Peacock Reports Q4 Increase in Losses due to NBA Rights Payments

Peacock, the popular NBCUniversal streaming service, unfortunately reported a loss of $552 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. This was a significant increase from the previous year, despite the positive news that subscriber numbers grew by 22% and revenue saw a double-digit rise.

The total revenue for Peacock in this period was $1.6 billion, which represented a 23% increase. However, the losses were primarily due to the payments towards the brand new NBA media rights deal amounting to $2.5 billion per year. Even with this setback, Peacock managed to attract more viewers with the NBA content, and advertising revenue increased.

On a positive note, Peacock’s coverage of the Sunday-night NFL games remained strong, with an average of 23.5 million viewers per game. This success exemplifies the appeal of sports content on the platform. Despite these wins, Peacock, like many other streaming services, has yet to turn a quarterly profit.

Looking ahead, Peacock shows promise as its annual revenue in 2025 stood at $5.4 billion, marking a 10% increase from the previous year. The streamer managed to reduce its annual losses, including those from the NBA rights deal. The Chief Financial Officer of Comcast, the parent company of Peacock, is optimistic about the future, expecting the losses to improve in 2026.

One key factor in this anticipated improvement is the lineup of major sports events that NBC will broadcast throughout the year. With events like the Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup on the horizon, Peacock is poised to capitalize on these opportunities and further enhance its offerings to viewers.