This has not been the best year for Comcast. According to BarretMedia, the company declined by 0.6% year-over-year to $29.9 billion in the first fiscal quarter of 2025. This means that the media conglomerate diminished its profit by 12.5%, or $3.4 billion. Even though the numbers may seem cruel, the parent company of Peacock and NBC has surpassed the expectations of analysts and its executives are confident that they are about to turn a bigger profit with some huge developments down the line.
Part of that optimism is due to the performance of Peacock. The streaming platform — which is about to celebrate its 5th anniversary — added 5 million subscribers, which represents roughly a $400 million improvement over the last fiscal year. By the end of March, the streamer had accumulated 41 million paid subscribers, which represented a rise in revenue of 16%, or $1.2 billion. Part of Peacock’s draw is its number of TV shows hailing from NBC such as The Real Housewives franchise, Saturday Night Live, and procedurals like Chicago Fire and Law & Order.
In an official statement, the chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Corporation, Brian L. Roberts, commented on the rise of Comcast and hyped up what’s to come for the media conglomerate. He wrote:
“[M]omentum in streaming continues with 21% growth in Media EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization]; and Theme Parks remain on an incredible growth trajectory. We could not be more excited for the grand opening of Epic Universe in Orlando next month and our plans to bring a new world-class theme park to the UK. With our significant free cash flow generation, disciplined approach to capital allocation and the strength of our diversified businesses, I am confident that we are well-positioned to navigate an evolving environment and capture future opportunities.”
Will ‘Harry Potter’ and Super Nintendo Save Comcast?
The Epic Universe in Orlando is an ambitious new theme park that created five different immersive worlds for visitors to spend the day at. They include a Super Nintendo World with characters from The Super Mario Bros Movie and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, which offers fans more ways to visit the universe that will soon be brought back to life with the HBO series Harry Potter.
On the TV and streaming realm, viewership might increase with some additions that are bound to get fans hyped up. The Office’s highly anticipated spin-off and sequel The Paper will debut this September, and the fall will also see Peacock house the regular NBA season — this is the start of an 11-year media rights deal that will make the streamer the home of an exclusive doubleheader on Monday nights.