NBCUniversal’s theme park business took another shutdown related beating in Q4, as revenue from the parks dropped 63%.

Comcast Q4 earnings are in, and NBCUniversal’s revenue fell 18% year to year as TV ratings declined and Hollywood continues to reel from the pandemic.

According to The Wrap, theme parks were greatly affected, dropping 63% due to shutdowns and limited capacity…

Universal’s theme parks revenue fell 63% as the Universal Studios Hollywood location remained closed and Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Japan operated at limited capacities. Theme parks reached a “breakeven” point if one backs out the Universal Beijing pre-opening costs, Comcast said.

If you take out the cost of the Beijing park, they broke even.

Like Disney, Universal has faced some major challenges during the pandemic. Even with better than expected attendance, Universal Orlando had to cut loose many Team Members.

But unlike Disney, Universal is owned by a communications giant — Comcast — which means that business sectors unaffected by the shutdown (such as internet service) can somewhat absorb the losses better.

In this case, Comcast did see its cable arm increase by 6%, adding 455,000 new customers.

Comcast’s cable-providing arm, which is the company’s largest business, saw revenue rise 6%. Comcast added 455,000 new customers — its best fourth quarter on record — despite losing 248,000 video customers. High-speed internet and wireless lines more than offset the cord-cutting of cable-TV packages.

What this means for Universal theme park employees long-term is still unclear. Hopefully there won’t be more layoffs, but it’s likely that there will be. Universal Studios Hollywood is closed until further notice, and its likely that there will be a downturn in visitors after the holidays.

And while Universal is still plowing ahead with some new attractions (such as the VeliciCoaster) we have to wonder how long we’ll be waiting for Super Nintendo World to hit the States and/or Epic Universe to arrive.

[Source: The Wrap]