Comcast, the company behind NBCUniversal and Peacock, has reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2025. The numbers reveal a mixed picture of gains in streaming, slight growth in studio revenues, but ongoing losses in broadband and cable TV subscribers.
One of the brighter spots for Comcast was Peacock, its streaming platform. Losses for Peacock dropped to $215 million, a major improvement from the $639 million loss during the same time last year. Revenue for the platform also jumped 16%, reaching $1.2 billion. Peacock’s subscriber count grew to 41 million paying users by the end of March 2025, boosted by a deal bringing in subscribers from Charter Communications. This was up from 36 million subscribers at the end of 2024.
Mike Cavanagh, President, Comcast, said, “I do expect Peacock to be on a continuing trend of driving towards improved monetisation, bigger scale and therefore declining losses over time.” He added, “Right now, what we see is continued steadiness in the backdrop for parks.”
Overall, Comcast brought in $29.8 billion in revenue for the quarter, slightly lower than the $30.05 billion it posted a year ago but still beating Wall Street expectations. Net income came in at $3.37 billion, down 12.5% year-over-year. However, adjusted earnings per share rose 4.5% to $1.09. The company’s media and entertainment division, which includes NBCUniversal, saw its revenue inch up 1% to $10.45 billion. Studio revenue rose 3% to $2.82 billion, thanks to strong content licensing deals, even though theatrical revenues dropped. This segment saw a rise in EBITDA, increasing from $244 million to $298 million.
NBCUniversal had some theatrical success in Q1 from Wicked and Nosferatu, and it’s hoping for more with How To Train Your Dragon and Jurassic World releases on the horizon. NBCUniversal’s theme parks saw a dip in revenue, down 5% to $1.87 billion, partly due to wildfires near Los Angeles that hurt visitor numbers. But Cavanagh remains confident in the parks division’s long-term potential.
He added that so far there hasn’t been any significant drop in international attendance due to global tensions or trade issues. The company is gearing up for the launch of the Universal Epic Universe park in Florida this May. The media unit’s quarterly revenue rose 1.1% to $6.44 billion, with EBITDA jumping 21.5% to $1 billion. However, Comcast’s broadband and cable divisions continue to face challenges. The total customer base fell by 228,000 to 51.4 million.
The broadband segment lost 199,000 domestic subscribers, worse than expected and a steeper drop compared to the same quarter last year. Comcast’s video subscriber losses also continued, with 427,000 customers cutting the cord, although that’s slightly better than the 487,000 lost a year ago.
Meanwhile, Comcast’s wireless business showed promise, adding 323,000 new domestic lines, up from 289,000 in Q1 2024.
In response to the pressure on its traditional cable operations, Comcast has announced plans to spin off several of its cable networks into a separate company later this year. Channels like USA Network, CNBC, and MSNBC will be part of the spinoff. However, Bravo, NBC, and Peacock will remain under NBCUniversal. Cavanagh admitted the company needs to improve its competitiveness in the broadband space.
Mike Cavanagh, President, Comcast, said, “In this intensely competitive environment, we are not winning in the marketplace that is commensurate with the strength of the network and connectivity products that I just described.” He added that recovery will take “several quarters.”
Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast, said, “We’re clearly facing some challenges. But … with a lot of passion, the team has a sense of urgency and energy and focus to getting customer pain points resolved.” He added, “I really like our strategy, our balance sheet strength, regardless of global uncertainty. I feel we have a fantastic and unique company, and I’m quite optimistic.”