This Summer’s Big TV Hit Brings Back Soap Opera Memories

(Illustration by Elias Stein)

Love Island USA, the dating competition show, is shaping up to be this summer’s big hit.

This past week, the Love Island phone app, which allows viewers to vote on the show’s contestants, passed ChatGPT to become the No. 1 most downloaded program on Apple’s App Store.

New episodes of the reality show come out six nights a week on Comcast’s Peacock streaming service. Season seven premiered from Fiji on June 3, and the finale will air on July 13. Contestants find partners and aim to be the last couple standing.

The show has become a rare daily hook in the world of streaming, and the kind of appointment viewing largely lost in a post-linear TV world.

Comcast took a risk in 2022 when it pulled Love Island from CBS, forcing viewers to watch via Peacock, which remains well behind Netflix, Disney +, and other streamers in terms of viewership. But Love Island is, no doubt, providing a boost. The Peacock app was No. 4 on Apple’s App Store list of free downloads this past week. Netflix, by comparison, was No. 16.

Hotter than AI

Love Island’s phone app topped ChatGPT’s this past week on Apple’s App Store.

Note: Data as of July 1.

Source: Apple

Peacock revenue increased 16% in the first quarter, to $1.2 billion, as total Comcast revenue slipped 0.6% to $29.9 billion.

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Odd CoupleComcast’s stock has slipped this year while Netflix’s has surged.Source: FactSet

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1NetflixComcast2025July-20-100102030405060%

There could be more good news for Peacock, when Comcast next reports earnings on July 31. The stock could use a boost. Shares of Comcast are down 3.3% this year, versus a gain of 45% for Netflix.

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com

Last Week

Markets

Stocks opened on the July Fourth week in record territory, as the GOP raced to pass President Donald Trump’s tax and budget bill by July 4 and seal trade deals by July 9. On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance broke a Senate tie, sending the bill back to the House. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit new highs on Wednesday, then again on the short Thursday session, after the June jobs report beat expectations. The House passed the tax bill soon after. On the week, the Dow industrials rose 2.3%, the S&P 1.7%, and the Nasdaq 1.6%.

Companies

OpenAI agreed to a $30 billion a year data-center leasing deal with Oracle. Canada dropped its digital-services tax to restart trade talks, and the U.S. reached a deal with Vietnam. Trump said DOGE should look into Tesla’s subsidies after Elon Musk attacked the tax bill. Quarterly Tesla sales fell again. Renault took an $11 billion loss on its Nissan Motor stake. Moderna said its combo flu and Covid vaccine met its goals in late-stage trials. JPMorgan Chase raised its dividend and approved $50 billion in buybacks after passing its stress test.

Deals

The Justice Department settled its lawsuit against Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion deal for Juniper Networks. Datadog replaced Juniper in the S&P 500…Paramount Global settled a defamation suit filed by Trump for $16 million. The lawsuit has hung over its acquisition by Skydance Media…Trump promised a TikTok buyer “in two weeks,” which China’s Xi Jinping has to approve.

Next Week

Tuesday 7/8

The National Federation of Independent Business releases its Small Business Optimism Index for June. Consensus estimate is for a 97.9 reading, about one point less than in May. That would be right in line with the 51-year average of 98 for the index.

Wednesday 7/9

The White House’s 90-day reciprocal tariff pause ends Wednesday. So far the U.S. has announced trade deals with the United Kingdom and Vietnam, as well as a truce with China, giving more time for discussions. With more than 100 countries awaiting deals, President Trump recently said he wouldn’t extend the deadline.

The Federal Open Market Committee releases the minutes from its mid-June monetary-policy meeting. At that meeting the FOMC left the federal-funds rate unchanged at 4.25%-4.5%. The central bank has been on hold since December and looks set to take the summer off as another solid jobs report released this past week pushed traders to price in almost no chance of a rate cut at the late-July meeting.

Thursday 7/10

The Department of Labor reports initial jobless claims for the week ending July 5. Claims averaged 241,500 a week in June, up from 215,200 in January.

The Numbers

1 M

The number of robots deployed by Amazon.com in its warehouses, soon to exceed the ranks of humans.

500 B

Tons of plastic waste produced globally each year, more than double the amount two decades ago.

9.2%

Average return of S&P 500 dividend payers over the past 50 years, compared to 4.3% for nonpayers.

$1.8 T

The current size of the federal student-loan portfolio, with the average borrower balance at some $40,000.

Write to Robert Teitelman at bob.teitelman@dowjones.com