Copyright adweek
The numbers 28%—Increase in media earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), driven by Peacock. -$217 million—Peacock EBITDA losses, which improved by $219 million year over year. -2.7%—Revenue decreased after comparison to the 2024 Olympics, which broke the ad revenue record. 41 million—Total Peacock subscribers, which is flat quarter over quarter and up 5 million year over year. The watercooler talk Mergers were on analysts’ minds during Comcast’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, as the company is one of the reported suitors for Warner Bros. Discovery, which recently said it was receiving interest from “multiple parties.” Mike Cavanagh, Comcast’s president, said the “bar is very high” for the company to pursue any M&A transactions, given how strongly it feels about its businesses and strategies. However, he added, “You should expect us to look at things that are trading in our in the space around our industry.” A major question surrounding any WBD transaction would be whether a sale would pass government regulation. To that point, Cavanagh noted that the company’s Versant spin-off is on track. “What we’d be looking for and what we’re going to look like post diverse and spin, I think more things are viable than maybe some of the public commentary that’s out there,” Cavanagh said. The key quote “I would point out that with the Versant spin, we’ve set NBC media business up, pairing Peacock on the streaming side with NBC broadcast. You’ve seen lots of news lately about us attracting the NBA, Taylor Sheridan, and the like, over the long term, and you put that business alongside one of the finest studio businesses in the industry and our parks business, and I think the strategies we have are really sound and durable without M&A,” said Mike Cavanagh, Comcast president.
