Comcast Corp Bank of America 2026 Media,Communications & Entertainment Conference
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since you've been at a BofA conference, but we're thrilled to have you. You've been at Comcast and NBCU for more than two decades. You've had a front row seat for the enormous changes across the media industry. Aside from preparing for the separation, which obviously we'll discuss in a few minutes, as you look out over the next three to five years, can you talk about what your top priority is for NBCUniversal Media Group, and what success looks like to you?
Well, first, thank you, Jessica, for inviting me. It's good to see you again. When you take a step back and you look at NBCUniversal's Media Group, we have a really strong portfolio of assets. You've got NBC, Bravo, Peacock, NBC Sports, NBC News, Telemundo. These are assets that truly work better together. NBC, in many ways, is like a megaphone. It has tremendous reach, tremendous promotion. It was really critical as we were building Peacock. Peacock also is reaching new viewers, new audiences, that we're able to drive back to NBC and Bravo. About 18 months ago, we restructured the media group into what I like to call centers of excellence.
Where before we had a streaming division, a broadcast division, we just centralized everything into one programming group, one marketing, one advertising, one product and technology, and it's been very empowering to the teams because it's very much content first, platform second. How do we get the maximum reach, the maximum engagement? How do we drive top-line revenue? How do we ensure that we're investing and getting the right return, but at a portfolio level versus looking at it through any one individual asset? When you look at how we've been performing this year, we feel really good about the momentum. If you look at NBC, we were number one in the 25/26 season for total viewers. Earlier this year, we had, as you know, legendary February, where the Super Bowl was the highest-rated Super Bowl.
It was actually the highest-rated live event in NBC's 100-year history.
Wow. The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics were the highest-rated since 2014.
This summer, we had the FIFA World Cup on Telemundo, which was the highest-rated Spanish language World Cup in U.S. history. Peacock had "Love Island" this summer, which was the number one streaming show. We had "The Five-Star Weekend," which was the number one scripted original that we've had on Peacock. It feels like we're firing on all cylinders, but what's also really interesting is the interplay of the audiences. For example, about 40% of those "Love Island" viewers were also watching the World Cup, and that is effectively our strategy, which is how do we use sports to drive acquisition? How do we drive engagement and retention using entertainment? How do we get the maximum value for our content across the portfolio?
Right. As you plan to separate, as Comcast, you announced you're separating in the coming year or so. You have, well, it's NBCU and Sky, and we'll get to Sky in a second, but what does operating as an independent company allow NBCUniversal, and more specifically NBCUniversal Media Group that you chair, to do differently? Are there areas where you expect greater strategic or financial flexibility?
Well, I don't think being independent changes our overarching strategy. I think what it does is it allows us to move faster. I think it gives us more flexibility. We have an incredibly strong management team led by Mike Cavanagh. There's a few areas that I think just played our strengths. For example, one area is live events and sports. When you look across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, Sky, we have amassed one of the largest and most valuable sports portfolios in media. That allows us to drive ratings, monetization. It allows us to drive subscriber acquisition for Peacock. You're also seeing when we partner with the leagues, the leagues are also looking for how do we drive incremental reach. We check a lot of boxes. We have broadcast cable, digital streaming. We've demonstrated that we can drive audience and grow the addressable audiences for the sports leagues.
Look at "Sunday Night Football." It's been number one in prime time 15 consecutive years in a row. I think that that's an example of how we're able to drive more reach as a portfolio. I think another example would be talent franchises, IP. That's an area that is an opportunity for investment. Donna Langley and the team have created this unbelievable environment where the best talent wants to work with Universal, whether it's Christopher Nolan or Chris Meledandri or Lorne Michaels, or soon to be Taylor Sheridan. These franchises we're able to build and then extend across film, TV streaming, and even our theme parks. I think because we're independent and we're not a closed ecosystem, we also have the ability to be more flexible when it comes to partnerships. For example, we announced a deal this summer with YouTube.
I think that is the type of innovation that we are looking to continue driving. I would not say that the independence changes how we are looking at media. I think it just gives us more flexibility to move quicker. We are not trying to build a broadcast business sitting next to a streaming business. We are trying to build a digital-first new media company where we are trying to get the maximum return for our investment across the portfolio.
These are such different businesses. Obviously, given yesterday's performance of the parent company, having a separate trading equity, there is obviously a big difference in performance.
Yeah. Having separate currencies, I think, will be rewarded in different ways.
Yeah. I would say internally at NBC, there is genuine excitement Yeah We feel really good about our trajectory and our growth.
I think the independence is going to allow us to move faster. It's like a catalyst for us.
Right. Amazing. We're going to go to every piece of that you talked about in terms of assets. Let's start with Peacock. Peacock recently reached quarterly profit. You've continued to add subs. What do you think the biggest drivers of sustainable profit are from here? What does Peacock at scale ultimately look like to you?
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