Peacock, the streaming service from NBCUniversal, has become profitable for the first time. This success was driven by popular events like the FIFA World Cup and NBA playoffs, as well as the hit reality show “Love Island USA.”
Comcast recently reached a significant milestone as it plans to separate its NBCUniversal entertainment and news divisions into a new, independent company. Its streaming service, Peacock, which began in 2020, added subscribers and now has 48 million paid users – a 4% increase from the previous quarter. Peacock also generated $189 million in earnings before accounting for interest, taxes, and depreciation.
During a recent earnings call, Comcast’s chairman and co-CEO, Brian Roberts, announced that Peacock has quickly become a significant streaming service in the U.S., gaining two million new paid subscribers for the past two quarters.
According to co-CEO Mike Cavanagh, the recent results demonstrate the strength of having NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, and Peacock work together as a single media company, with potential for continued growth in audience engagement, advertising revenue, and overall profits.
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Comcast is creating a new, independent public company by separating its NBCUniversal entertainment and media businesses.
Comcast is planning to create a new, independent company that will include Peacock, NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, Universal Pictures, Universal television studios and theme parks, as well as Sky Group. They aim to finish this split within the next year.
According to Michael J. Wolf, head of Activate Consulting, Peacock turning a profit shows that live sports and high-quality shows are still the best way to attract viewers and gain subscribers.
With Comcast planning to separate NBCUniversal from its traditional cable business, NBCU is now set up to be a major competitor in the streaming market, according to Wolf.
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Peacock is the most recent of the major streaming services launched by established studios to become profitable, according to Brandon Katz at Greenlight Analytics. Unlike competitors like Netflix, which serves around 80 million homes in the U.S. and Canada, Peacock is currently only available in the United States and a few U.S. territories, limiting its audience size.
According to Katz, reaching profitability was a significant but challenging milestone for Peacock. While important for the business, it’s just one part of a much bigger plan for the future.
Comcast announced its second-quarter earnings, revealing a 1% drop in revenue to $29.9 billion compared to last year. This decline was largely due to fewer residential broadband customers, and also included news regarding its Peacock streaming service.
Net income totaled $3.7 billion, a significant decrease of 68% compared to last year. Last year’s profit was unusually high due to a $9.4 billion gain from the sale of its Hulu stake by Comcast.
Revenue from content and experiences grew by 22.9% to $10.7 billion. This increase was driven by higher advertising income and box office sales, particularly due to popular films like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the horror film “Obsession,” and international showings of the movie “Michael.”
Comcast’s stock closed Thursday at $21.92 a share, down about 7%.
2026-07-24 00:31