Peacock stays profitable in Q3 as Comcast readies US$1bn restructuring

Mike Cavanagh

Comcast-owned US streamer Peacock turned a profit of US$261m in the third quarter (Q3), compared to a US$217m loss the prior year, despite its paid subscriber base remaining flat at around 48 million.

Mike Cavanagh, Comcast’s co-CEO, said the US media and telecommunications group was pleased to have held at 48 million paid subscribers following a price increase.

This marks the second quarter in a row that Peacock has turned a profit, after losing money every quarter for more than five years. Asked whether it would continue to be profitable in every subsequent quarter, Cavanagh said the financials could be “lumpy” but that Peacock looked on course to remain profitable on an annual basis.

In Comcast’s media segment, Q3 revenue rose 13% year-on-year to US$5.36bn driven by higher domestic distribution and advertising attributed to Telemundo and Peacock having Spanish-language rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US. Profit in the media segment was US$769m, up from US$247m a year ago.

On the studio side, revenue was down 1.1% to US$2.97bn, with a 24% decrease in content licensing being partly offset by a 76.6% increase in theatrical driven by The Odyssey and Minions & Monsters. Profit in the studio segment was up 19% to US$402m.

Across the entire Comcast enterprise, which includes its broadband and wireless internet businesses, revenue was down 6% to US$29.3bn.

The earnings report comes as Comcast prepares for a round of lay-offs and restructuring. While the scope of the cuts is not yet known, Comcast said it expected to take a US$1bn restructuring charge in the upcoming quarter. The company has not yet said where the axe will fall, but Cavanagh described the restructuring as a “transformation exercise” focused on the broadband and tech side of Comcast’s business.

Elsewhere on the earnings call, Cavanagh said the plan to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate entity remained on course to conclude by the middle of 2027. While Comcast execs have denied that the goal is to eventually sell NBCUniversal/Sky or merge it with another entity, analysts have suggested it could become a takeover target for media companies including Netflix.