Revenue Growth
Consolidated revenue increased 11% year-over-year in Q1 on a pro forma basis, benefiting from NBCUniversal events (Milan Cortina Olympics and Super Bowl). Excluding those events, revenue grew in the low single digits.
Comcast
· CMCSA
April 23rd, 2026
Summary
- Earnings Call Date:
- 2026-04-23
- Change Since:
- -28.45%
- Next Earnings Date:
- 2026-07-23
Earnings Call Sentiment
PositiveThe call presents a constructive mix of operational progress and near-term financial headwinds. Management reported meaningful early wins — record wireless net adds, improved broadband losses, strong Peacock subscriber growth, robust sports and advertising results, strong parks and studios performance, and solid free cash flow and shareholder returns. However, these positives are offset by near-term margin pressure driven by go-to-market investments (including bundled free wireless lines), first-year NBA rights dilution impacting Media EBITDA and broadband ARPU pressure that likely persists into Q2. Management describes these impacts as intentional investments with monetization and margin recovery expected later in the year, and the narrative emphasized confidence in the strategic pivot and the company’s ability to convert free lines to paid relationships.
Company Guidance
The company gave forward-looking color that broadband ARPU pressure should intensify modestly in Q2 but begin to ease as the year exits as free wireless lines monetize, with management expecting a “significant majority” of free lines to convert to paid in H2 and to provide a tailwind to convergence revenue and ARPA (convergence ARPA today ~ $85); Q1 operating metrics included broadband net losses improving ~117,000 YoY to a ~65,000 net loss, broadband ARPU down ~3.1%, convergence revenue down 2.8% and convergence ARPA down 0.8% (wireless service revenue +15%), 435,000 net wireless lines added (record quarterly), 9.7 million total lines (16% penetration of the residential broadband base), monthly data usage +10%, connects up for the first time in >4 years, and improving voluntary churn and NPS; company-wide revenue rose 11% (ex-event growth low-single-digits), adjusted EBITDA declined 9% (Connectivity & Platforms EBITDA down ~4.7%), Media saw roughly $2.0–$2.2 billion incremental event revenue (Legendary February), Peacock added ~2M net subs with revenue up >70% and paid subs ~46M (Peacock EBITDA loss ~$432M but expected to approach profitability next quarter as Q1 represented peak NBA-related dilution), Parks revenue +24% and EBITDA +33% (adjusted >7%), free cash flow was $3.9B with $2.5B returned to shareholders this quarter (including $1.25B repurchases and $1.2B dividends), and management reaffirmed a path to ~2.3x net leverage as VERSANT falls out of the trailing calculation.
Record Wireless Net Additions
Added 435,000 net wireless lines in the quarter — the strongest quarter in company history — ending with 9.7 million total lines and ~16% penetration of the domestic residential broadband base.
Broadband Performance Improvement
Broadband net losses improved by 117,000 year-over-year to a net loss of 65,000 subscribers, the first YoY improvement since Q4 2020; connect volumes are up for the first time in more than four years and voluntary churn and NPS are moving in the right direction.
Peacock Subscriber and Revenue Momentum
Peacock added roughly 2 million net new subscribers in the quarter (5 million year-over-year, +2 million sequentially to reach ~46 million paid subscribers). Peacock revenue grew more than 70% year-over-year and streaming minutes hit a record 16.7 billion minutes for the Winter Games.
Legendary February Advertising Success
17-day mega-event (Olympics, Super Bowl, NBA All‑Star) reached over 225 million Americans and generated roughly $2.0–$2.2 billion in incremental advertising revenue across the period, driving audience, engagement and sizable distribution opportunities for connectivity offers.
Theme Parks Strong Growth
Theme Parks revenue rose 24% and EBITDA increased 33% (adjusted for last year's Epic preopening costs, Parks EBITDA grew over 7%). Epic Universe drove robust attendance and higher per-cap spending in Orlando.
Studios Box Office Success
Super Mario Galaxy crossed $750 million globally (the biggest title of the year) and the franchise has now grossed $2 billion worldwide; Studios off to a strong start with several high-profile releases planned.
Convergence and Wireless Revenue Upside
Wireless service revenue grew ~15% year-over-year. Convergence ARPA is roughly $85, and management highlighted a long runway to grow ARPA by converting free wireless lines to paid relationships in the back half of the year.
Network Demand and Usage
Monthly data usage on Comcast's network rose ~10% quarter-over-quarter, supporting demand for higher-speed tiers and gig+ adoption.
Strong Free Cash Flow and Capital Return
Generated $3.9 billion of free cash flow in Q1 and returned $2.5 billion to shareholders (including $1.25 billion in repurchases and $1.2 billion in dividends). Over the past 12 months the company returned ~$11 billion to shareholders.
Operational and Organizational Actions
New leadership structure and operational changes (including investments in customer experience, simplified packaging and go-to-market shifts) produced early positive signs across connect activity, mobile attach and NPS.
Operator
Greetings and welcome to Comcast's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Please note this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Executive Vice President, Investor Relations, Ms. Marci Ryvicker. Please go ahead, Ms. Ryvicker.
Marci Ryvicker
Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone. Joining us on today's call are Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh, Jason Armstrong and Steve Croney. I will now refer you to Slide 2 of the presentation accompanying this call, which can also be found on our Investor Relations website and which contains our safe harbor disclaimer. This conference call may include forward-looking statements subject to certain risks and uncertainties. In addition, during this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please see our 8-K and trending schedule issued earlier this morning for the reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP. With that, I'll turn the call over to Brian.
Brian Roberts
Good morning, and thanks, Marci. We're off to a good start. We've taken a hard look at both where the market is and how we're performing and made some real changes. With our new leadership structure, Mike as Co-CEO and taking the day-to-day lead on improvements and Steve off to a fast start fully running connectivity and platforms, I really like our team. Steve has brought in key new talent and is quickly restructuring a lot of the operations. And equally important, we have better aligned everyone across the entire company around a clear set of priorities with a sense of urgency to work in harmony toward the important company-wide initiat...
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