Comcast, parent company of Peacock, may be struggling with the general contraction in the legacy media broadcast arena, but Peacock is thriving. While it hasn’t (yet) quite reached break even, its Q1 results show significant subscriber gains and a narrowed loss that’s well worth celebrating. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, shares the full details.
A Strong Q1 for Peacock
Peacock saw its operating losses narrow to just $215M, a big jump from last year’s $639M. Revenue also rose to 16%, or $1.2B. They also saw their paying subscriber numbers rise to 31M, mostly off the back of integrating Charter Communication’s subscribers into the fold. At the 2024 Q4, they were sitting at 36M, with no growth between Q4 and Q3.
Comcast’s overall revenues came in at $29.8B, slightly below the same quarter last year but on-target for the projected revenue for this quarter. Net income came in at #3.37B, down 12.5% on the prior year period. However, the adjusted EBITDA for the media division rose to $9.5B, and adjusted earnings per share rose 4.5% to $1.09. NBCUniversal’s studio unit also saw a 3% revenue rise, to $2.82B, with lower theatrical revenue offset by higher content licensing revenue.
Cagey About Profitability
Despite these notable gains, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh did not commit to any benchmarks for Peacock’s profitability over the coming year. However, he was positive about the streamer’s ability to further improve scale and monetization.
He did cite the currently unstable US economic outlook and recessionary potential as part of the reason for this reticence. However, he was quick to reiterate that the company and the streamer are both well-positioned to weather these shifts.
Overall, things are looking positive indeed for one of the smallest streaming competitors on the market currently. It will be interesting to see if they continue this steady growth into the rest of 2025.
Film and Television 