Comcast's Residential Broadband Customer Decline Moderates in 1Q

Published: 2026-04-23 07:21:45 ET CMCSA

Published on 04/23/2026 at 07:21 am EDT

By Kelly Cloonan

Comcast stemmed subscriber losses for its critical domestic residential broadband business in its latest quarter and saw increased advertising revenue from the Olympics and Super Bowl.

Those trends helped the cable-and-entertainment company log higher revenue in the first quarter, beating Wall Street's estimates. Comcast's Peacock streaming service was also a bright spot, with revenue surging as it added 5 million paid subscribers.

"Legendary February showcased the strength of our Media portfolio, leveraging the unmatched reach of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl to drive record advertising and strong Peacock growth, while also powering our ability to market our connectivity products at scale," said Brian L. Roberts and Mike Cavanagh, co-CEOs of Comcast.

Shares of Comcast rose 2.5% to $30.09 in premarket trading Thursday.

Comcast said it lost 65,000 customers for its domestic broadband residential business from the same quarter a year earlier, compared with the 173,700 such customers that analysts had expected to exit, according to FactSet.

The quarterly broadband subscriber losses narrowed year-over-year for the first time in five years, which Comcast attributed to its new go-to-market strategy. The company's broadband business has been under pressure since mobile carriers began to offer their own home-internet plans a few years ago. Domestic broadband revenue fell 5.1% in the quarter, to $6.34 billion.

The company also continued to lose domestic video customers, as viewers continue to turn away from cable TV, driving video revenue down 5.2% to $6.26 billion.

Its Xfinity Mobile wireless business, meanwhile, attracted more customer lines, boosting domestic wireless service revenue up 15% to $977 million.

Comcast's content and experiences segment posted growth, with revenue up 40% to $11.94 billion, with double-digit gains across media, studios and theme parks. Results in its media business were particularly strong as domestic advertising revenue more than doubled due to the Olympics and Super Bowl.

Profitability fell in the content and experiences segment due to increased spending on content rights in a quarter when Comcast aired the Olympics, Super Bowl and National Basketball Association games. Comcast finalized a $27 billion deal with the NBA in 2024 to carry a package of games.

Comcast's Peacock streaming service was also a source of strength, with revenue growth of 71%, to $2.1 billion, from a year earlier. Peacock's tally of paid subscribers climbed 12% to 46 million.

Overall, the company posted a quarterly profit of $2.17 billion, or 60 cents a share, compared with $3.38 billion, or 89 cents a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings per share were 79 cents, compared with estimates of 72 cents a share according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 5.3% to $31.46 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. On a pro forma basis, excluding the assets it spun off earlier this year into a company called Versant, revenue rose 11%. Comcast divested cable channels including CNBC, USA and Syfy into Versant.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-23-26 0720ET