Comcast Earnings: Studio Profit Rose Just $63 Million During The Odyssey's Record Run
The Odyssey, now Universal’s highest-grossing film ever, led the studio’s biggest movie quarter in Comcast’s results since at least 2022. Yet, with TV licensing down on delivery timing, the whole film and TV studio’s profit rose just $63 million in the third quarter of 2026, less than half the $160 million drop in theme park profit.
The short answer. Comcast reported on October 22 that Universal’s movie revenue rose $490 million, or 77%, while the fees it collects for licensing its films and shows fell $482 million, mainly on the timing of TV deliveries. The whole studio’s profit rose $63 million, and Comcast does not say what The Odyssey alone earned. For anyone who saw the film, that is a small gain in the studio’s best movie revenue quarter in our count since 2022. We also found that Peacock, Comcast’s streaming service, did far more for Comcast’s profit than the studio, though its figure includes World Cup amounts.
The Odyssey and what changed in Comcast profit
What we calculated
- The best movie quarter in our count: Universal’s theatrical revenue of $1,129 million is the highest of the 19 quarters from early 2022 to September 2026 in Comcast’s results releases.
- The smallest profit gain of the three biggest movie quarters: studio profit rose $258 million in the Super Mario Bros. quarter of 2023, $141 million in the Super Mario Galaxy quarter of 2026 and $63 million in The Odyssey’s quarter, each against the year before.
- About $4 of every $100: the studio’s share of the profit Comcast’s five operating businesses made in the quarter, before company overhead.
- A $410 million drop without Peacock: Comcast’s like-for-like profit with Peacock’s reported result taken out of both years.
- A $534 million loss over four quarters: Peacock’s reported results from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the third quarter of 2026, added up.
- $87.4 billion of debt, down from $90.4 billion on June 30: the current and long-term debt on each balance sheet, added together.
- More than seven times: Peacock’s $478 million profit improvement divided by the studio’s $63 million.
- About three and a half times: third quarter free cash flow divided by the dividends paid in the quarter.
On this page
- How much money did The Odyssey make for Comcast?
- Why a box office hit pays a studio less than ticket sales suggest
- Did Universal’s studio make up for Comcast’s broadband and theme park slump?
- Is Peacock profitable now?
- Why Universal theme parks are making less money
- Comcast broadband losses
- Comcast dividend, buybacks and debt
- How we counted
- Frequently asked questions
How much money did The Odyssey make for Comcast?
Comcast does not say. It reports its movie business as one line, and that line had its best quarter in our count, with $1,129 million of theatrical revenue. The whole studio’s profit rose only $63 million, and its licensing sales fell almost as much as its movie sales rose.
The film itself is not in doubt. Comcast’s third quarter release says The Odyssey “Premiered in July and Became Universal's Highest Grossing Film of All Time with Nearly $1.8 Billion in Worldwide Box Office Year-to-Date.” Universal announced the record on September 12, when the film passed $1.677 billion and overtook 2015’s Jurassic World.
Inside the company, the money shows up as theatrical revenue, which is Universal’s share of what cinemas take in. That line rose to $1,129 million from $639 million a year earlier. Comcast credits The Odyssey, Minions & Monsters and the carryover of Obsession, so anyone outside the company sees one line for all of those films together.
Show the data
| Category | Studio revenue from cinema releases | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2022 | $168M | |
| Q2 2022 | $550M | |
| Q3 2022 | $673M | |
| Q4 2022 | $216M | |
| Q1 2023 | $319M | |
| Q2 2023 | $913M | The Super Mario Bros. Movie |
| Q3 2023 | $504M | Oppenheimer |
| Q4 2023 | $343M | |
| Q1 2024 | $330M | |
| Q2 2024 | $237M | |
| Q3 2024 | $611M | |
| Q4 2024 | $515M | |
| Q1 2025 | $286M | |
| Q2 2025 | $284M | |
| Q3 2025 | $639M | |
| Q4 2025 | $411M | |
| Q1 2026 | $117M | |
| Q2 2026 | $972M | The Super Mario Galaxy Movie |
| Q3 2026 | $1,129M | The Odyssey |
What that one line hides is a trade. Movie revenue rose $490 million while content licensing, the fees Universal collects for letting networks and streamers show its films and TV series, fell $482 million. Comcast puts the licensing drop mainly down to “the timing of when content was made available by our television studios.” With smaller other sales, the whole studio took in slightly less than a year earlier.
Show the data
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | $3,000M |
| Theatrical | +$490M |
| Content licensing | -$482M |
| Other | -$41M |
| Q3 2026 | $2,967M |
Profit went the other way. The studio’s adjusted EBITDA, the operating profit measure Comcast reports for each business before interest, taxes and the accounting charges that spread the cost of equipment and other long-lived assets over time, rose $63 million to $402 million. Comcast says that came from costs falling more than sales, and the lower costs were mostly smaller TV production bills and lower marketing, partly offset by higher film costs.
Why a box office hit pays a studio less than ticket sales suggest
A ticket is not studio revenue. As general background from Comcast’s annual report, cinemas keep part of each ticket and the studio pays to advertise a film while it plays. For this quarter, Comcast says studio profit rose because costs fell more than sales.
Comcast describes the mechanics in its 2025 annual report. “Our arrangements with exhibitors generally entitle us to a percentage of ticket sales,” it says, exhibitors being the cinema owners, and it lists “the percentage of ticket sales retention by the exhibitors” among the things that move theatrical revenue.
The same report says the studio spends heavily on marketing “before and throughout the release of a film in movie theaters,” so it “typically” books a loss on a film “prior to and during the film’s exhibition in movie theaters.” It adds that a film’s success in cinemas “is generally a significant factor in determining the revenue a film is likely to generate in succeeding licensing windows.”
Comcast’s history also shows that movie revenue and studio profit do not have to move together. We compared the three biggest movie quarters in our count, each against the same quarter a year before. Each brought more movie revenue than the one before, and a smaller profit gain. That is a comparison of three quarters with different TV schedules and costs, and it says nothing about the profit on any single film.
| Quarter | Film Comcast credits | Theatrical revenue | Studio profit change from a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2023 | The Super Mario Bros. Movie | $913 million | +$258 million |
| Q2 2026 | The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | $972 million | +$141 million |
| Q3 2026 | The Odyssey | $1,129 million | +$63 million |
Source: Comcast results releases for Q2 2023, Q2 2026 and Q3 2026, each change as Comcast reported it that quarter; the 2023 change is on the segment basis Comcast used before it reorganized its segments in 2026.
Size matters too. Out of every $100 of profit Comcast’s five operating businesses made this quarter, the studio made about $4, while home internet, TV and phone service for households in the US and Europe made about $64. A great summer at the movies moves a small slice of the company.
Show the data
| Part | Value | Squares |
|---|---|---|
| Home internet, TV, phone (US, Europe) | $64 | 64 |
| Business services | $16 | 16 |
| Theme parks | $8 | 8 |
| Media including Peacock | $8 | 8 |
| Movie and TV studio | $4 | 4 |
Did Universal’s studio make up for Comcast’s broadband and theme park slump?
The studio as a whole did not. Its profit rose $63 million, while theme park profit fell $160 million and the home internet, TV and phone business fell more. Peacock, Comcast’s streaming service, filled the gap.
Put the businesses side by side and the picture is plain. Peacock’s profit improved by $478 million from a year earlier, more than seven times the studio’s gain by our calculation, with World Cup amounts inside Peacock’s figure. Business services added a little. Theme park profit and the home connections business, which sells internet, TV and phone service to households in the US and Europe, went the other way.
Show the data
| Category | Change |
|---|---|
| Peacock | +$478M |
| Movie and TV studio | +$63M |
| Business services | +$24M |
| Theme parks | -$160M |
| Home internet, TV and phone | -$374M |
Overall, Comcast’s profit was almost flat. Adjusted EBITDA fell 5.8% as reported. That drop mostly reflects businesses Comcast no longer owns. Versant Media Group, part of its media business, became a separate public company in January, and Sky’s operations in Germany were sold in May. Counting only the businesses it still has, profit rose 0.8%.
Take Peacock’s reported result out of both years and that small gain turns into a $410 million drop, about 4.4%, by our calculation. That is simple arithmetic on reported figures, and Peacock’s quarter includes World Cup amounts Comcast does not separate. Even so, the studio’s whole profit gain was small next to the declines elsewhere, and Peacock’s turnaround did most of the work.
Is Peacock profitable now?
Yes, for the second quarter in a row. Peacock made $261 million of profit by Comcast’s measure, after losing $217 million a year earlier.
The co-CEOs credited “strong growth in distribution,” which here means the fees Peacock collects, and the release says those rose on “higher average rates and an increase in paid subscribers.” In plain terms, more people paid, and they paid more. Peacock’s first profitable quarter was the second quarter of 2026, according to the second quarter release.
Two caveats belong next to that number. Comcast says Peacock’s figures include amounts tied to the FIFA World Cup, which added $224 million of revenue to the wider media business this quarter. It does not split out the tournament’s share of Peacock’s profit. The losses also ran deep until recently. Over the last four quarters, Peacock’s results still add up to a loss of $534 million, by our sum.
Peacock is also far smaller than the leader. Its $1.8 billion of quarterly revenue compares with $12.9 billion at Netflix in the same quarter, according to Netflix’s third quarter letter, which our Netflix earnings article covers in full.
| Peacock, Q3 | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.8 billion | $1.4 billion |
| Profit (adjusted EBITDA) | $261 million | -$217 million |
| Paid subscribers | 48 million, up 17% |
Source: Comcast third quarter 2026 release; Peacock figures include amounts tied to the FIFA World Cup.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | -$436M |
| Q4 2024 | -$372M |
| Q1 2025 | -$215M |
| Q2 2025 | -$101M |
| Q3 2025 | -$217M |
| Q4 2025 | -$552M |
| Q1 2026 | -$432M |
| Q2 2026 | $189M |
| Q3 2026 | $261M |
Why Universal theme parks are making less money
Fewer dollars came in at the gate while costs rose. The parks still made $780 million of profit, but that was $160 million less than a year earlier.
Park revenue fell $120 million and costs rose $40 million, which together make up the drop. Comcast says revenue fell “primarily due to lower revenue from park admissions, including from the impact of increased promotional activity,” which means more deals and discounts. The co-CEOs, Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh, called it “near-term cyclical headwinds,” a slowdown they describe as temporary, and said they remain confident in the parks’ long-term growth.
The timing of Epic Universe, the newest Orlando park, frames the year. It opened in May 2025, according to Comcast’s first quarter release, so early 2026 was measured against months without it, while this summer is measured against a summer with it. Park profit grew in the first quarter of 2026 and fell in the second and third. Comcast does not tie the decline to that timing, and the link is our reading.
Comcast broadband losses
Comcast lost 144,000 home internet customers in the quarter, more than it lost a year earlier, and now has 28.3 million.
US home internet revenue fell 4.7%, and Comcast says that came from both “lower average rates” and fewer customers. Mobile phone service is the bright spot. Comcast added 368,000 wireless lines in the quarter, and wireless service revenue grew on more customers and on promotional free lines turning into paid ones, according to the release.
The home connections business, which includes households in Europe, still made $374 million less profit than a year earlier; Comcast’s business figures leave out Sky’s German operations in both years. Comcast ties the lower broadband revenue to lower average rates and fewer customers, and it calls the weaker results part of an investment in how it sells its service. Phone and internet bills are under pressure at rivals too, as our AT&T earnings article describes.
Show the data
| Measure, Q3 | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Home internet customers, net change | -144,000 | -91,000 |
| Wireless lines, net change | +368,000 | +414,000 |
| TV customers, net change | -274,000 | -257,000 |
| US home internet revenue | $6,241 million | $6,550 million |
| Residential business profit (adjusted EBITDA, includes Europe) | $6,110 million | $6,484 million |
Source: Comcast third quarter 2026 release, customer counts are US households.
Comcast dividend, buybacks and debt
Comcast keeps paying its dividend, declaring $0.33 a share on October 22, but has stopped buying back its own shares. It also owes less than three months earlier.
The new dividend is payable on January 27, 2027, according to Comcast’s dividend announcement, and dividends paid in the third quarter came to $1.2 billion. The buyback pause began this quarter. Comcast says it “expects the pause to remain in place through the proposed separation of its businesses into two independent publicly traded companies,” and the co-CEOs said the separation of NBCUniversal and Sky “remains on track.”
Earlier repurchases left the average number of shares that profit is divided by 3.4% lower than a year before. Adjusted earnings per share, which leave out some one-time items, came in above what analysts expected on average, in the consensus compiled by Zacks as of October 19.
| Per share and cash, Q3 | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusted earnings per share | $1.07 | $1.12 |
| Zacks consensus, October 19 | $0.98 | |
| Average share count used for earnings per share | 3,562 million | 3,689 million |
| Free cash flow | $4.2 billion | $4.9 billion |
| Dividends paid | $1.2 billion |
Source: Comcast third quarter 2026 release; consensus as compiled by Zacks.
Free cash flow, the cash left after running the business and paying for equipment and software, fell 14.8% but still covered the quarter’s dividends about three and a half times, by our calculation.
Debt fell to $87.4 billion on September 30 from $90.4 billion three months earlier, by our sum of the debt lines in Comcast’s accounts. Until the separation, Comcast says, the buyback pause stays in place, so the dividend is the regular cash it returns to shareholders for now.
What to watch
- Whether Peacock stays profitable once the World Cup is behind it, and whether the licensing drop Comcast put down to timing comes back: Comcast’s fourth quarter results release.
- Whether the parks drew fewer visitors or the same crowds paid less: the October 22 earnings call, with a replay on the Comcast investor site from 11:30 a.m. Eastern, and Comcast’s third quarter report to the SEC (Form 10-Q).
- When the separation of NBCUniversal and Sky, which the third quarter release calls the proposed NBCUniversal Spin-off, is completed and on what terms for shareholders: Comcast’s SEC filings on the spin-off.
How we counted
Theatrical revenue by quarter is the Studios table of each Comcast results release from the first quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2026, read from StockTitan’s copy of each release, with the four 2022 quarters taken from the prior-year column of the 2023 releases. Comcast recast its segments from 2026, but the theatrical line in the 2025 columns of the 2026 releases matches what it first reported. Studio profit changes are the year-over-year changes each release reported.
The $4 of every $100 is the studio’s third quarter adjusted EBITDA of $402 million divided by the $9,539 million that home connections, business services, media, studios and theme parks made together, before headquarters costs and eliminations, the deals between Comcast’s own businesses that are taken out of the total.
The figure without Peacock is arithmetic on reported results. It subtracts Peacock’s $261 million from this quarter’s pro forma adjusted EBITDA (counting only the businesses Comcast still owns) of $9,106 million and adds its $217 million loss back to last year’s $9,038 million. Debt is the debt due within a year plus the debt due later on Comcast’s balance sheet at each date. Peacock’s four-quarter sum adds its reported results of $552 million and $432 million lost in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, and $189 million and $261 million made in the next two quarters.
Frequently asked questions
What is The Odyssey’s worldwide box office?
Comcast said on October 22, 2026 that The Odyssey had nearly $1.8 billion in worldwide box office year to date. Universal announced on September 12 that it had passed $1.677 billion.
Is The Odyssey Universal’s highest-grossing movie?
Yes. Universal said the film passed 2015’s Jurassic World in September to become the studio’s biggest film of all time at the worldwide box office.
Did The Odyssey help Comcast’s earnings?
It helped lift Universal’s theatrical revenue to $1,129 million from $639 million a year earlier, but the whole studio’s profit rose only $63 million while licensing fell. Comcast does not report profit by film.
Is Peacock profitable yet?
Yes. Peacock made $261 million of adjusted EBITDA, Comcast’s profit measure, in the third quarter of 2026, its second profitable quarter in a row, with 48 million paid subscribers. The figure includes World Cup amounts.
How many broadband customers did Comcast lose?
Comcast lost 144,000 US home internet customers in the third quarter of 2026, against 91,000 a year earlier, and had 28.3 million left. Its release gives no reason for the customer losses, and it says broadband revenue fell on lower average rates and fewer customers.
Where can I follow Comcast’s results on StockTitan?
The Comcast overview and financials pages on StockTitan carry its press releases, quarterly figures and filings as they come in.
Sources
- Comcast Reports 3rd Quarter 2026 Results, October 22, 2026
- Comcast Reports 2nd Quarter 2026 Results
- Comcast Reports 1st Quarter 2026 Results
- Comcast Reports 2nd Quarter 2023 Results
- Comcast Declares Quarterly Dividend, October 22, 2026
- Comcast financials on StockTitan
- Comcast overview on StockTitan
- Comcast 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K
- NBCUniversal: The Odyssey becomes Universal Pictures’ biggest film of all time, September 12, 2026
The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an endorsement of any particular investment strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.