Peacock, the streaming service of Comcast’s NBCUniversal entertainment unit, reported a first-quarter loss of $432 million, compared with a loss of $215 million in the same period last year and a fourth-quarter loss of $552 million.
Total revenue at the streaming platform was $2.0 billion, up from $1.2 billion in the same period last year and $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by an increase in paid subscribers and higher average prices. Peacock finished March 2026 with 46 million paying subscribers after adding NBA games and with the help of the Winter Olympics. This compares to 44 million subscribers in the fourth quarter and a base of 41 million customers last year.
The major streaming platform’s current second quarter “reflects a meaningful inflection point with Peacock expected to approach profitability,” Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong noted during a morning analyst call.
Comcast, which reported its latest financial results Thursday for the first time without its now-separate businesses, reported total revenue of $31.5 billion, up 5.3 percent from $29.9 billion in the same period last year, beating analysts’ expectations of $30.4 billion. That included $2.2 billion in additional revenue from NBC, which carries the Winter Olympics and the NFL’s Super Bowl in February.
The media group saw net income fall 35.6 percent to $2.2 billion, compared to $3.4 billion a year earlier, while it reported adjusted earnings per share of 79 cents, compared to $1.09 a year ago. Analysts had expected earnings per share to reach 73 cents.
The first quarter demonstrated “the strength of our media portfolio, leveraging the unparalleled reach of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl to drive record advertising and strong Peacock growth, while also strengthening our ability to market our communications products at scale,” Brian Roberts, chairman and co-CEO of Comcast, along with Mike Kavanagh, said in a statement Thursday ahead of the analyst call.
Content and experiences revenue rose 40 percent to $11.9 billion after the Winter Olympics and NFL Super Bowl revenue contributions, and media revenue, which includes NBCUniversal, rose 60 percent to $7.3 billion due to higher advertising revenue.
Global movie studio revenue rose 21 percent to $3.4 billion on higher content licensing business, while theme park revenue — a key metric for investors — reached $2.3 billion in the first quarter, up 24 percent after Epic Universe opened in May 2025.
Comcast’s communications and platforms revenue fell 2.5 percent to $19.9 billion. Its 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-optic and fixed wireless providers.
In the first quarter, the division lost 322,000 video customers, compared to 245,000 video customers during the fourth quarter, and Comcast lost another 65,000 local broadband subscribers. That has left investors looking to Comcast and elsewhere across the industry to get to the bottom when it comes to sub-cable and broadband losses.
“We don’t assume this will get easier anytime soon,” co-CEO Kavanagh told analysts during a morning call as he pointed to the ongoing competitive landscape in the broadband and wireless markets. “The encouraging news is that early indications are that this pivot is not only gaining traction, but is absolutely the right move,” CFO Jason Armstrong added during the call, which was dominated by discussions about recent packaging and pricing initiatives to improve customer offerings.
Brian Roberts talked about potential mergers and acquisitions: “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 with creative attitudes. However, I also really like the direction of the company, and I don’t want to create too many distractions.”
Kavanagh agreed with this moderate approach to potential acquisitions by first maintaining gains with organic growth when he added: “As Brian said, (we’re) open to strategic possibilities that create value, but we have a focus really on what we can do ourselves, the list is long, and we’re working on that.”
Kavanagh also discussed the theme park business facing revenue impacts as the industry works through disruption caused by the current US-Israel war with Iran and its impact on transportation costs. “Besides the disruption to attendance at Asian parks already, theme parks in the U.S. haven’t seen a significant impact yet,” he added, “but that doesn’t mean it might not happen, depending on the duration of the impact on gas prices, airline tickets, etc..” There is more to come.”
Comcast recently announced that it had completed the spin-off of most of its cable networks into a separate entity called Versant Media Group, led by Mark Lazarus as CEO.
