Comcast boosted spending in the third quarter to promote its Peacock streaming service, which in turn registered higher advertising revenue, according to MediaRadar
Spending to promote Peacock was $100 million in the third quarter, up 181% from second quarter, according to MediaRadar.
“The surge in spending was likely due to the Tokyo Olympics, which was also featured on Peacock,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO & co-founder of MediaRadar.
Commercials for Peacock appeared on NBCU’s USA Network, ABC, CBS, Fox and Bravo, another NBCU cable network.
Digital advertising was 45% of the spending supporting Peacock, topped by Facebook with a 38% share. Snapchat, YouTube, display ads and podcasts were also employed. Streaming and OTT was less than 1% of digital ad spend, with ads appearing on Hulu and Paramount Plus..
“The smaller volume of advertising on streaming, might need to be revisited,” said Krizelman. “Those audiences have largely cut the cord and are streaming savvy and ready. The largest audiences on Facebook are older and more committed to traditional TV viewing.”
Comcast did not disclose exactly how many users it added in the third quarter. It said Peacock lost $520 million in the quarter on revenue of $230 million
According to MediaRadar, advertising revenues for Peacock rose 115% to $45.8 million in the third quarter from $22.2 million in second quarter.
Peacock had 76 advertisers pitching 172 products, up from 46 companies pitching 136 products. Of the second quarter advertisers, 72% returned in the third quarter.
The top advertises on Peacock in the quarter were State Farm, Verizon Wireless, Target, Apartments.com and Capital One.
The finance category generated 18% of Peacock ad revenues.
“Peacock’s ad business is experiencing strong growth,” said Krizelman. “The platform is also moving beyond sponsorships to allow for more programmatic and automated buying. This will attract a wider range of advertisers and drive greater revenue overall.”
