Peacock, the streaming service of Comcast’s entertainment unit NBCUniversal, posted a first-quarter loss of $432 million, compared with a loss of $215 million in the year-ago period and a fourth-quarter loss of $552 million.
Overall revenue at the streaming platform came to $2.0 billion, up from $1.2 billion in the year-ago period and $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by increased paid subscribers and higher average rates. Peacock ended March 2026 with 46 million paying subscribers after adding NBA games and with the help of the Winter Olympics. That compares to 44 million subscribers in the fourth quarter and a year-ago base of 41 million customers.
Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong during a morning analyst call pointed to the flagship streaming platform in the current second quarter “reflecting a meaningful inflection point with Peacock expected to approach profitability.”
Comcast, which reported its latest financial results on Thursday for the first time without its now-separated Versant business, reported overall revenue at $31.5 billion, up 5.3 percent from $29.9 billion in the year-ago period and beating an analyst forecast for $30.4 billion. That included an extra $2.2 billion in revenue from NBC offering the Winter Olympics and the NFL’s Super Bowl game in February.
The media conglomerate saw net income slide 35.6 percent to $2.2 billion, against a year-earlier $3.4 billion, while it posted adjusted earnings per share at 79 cents, compared to a year-ago $1.09. Analysts had forecast per-share earnings of 73 cents.
The first quarter “showcased the strength of our media portfolio, leveraging the unmatched reach of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl to drive record advertising and strong Peacock growth, while also powering our ability to market our connectivity products at scale,” Brian Roberts, chairman and co-CEO of Comcast, along with Mike Cavanagh, said in a statement on Thursday ahead of the analyst call.
Content and experiences revenue rose 40 percent to $11.9 billion after the Winter Olympics and the NFL’s Super Bowl revenue contributions, and media revenue, which includes NBCUniversal, was up 60 percent to $7.3 billion on higher advertising revenue.
The Universal film studios revenue was up 21 percent at $3.4 billion on higher content licensing business, while the theme parks revenue — a key metric for investors — came to $2.3 billion in the first quarter, up 24 percent after the opening of Epic Universe in May 2025.
Comcast’s connectivity and platforms revenue fell 2.5 percent to $19.9 billion. The core cable and telecom distribution business has faced losses in pay TV and broadband subscribers as Comcast grapples with cord-cutting and competition from fiber and fixed wireless providers.
The division in the first quarter lost 322,000 video customers, compared to 245,000 video customers shed during the fourth quarter, and Comcast lost another 65,000 domestic broadband subscribers. That has left investors looking to Comcast and elsewhere across the industry for a bottom when it comes to cable and broadband sub losses.
“We’re not assuming this gets easier any time soon,” co-CEO Cavanagh told analysts during a morning call as he pointed to a continuing competitive landscape in the broadband and wireless markets. “The encouraging news is that the early indications suggest this pivot is not only gaining traction, but is absolutely the right move,” CFO Jason Armstrong added during the call dominated by discussions around recent packaging and pricing initiatives to improve the customer offerings.
Brian Roberts talked about possible M&A play: “If we can find ways to create shareholder value, the bar is high, but we’re always focused on looking at those kind of situations of creative situation. That said, I also really do like the direction of the company, and don’t want to create a lot of distraction.”
Cavanagh agreed with that tempered approach to possible acquisitions by first sustaining gains with organic growth when he added: “As Brian said, (we’re) open to strategic possibilities that create value, but we’ve got the focus really on what we can do ourselves, and the list is long, and we’re underway on that.”
Cavanagh also discussed the theme parks business facing revenue impacts as the industry works through disruption from the current U.S./Israel war with Iran and its impact on transportation costs. Besides attendance at Asian parks already disrupted, the U.S. theme parks have yet to see a major impact, “but that does not mean that it may not happen, depending on the duration of the effect on the price of gas and airplane tickets and so forth. So more to come,” he added.
Comcast recently announced it had completed the separation of most of its cable networks into a separate entity called Versant Media Group, led by Mark Lazarus as CEO.
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