Peacock’s Hot Streak: Two Quarters of Profit After Years Of Losses

Peacock, the marquee NBCUniversal streamer, on Thursday delivered its second consecutive profitable quarter on the back of 48 million subscribers, up from 41 million in the year-earlier period but flat quarter-to-quarter.

As Comcast, led by Brian Roberts and Michael Cavanagh, reported its third-quarter financials, Peacock posted a pre-tax profit of $261 million, which followed a $189 million profit in the most recent second quarter and a $217 million year-ago loss.

Peacock’s maiden second-quarter profit was lifted by FIFA World Cup games, which contributed $440 million in incremental media revenues. The third quarter included $224 million of incremental advertising revenue from the FIFA World Cup as the final games were shown at the start of the latest financial quarter on Peacock and NBCUniversal’s Spanish language Telemundo service.

Comcast’s content and experiences businesses reported revenue of $10.5 billion, up 6.5 percent from a year ago, and adjusted EBITIDA up 29 percent to $1.8 billion. Media revenue rose 13 percent to $5.35 billion, with adjusted EBITDA of $769 million.

Studios revenue fell 1.1 percent to $2.96 billion, with adjusted EBITDA of $402 million. The latest quarter saw contributions to Universal from Christopher Nolan’s epic The Odyssey, Minions & Monsters and the breakout horror pic Obsession for Focus Features.

Peacock, the streaming service of Comcast’s entertainment unit NBCUniversal, saw revenue come to $1.8 billion in the most recent quarter, up from $1.4 billion of revenue in the prior-year period after recent subscription price increases and lower programming costs.

As Comcast continues to face a broadband division downturn, the media conglomerate posted third-quarter revenue down 6 percent to $29.29 billion, compared with $31.19 billion in the year-earlier period. Net income attributable to Comcast rose 3.5 percent to $3.44 billion, against $3.33 billion in the same period of 2025.

Comcast did manage to trim its broadband losses to 376,000 subscribers during the third quarter, an improvement from 475,000 broadband customer losses a year-ago. The latest results from Comcast follows a separation from Versant, the cable TV-focused spinoff from NBCUniversal that runs CNBC, MS NOW, USA, Golf Channel and other assets.

On a morning analyst call, Cavanagh said the Versant separation transaction would be completed by the middle of 2027, and “we’re well into the execution phase,” including building out standalone companies. “While there is still significant work ahead, we have a clear path to completion and remain focused on creating two companies with the strategic flexibility, financial strength and leadership to compete and grow independently,” he added.

Cavanagh also welcomed so far holding Peacock’s subscriber base at around 48 million over the last two quarters amid rate increases. As to future profits or losses for the streaming platform, he added: “The quarters ahead can get lumpy, depending on when rates kick in for different properties.”

To continue growing Peacock, NBCUniversal will be bundling the streamer with rival platforms, as with a recently announced multiyear deal between NBCUniversal and YouTube to bring Peacock to YouTube premium subscribers.

“We are interested in doing this with others as well. Different bundles will be different for different types of partners, but we’re looking to make them additive to the business,” Cavanagh told analysts.

CFO Jason Armstrong also warned Comcast would take a “significant” restructuring charge at over $1 billion in the fourth quarter as the media conglomerate continues to refocus its mobile business around convergent cable and Internet products to fend off competition in broadband from wireless providers like Verizon and T-Mobile.

Brian L. Roberts, co-CEO of Comcast, on the call touted the ongoing transformation efforts around connectivity and convergence products at the media conglomerate. “In broadband, while the market’s super competitive, we’ve got a very intelligent remaking of our relationship with our customers, using technology to our advantage.”