Comcast saw gains in streaming as it gears up for what might be its busiest sports month in a decade.

The media and telecommunications company will see the convergence of its two most high-end sports properties in February when it broadcasts both the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.

• Peacock, the company’s steaming service, reached 24.5 million monthly active users and 9 million paying users at the end of 2021. The service was rolled out in the U.K. and Ireland in the fourth quarter.
• Peacock’s revenue grew to $778 million in 2021, but its adjusted EBITDA loss increased to $1.7 billion. Those figures rose respectively from $118 million and $663 million in 2020.
• Despite Peacock’s losses, adjusted EBITDA for the entire NBCUniversal portfolio grew 6% year-over-year to $5.7 billion.

Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh said that the company plans to double its content spending to $3 billion in 2022.

Bounceback Quarter

Comcast reached $30.3 billion in revenue in Q4 2021, up 9.5% from the previous year and 6.7% above the same period in 2019. EBITDA grew 17% year-over-year to $8.4 billion.

The Summer Olympics brought in $1.8 billion in media revenue in 2021.

Comcast-owned Sky, which holds Premier League rights, saw its revenue dip 2.5% to $5.1 billion in the quarter.

Peloton isn’t the only at-home fitness company facing major financial dilemmas — so is rival iFIT Health and Fitness, which sells NordicTrack products.

One of the company’s lenders, Pamplona Capital Management, filed a lawsuit against iFIT over an agreement iFIT made with a China-based manufacturer, according to The New York Post. The reported $300 million lawsuit could cause the company to file for bankruptcy.

• The lawsuit comes shortly after the company canceled an IPO which could have raised around $650 million.
• Like Peloton — whose struggles were partially due to a drop in demand for at-home fitness — iFIT is reportedly hemorrhaging money.

From Good To Bad

Just a few short months ago, when the company had filed for an IPO, things were looking up for iFIT — or at least they appeared to be. 

In the fiscal year 2021, iFIT generated $1.7 billion in revenue, a major bump from the previous year, when the brand garnered $851.7 million. It had even expanded its portfolio, acquiring Sweat and 29029.

Previous trips to court haven’t sunk the company, either. iFIT has been embroiled in several lawsuits over the past couple of years, being sued by and countersuing Peloton.

Samsung posted record fourth-quarter revenue driven by a demand for its computing chips, which help power much of the video game industry. 

The Korean tech giant generated $63.7 billion in revenue in Q4 2021, up from $55.33 billion for the same period the year prior. The world’s largest chipmaker reported record revenue despite challenges linked with supply chain issues and COVID, which are expected to continue.  

Full-year revenue reached a record $232.5 billion, up from $212.82 billion in FY2020. 

Samsung has been proactive in establishing a presence in the gaming and chip industries. 

• In 2020, the company won a contract to produce chips for gaming company Nvidia.
• Last June, it announced that it will be working with AMD to make graphics chips.
• It pledged to invest $206 billion over the next three years, with a focus on chipmaking. 

Samsung has been willing to spend more than its competitors to improve its semiconductor business. The company reported an industry-leading $36.3 billion in semiconductor capital expenditure in FY2021 due to the acquisition of tools to expand chip and memory production. 

An Eye On Fitness

Last August, Samsung said it would upgrade the chip in its Galaxy Watch series, which includes the fitness-focused Galaxy Active line. The company has planned to build a new $17 billion semiconductor factory outside of Austin, Texas, to facilitate production of its computing products.

Construction begins this year on the factory, which is slated to open in 2024.