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, these brands’ media investment dollars can go further with greater  interactivity and impact.”  

Brands that want to sponsor those X1 features can work with Mnemonic, Effectv’s creative agency, to develop campaigns.

“This opportunity is about  expanding the power of TV even more,” Midha said. “Brands already invest resources to create short and long-form  content for social and their websites. When this content is offered on demand and coupled with an  audience driven media schedule, brands further extend their reach and the impact of their video investment.”

Amazon continues to expand access to its free ad-supported IMDb TV streaming service, announcing native integration into Comcast's Xfinity X1 and Flex video platforms. 

With the integration, the IMDb TV app is now controllable by the X1 and Flex voice remote, meaning you can launch the software simply by saying "IMDb TV." 

The Comcast announcement follows deployments of the IMDb TV app on iOS and Android mobile devices. 

Earlier deployment announcements this year have included Roku, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, LG Smart TVs (2018-2021 models), PlayStation 4 consoles as well as Chromecast with Google TV, Nvidia Shield and other Android TV devices.

Comcast said Wednesday that streaming video from apps like HBO Max, Paramount Plus and others accounted for 71% of all downstream traffic on its Xfinity X1,  Flex and Xfinity Stream platforms in 2020, an increase of 70% over the prior year.

In a blog post May 5, Comcast said streaming saw the largest viewing gains on Xfinity platforms in 2020, fueled by the launch of more than 70 streaming services during the year, including HBO Max, its own Peacock and CBS All Access/Paramount Plus. According to Comcast, OTT viewing rose 73% year-over-year on X1 and Flex. 

In addition, 78% of its X1 customers accessed OTT apps each month, up from 68% in the prior year. Of those subscribers, nearly 80% are using more than two apps each month. 

While Comcast is just one company, it is the largest multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) in the country with 19.4 million video subscribers and 31 million broadband customers. As Comcast and other operators shift the focus of the business toward broadband, streaming and direct-to-consumer services have become increasingly important, evidenced by its own moves into the sector.

Comcast launched Peacock nationally on July 15, and has grown to about 42 million signups at last count. Others DTC services like Disney Plus and HBO Max and Paramount Plus, have 94.9 million, 44.2 million customers, respectively.  

Engagement is also growing. Comcast said that across its entire entertainment portfolio, including X1, Flex and Stream, customers are watching about three hours more per week than they were before the pandemic started. 

Also Read: The Less Discussed Data Points of TVs New Reality 

Viewing was split pretty evenly between ad-supported content and ad-free content, with ad-supported apps like Flex (free to broadband-only customers) and Peacock Premium (free to X1 subscribers). Comcast said that ad-supported content accounted for more than 50% of viewing on Flex, with Peacock, NBCUniversal's Xumo, ViacomCBS' Pluto and Fox's Tubi among the other most-viewed apps on the platform.  

Also Read: Time Spent Streaming Grew 44% in 4th Quarter: Conviva 

Still, Comcast insisted that doesn’t mean that linear TV is dead, especially for sports. Despite the spike in streaming viewing, Comcast said that it saw an increase in traditional linear TV viewing during the year. And they added that data is showing that streaming viewers “value the lean-back experience” of linear. As an example, Comcast pointed to the live guide on Flex, which brings in traditional channels from Peacock, Xumo and Pluto into an integrated guide, is the second most-viewed feature on Flex behind the home screen.

Also Read: JD Power: New Streaming Services Chip Away at Netflix Dominance 

“As we look forward to the rest of 2021, we’re going to continue evolving these three important pillars of our entertainment platforms to meet our customers where they are with the content and features they desire,” Comcast said in the blog post.

Comcast and Discovery said that Discovery Plus, the streaming service launched earlier this year, is being integrated into Xfinity Flex, Comcast’s platform for broadband-only customers.

Discovery Plus will also be available to Comcast’s pay-TV customers through its X1 interface in the next few weeks, the companies said.  

Read Also: Comcast's Effectv Launches Sales Development Division

On its last earnings call, Discovery said it has 11 million streaming subscribers, most using Discovery Plus.

“The launch of Discovery Plus on Xfinity Flex, and very soon on X1, gives our customers access to more of the best entertainment from one of the newest streaming services on the market,” said Rebecca Heap, senior VP, video and entertainment, Comcast Cable. “Whether a super fan or new to their content, X1 and Flex make it easy for customers to enjoy all the great programming Discovery Plus has available.”

Also Read: Is Comcast Getting Ready to Expand Xfinity Flex Out of Footprint?

Comcast has been hustling to make streaming services available to subscribers to keep them from cutting the cord. Most recently, Comcast made Disney Plus available X1, enabling viewers to tune to Disney Plus and watch its shows by talking into their remote controls.

“As the definitive streaming destination for real-life storytelling, discovery+ serves fans with an unparalleled entertainment experience and a truly differentiated offering,” said Gabriel Sauerhoff, senior VP, digital distribution and commercial partnerships at Discovery, Inc. “We are thrilled to expand our relationship with our valued partner Comcast to provide their customers with direct and easy access to discovery+ and other applications across their industry-leading entertainment platforms – Xfinity Flex, and soon X1.”

Launching direct-to-consumers services like Discovery Plus, has complicated relations between programmers and distributors, but deals like this with Comcast indicate that there are ways for them to continue to work together.

Comcast customers will have to subscribe to Discovery Plus, which costs $4.99 per months, or $6.99 for a commercial-free version. 

Comcast is helping subscribers celebrate Kim Kardashian turning 40 by letting them say Happy Birthday Kim into their X1 and Xfinity Flex remote controls.

When they do that, they will access the most memorable episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the long-running reality show on E!, one of Comcast’s NBCUniversal cable channels. 

 Related: Kardashians Will Stop ‘Keeping Up’ in 2021

Sling TV will also feature a playlist of popular Keeping Up With the Kardashians episodes starting Wednesday. 

Also on Wednesday, E! Will be running a KUWTK marathon starting at 12 p.m., climaxing at 10 p.m. with a Kim’s 40th Birthday Special. 

Wednesday and Thursday’s episodes of E!’s Daily Pop and Nightly Pop shows will be filled with special tributes and segments marketing the reality celebrity’s birthday. 

It was unclear how much Kardashian’s husband, presidential candidate Kanye West will be featured. 

Related: End of an Era: Viewership and Ad Insights for 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' 

NBCU has worked with content providers in the past to emphasize special programming or events on its platform. It offered a COVID-19 short-form news destination earlier this year and a Captain Sandy pride-themed playlist for Bravo programming.

“Our goal, working in lock step with our partners, is to constantly seek opportunities that enhance the fan experience with our content in a meaningful way,” said Matt Farina, VP , digital product partnerships, NBCUniversal. “These partnerships highlight our ability to connect our passionate fans with the new and existing programming that they have come to love and rely upon.”

Peacock hatched on April 15, but didn’t make it to my Comcast-subscribing household until 10 days later.

When I found time to check it out last week, I was greeted by Jimmy Fallon playing a game with Ricky Gervais. I’d already seen that on The Tonight Show the previous day.

At this point, nearly all of the programming that’s on Peacock, the free-with-ads
NBCUniversal streaming service, has been seen before. The first show I watched all the way through was the pilot episode of Cheers. Ted Danson looks so young, but the episode holds up. I remembered nearly all the punchlines, but chuckled nonetheless.

As promised, there were only five commercials shown during the 25 minute running time, including spots for Verizon Communications, Capital One, Target and Eli Lilly’s nasal powder Baqsimi.

Some new plumage may arrive by July 15, when the streaming service becomes available to non-Comcast homes and the premium version launches. But production of many of the original shows NBCU is making for Peacock have been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, Peacock as a platform has plenty to play with.

Ask for It by Name

When you activate it (just say “Peacock” into your remote control), programming appears. In my case, it was the Fallon bit that came on screen.

There are several different ways to navigate Peacock. A menu at the top of the screen offers Channels, Trending, Browse and Search.

Browsing offers content on demand. Featured shows were Parenthood and House. Scrolling down brings a series of categories including Peacock Picks (King of Queens, George Lopez), Comfort TV (Cheers, Making It), Coming Soon (upcoming originals, Brave New World,Angelyne and new episodes of AP Bio). The list of categories goes on and on: Rotten Tomatoes Approved Movies, Peacock at Home, Always On, Laugh Out Loud, True Crime, Feeling Competitive, Timeless Classics, Hidden Gems, Syfi and Fantasy, Hitchcock and Horror, Family Night, Kids Corner.

Users can also scroll through a bunch of linear channels, joining shows in progress. Channels include SNL Vault, Fallon Tonight, The Office, Seth Meyers Now, NBC News Now, Sky News, CNBC Ka-Ching, True Crime, Peacock Reality, ’80s Mix Tape, In It To Win It, Out of This World and Poker.

It’s very easy to get caught up watching SNL’s Laser Cat 7, Jim from The Office putting items from Dwight’s desk into the vending machine, or an old Late Night With Seth Meyers talking about an insane Trump press conference. It’s a little disorienting to hear this one was about about then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Pacing Ahead So Far

On Comcast’s earnings call last week, chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said that Peacock was pacing ahead of internal forecasts for monthly active users and in time spent viewing.

For Comcast subscribers, Peacock is free and it’s well worth the price. It might even convince some subscribers not to cut the cord and instead cut back on some of their over-the-top subscription services. Comcast has opened a new front in the streaming wars. 

Comcast said it is rolling out a next-generation broadband gateway, which will give consumers faster speeds, more capacity, improve streaming performance with less latency. 

Comcast said it will also be providing xFi Advanced Security at no additional cost to protect the connected devices used by 18 million of its broadband customers.

The xFi Advanced Gateway is the first Comcast device to offer WiFi6, which WiFi6, which adds extends the signals’ range and will let households use more connected devices. Comcast points to a study by Strategy Analytics that forecasts that 100 million more smart home devices will be added to home networks by 2023.

They are capable of delivering multiple streaming services simultaneously over WiFi throughout the home.

The xFi Advanced Gateway will be available in the next few months first to customers who subscribe to Xfinity Internet tiers of 300 Mbps or faster.

“We’re trying to position ourselves as having the most advanced access technology in the home,” said Dave Puckett, VP, xFi & digital security product management at Comcast Cable.

“Whatever technology you bring into the home, we’re going to make sure you have the best possible access equipment in the home, and that’s what we’re doing with the xFi Advanced Gateway,” said Puckett.

The new Gateway enables more video streams and supports more gaming services. “I’ve got four children and they’re heavy streamers and gamers,” Puckett said. “We are a hyper-connected home with about 35 devices, so I’m looking forward to getting this in my house.”

The Advanced Gates has four simultaneous dual-band antennas that support 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, allowing data to move with ease; a 2.5bps Ethernet port for wired speeds greater than 1 gigabyte per second and, Bluetooth LE and Zigbee radios that can connect to Internet-of-Things devices.

They offer switchable mid-split support between 42 MHz and 85 MHz to allow greater upstream throughput. 

In addition to all the high tech built in, the new gateway is white, a color Puckett said will more easily blend into the decor in most homes. That will help consumers keep them out of closets and behind desks, enabling better performance.

“It’s really just to make it more aesthetically neutral in the home, so that consumers are more encouraged to bring it out in the open like the rest of their consumer electronics and not stuffed in a drawer, which is going to impact any router’s WiFi range and performance,” he said. 

The new gateway is backwards compatible with the XFi pods that extend the range of WiFi signals in the home.

Customers who lease an xFi gateway will get cybersecurity technology Comcast says is worth $72 annually. The additional service will be rolling out over the coming weeks and requires no software download or additional setup other than logging into xFi via the mobile app or online.

Security features include preventing inadvertent visits to malicious sites, blocking remote access to smart devices from unknown or dangerous sources, monitoring devices in real time and delivering alerts when devices behave in ways that could indicate a network threat and the ability of the home network to get smarter and keep up with new threats over time. Users will get a daily list of digital security actions that were taken each day.

Comcast launched its Advanced Security package in January 2019 as a $5.99 upgrade. It uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to monitor and analyze WiFi traffic to identify suspicious activity.

Comcast’s Puckett said the new security features will warn users if they are about to access phishing sites or sites infested with malware or spyware.

It will also monitor web-connected Internet-of-Things devices like doorbells and refrigerators that don’t have keyboards or monitors to ensure they aren’t sending information to unauthorized outfits. 

“That provides you with a  layer of protection that might otherwise go completely undetected,” Puckett said. Users will get notified about sites that were blocked and an explanation of the types of threats that were averted.

The security software also alerts users whenever a device tries to connect to the xFi home network.

Comcast has been advertising this feature in commercials that show a young man trying to sneak into his girlfriend’s home, only to have her father be alerted to his presence by the boyfriend’s phone attempting to connect to the family’s network.

“That’s actually inspired by true events,” Pucket said.

Comcast has been adding features to its broadband service to give it attributes beyond speed and price in order to attract new customers and keep current subscribers loyal. Those include digital dashboards and apps that let users manage their networks and see what devices are connected and provide parental controls including the ability to pause the WiFi connect to one child’s gadget or to the whole family during meals.

“We’ve really been building the differentiation of our services,” he said. “It’s about driving engagement and attachment to the service. Those are happier and more satisfied customers. From a business perspective it makes a lot of sense because they just stay with us longer.”

Comcast is also giving broadband customers Xfinity Flex to enhance their streaming experience by better organizing viewing choices and being able to navigate with a voice remote.

Sports streaming service DAZN will reside on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 tier as part of a carriage deal between the two companies.

As part of the agreement, DAZN -- which offers live combat sports events -- will be available to Comcast customers on the MVPD's Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex offerings, which means the $19.99 per month service will appear as a native channel within the X1 and Flex user interface.

The deal marks the first distribution agreement for the sports streaming service, which launched last September. It also comes as DAZN rolls out several high-profile boxing matches, beginning Oct. 5 with the Gennady Golovkin-Sergiy Derevyanchenko middleweight fight, and including the Nov. 2 Canelo Alvarez-Segey Kovalev light heavyweight championship bout and the Dec. 7 Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua heavyweight world championship rematch. 

RELATED: DAZN's John Skipper is Back In The Zone 

“DAZN for Operators is our new partnership program, in which we collaborate with the world’s leading pay TV operators, ISPs and mobile carriers to make the live sports experience even more accessible and better to watch for fans,” said Ben King, DAZN senior vice president of global distribution and business development in a statement. “We couldn’t think of a better inaugural partner than Comcast."

Added Daniel Spinosa, Vice President, Entertainment Services for Comcast Cable: “We’re thrilled to give our Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex customers access to DAZN’s live and on-demand programming starting this fall just in time for some of the most highly anticipated events in sports this year.”

Sports streaming service DAZN will reside on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 tier as part of a carriage deal between the two companies.

As part of the agreement, DAZN -- which offers live combat sports events -- will be available to Comcast customers on the MVPD's Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex offerings, which means the $19.99 per month service will appear as a native channel within the X1 and Flex user interface.

The deal marks the first distribution agreement for the sports streaming service, which launched last September. It also comes as DAZN rolls out several high-profile boxing matches, beginning Oct. 5 with the Gennady Golovkin-Sergiy Derevyanchenko middleweight fight, and including the Nov. 2 Canelo Alvarez-Segey Kovalev light heavyweight championship bout and the Dec. 7 Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua heavyweight world championship rematch. 

RELATED: DAZN's John Skipper is Back In The Zone 

“DAZN for Operators is our new partnership program, in which we collaborate with the world’s leading pay TV operators, ISPs and mobile carriers to make the live sports experience even more accessible and better to watch for fans,” said Ben King, DAZN senior vice president of global distribution and business development in a statement. “We couldn’t think of a better inaugural partner than Comcast."

Added Daniel Spinosa, Vice President, Entertainment Services for Comcast Cable: “We’re thrilled to give our Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex customers access to DAZN’s live and on-demand programming starting this fall just in time for some of the most highly anticipated events in sports this year.”

Finding new ways to tap into under-served segments of the video marketplace, Comcast has introduced a new technology for consumers who lack the ability to change the channel on their TV remote.

The cable operator has enabled a new feature that lets users control their X1 video service with their eyes.

The web-based system pairs with the set-top and allows the user to access a virtual, onscreen numerical and directional interface, via tablet or PC, controlling it with their gaze.

Users can change the channel, launch the guide, search for content and set recordings without assistance. They can also use eye control to set up Voice Control shortcuts.

“Changing the channel on a TV is something most of us take for granted but until now, it was a near-impossible task for millions of viewers,” Comcast vice president of accessibility Tom Wlodkowski said. “When you make a product more inclusive you create a better experience for everyone and we’re hoping our new X1 feature makes a real difference in the lives of our customers.”

Comcast specifically noted that individuals with spinal injuries or conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can benefit from the service. Setting up the feature, however, won’t be cheap.

Comcast said it doesn’t charge anything to connect an eye-control remote to the X1 interface. However, customers must acquire eye-tracking hardware and software.

“Many people with these types of physical disabilities already have some type of adaptive device to control laptops and tablets and our eye control web remote basically works on top of that existing software and hardware,” a Comcast spokesperson said.

Equestrian-lifestyle network Ride TV will launch as a subscription video-on-demand channel on Comcast's Xfinity X1 platform this summer, the channel said. It will be available for $4.99 per month, the Fort Worth, Texas-based channel said in a release.

Network CEO Michael Fletcher said in the release: “I wish to personally thank the leadership of Comcast for launching our service. By supporting independent networks like Ride TV and making them available via the Xfinity X1, it is evident Comcast is committed to giving customers more choice when it comes to enjoying the programming that’s most important to them."

Ride TV's carried as a channel by distributors that include Dish Network, Fios TV, Frontier Communications, Armstrong, Sling TV, Google Fiber and CenturyLink Prism. It also has a distribution agreement with the National Cable Television Cooperative that facilitates carriage via smaller distributors.