Peacock Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Jeff Aaron | Last updated: August 22, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Peacock reached 48 million paid subscribers as of Q2 2026, generating $4.0 billion in revenue in the first half of the year — with Q2 2026 marking the platform’s first-ever profitable quarter at $189 million in adjusted EBITDA. That swing from loss to profit, a $290 million improvement in a single year, resets the conversation around NBCUniversal’s streaming future.
Quick Answer: How Big Is Peacock in 2026?
48 million paid subscribers as of June 30, 2026 (Comcast Q2 2026 earnings). $4.0 billion in revenue for the first half of 2026, confirmed in Comcast’s SEC Form 10-Q. $189 million in adjusted EBITDA in Q2 2026 — the first profitable quarter since Peacock launched in 2020. The platform holds a 4% engagement-based share of the U.S. SVOD market (JustWatch, Q1 2026), with viewership spiking to 3.0% of all U.S. TV in February 2026 during the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics. All subscriber figures are domestic — Peacock is a U.S.-only service.
Key Findings
- According to Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis of Comcast SEC filings, Peacock generated $4.0 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026 — more than the platform’s entire 2022 full-year revenue of $2.1 billion — representing a 60% year-over-year increase for the period.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, Peacock’s Q2 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $189 million represents a $290 million year-over-year swing from a loss of $101 million in Q2 2025, the largest single-quarter profitability improvement in the platform’s history.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, Peacock’s Peacock Sports Event Velocity Index (PSEVI) — which measures how live sports events move viewership share versus the non-event baseline — reached 1.50 for viewership and 0.68 for advertising yield in peak event quarters, meaning sports events lift Peacock’s TV share by 150% above its April baseline and push advertising revenue per subscriber 68% above its off-season floor.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, Peacock added 1,100% more paid subscribers from Q2 2021 (4 million at first reporting) to Q2 2026 (48 million) — the steepest five-year growth curve of any major U.S. streaming service launched after 2019.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, Peacock’s August 2026 price increase — Premium to $12.99/month, Premium Plus to $19.99/month — represents a 160% cumulative increase on the Premium tier since the $4.99 launch price in 2020, the sharpest multi-year price escalation of any major U.S. SVOD service over that window.
How Many Peacock Subscribers Are There in 2026?
Comcast’s official quarterly earnings releases — the only primary source for these figures — show the following progression:
| Quarter | Paid Subscribers | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2021 (first reported) | 4 million | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| Q4 2021 | 9 million | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| Q4 2022 | 21 million | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| Q4 2023 | 31 million | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| Q4 2024 | 36 million | Comcast Q4 2024 earnings release |
| Q1 2025 | 41 million | Comcast Q1 2025 earnings release |
| Q2 2025 | 41 million | Comcast Q2 2025 earnings release |
| Q3 2025 | 41 million | Comcast Q3 2025 earnings release |
| Q4 2025 | 44 million | Comcast Q4 2025 earnings release |
| Q1 2026 | 46 million | Comcast Q1 2026 earnings release |
| Q2 2026 | 48 million | Comcast Q2 2026 earnings release, 10-Q SEC |
Source: Comcast Corporation IR filings and SEC disclosures. All figures as of quarter-end.
The plateau at 41 million for three consecutive quarters — Q1 through Q3 2025 — is the most analytically significant data point in that table. Peacock did not shrink during that stretch, but it did not grow either, despite carrying Sunday Night Football and an extensive content slate. The return to growth began in Q4 2025, driven by NBA programming (a new rights package that took effect that season), and accelerated sharply in Q1 2026 with the Super Bowl and Milan Cortina Winter Olympics landing simultaneously on the platform.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the subscriber inflection from Q3 2025 to Q2 2026 — a gain of 7 million paid subscribers over three quarters — is the steepest three-quarter growth run Peacock has recorded since the Tokyo Olympics-driven surge in 2021.
What Does “Paid Subscriber” Mean at Peacock?
Comcast’s own disclosure language matters here. Per the Q1 2026 10-K language: paid subscribers include “customers from which Peacock receives a subscription fee on a retail or wholesale basis.” Subscribers obtained through bundled services where Peacock does not receive a direct fee are not counted. Walmart+ subscribers receive Peacock Premium at no additional charge — Walmart pays Peacock on their behalf at a wholesale rate, so those subscribers do count in the reported total. This distinction separates Peacock’s reported figures from some competitors that count every bundle activation regardless of whether a streaming-specific fee was collected.
How Much Revenue Does Peacock Generate?
Peacock’s revenue series, drawn from Comcast SEC filings, shows what six years of sports rights investment and pricing discipline looks like in practice:
| Year | Annual Revenue | YoY Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $778 million | — | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| 2022 | $2.1 billion | +170% | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| 2023 | $3.4 billion | +62% | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| 2024 | $4.9 billion | +44% | Comcast FY2024 earnings release |
| 2025 | $5.2 billion | +6% | Comcast Q1 2026 earnings, H1 2025 10-Q |
| H1 2026 | $4.0 billion | +60% vs H1 2025 | Comcast 10-Q filed with SEC, June 30, 2026 |
Source: Comcast Corporation earnings releases and SEC filings. H1 2026 confirmed via Comcast Form 10-Q (FY2026), filed with the SEC.
The 2025 deceleration to 6% full-year growth is not a stumble — it is the base effect of a year that followed the Paris Olympics windfall of 2024. Strip the Olympics-driven revenue bump from 2024 and the underlying run rate was already strong. The first-half 2026 numbers show the business re-accelerating at a moment when three major live-event packages — Super Bowl LX, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and the FIFA World Cup — ran on Peacock within six months.
Q1 and Q2 2026 in Detail
Q1 2026: $2.1 billion in revenue, up 75% year-over-year from $1.2 billion in Q1 2025. The Super Bowl and the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics drove the increase. Adjusted EBITDA: a loss of $432 million, which included the heavy programming costs for both events and the first full quarter of NBA rights.
Q2 2026: $1.9 billion in revenue, a 46% increase from the derived $1.3 billion in Q2 2025 (Axis Intelligence Research calculation: Comcast’s disclosed H1 2025 Peacock revenue of $2.5 billion minus Q1 2025 disclosed revenue of $1.2 billion). The FIFA World Cup on Telemundo and Peacock and the NBA Playoffs were the primary drivers. Adjusted EBITDA: +$189 million — the first profitable quarter.
Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong disclosed on the Q2 2026 earnings call that Peacock revenue “increased 54%” in Q2, citing distribution revenue growth from higher average rates and paid subscriber growth, plus advertising revenue growing “nearly 70%” driven by the World Cup simulcast, the NBA Playoffs, and Love Island USA.
Peacock’s Share of NBCU’s Media Segment
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis of Comcast’s Q1 2026 earnings disclosure, Peacock’s $2.1 billion revenue represented at least 28.8% of the Media segment’s total $7.28 billion in Q1 2026. Adjusting out the Olympics and Super Bowl pass-through revenue, Peacock’s share of underlying Media segment revenue was even higher, given those events also elevated linear ad revenue. The division that houses NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, and NBC Sports now depends on Peacock for more than a quarter of its total revenue — a structural shift that was not visible on the financials two years ago.
Is Peacock Profitable?
The Path from Loss to Profit
Peacock’s adjusted EBITDA progression tells a disciplined cost-absorption story rather than an overnight success narrative:
| Period | Adjusted EBITDA | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 (full year) | -$3.0 billion | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| 2023 (full year) | -$2.75 billion | Comcast 10-K 2023, SEC |
| Q1 2025 | -$215 million | Comcast Q1 2025 earnings |
| Q2 2025 | -$101 million | Comcast Q2 2025 earnings |
| Q4 2025 | -$552 million | Comcast Q4 2025 earnings |
| Q1 2026 | -$432 million | Comcast Q1 2026 earnings |
| Q2 2026 | +$189 million | Comcast Q2 2026 earnings |
Source: Comcast Corporation earnings releases and SEC 10-K filings.
The Q4 2025 loss widening to $552 million — after losses had been narrowing steadily — was deliberate: that was Peacock’s first quarter carrying NBA rights, which added substantial programming costs before the new rights drove enough incremental subscribers and advertising to cover them. The Q1 2026 loss of $432 million included the same NBA drag compounded by Olympics and Super Bowl production costs. Against that backdrop, the Q2 2026 swing to $189 million profit is structurally significant. It means the NBA investment crossed into positive contribution during the Playoffs — one of the fastest monetization timelines for a major new sports rights acquisition.
Comcast Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh was direct on the earnings call: quarterly profitability will vary, and executives cautioned that Q3 and Q4 2026 should not be assumed to match Q2. The third quarter carries no Olympics, no Super Bowl, and a World Cup whose ratings boost accrued mostly in Q2. What the Q2 print does confirm is that the cost structure at 48 million subscribers is capable of producing positive EBITDA when sports inventory is at its fullest.
The Peacock Sports Event Velocity Index (PSEVI)
What It Measures and Why It Matters
Peacock’s business model is unlike any other major streamer. Netflix, Disney+, and Max compete primarily on library depth and original programming. Peacock competes on live-event amplitude. The platform spikes during marquee broadcasts and normalizes between them. That pattern is not a flaw — it is a deliberate monetization architecture. But no standard metric captures its magnitude cleanly.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the Peacock Sports Event Velocity Index (PSEVI) measures how much Peacock’s key performance metrics move during high-event quarters relative to their non-event baseline. It applies separately to viewership share (using Nielsen’s The Gauge) and to advertising yield per subscriber (derived from Comcast’s disclosed Peacock revenue and subscriber counts).
Formula:
PSEVI = (Event-quarter metric / Non-event baseline metric) − 1
Where:
- Viewership PSEVI: event-quarter Nielsen TV share vs. trailing non-event baseline
- Ad Yield PSEVI: event-quarter advertising revenue per subscriber per month vs. trailing non-event baseline
Inputs and baseline (as of August 2026):
| Component | Event Period | Value | Non-Event Baseline | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peacock TV share (Nielsen The Gauge) | February 2026 | 3.0% of all U.S. TV | April 2026 | 1.2% | Nielsen The Gauge, Adwave analysis |
| Ad yield per subscriber per month | Q1 2026 | $6.53 | Q3 2025 | $3.88 | ppc.land analysis of Comcast disclosures |
Baseline PSEVI readings (August 2026 inaugural):
- Viewership PSEVI: 1.50 — sports events lift Peacock’s TV share 150% above its non-event baseline
- Ad Yield PSEVI: 0.68 — event-quarter ad yield per subscriber runs 68% above the off-season floor
- Combined PSEVI (geometric mean): 1.05
The viewership PSEVI of 1.50 means Peacock is, in effect, a different-scale service during its peak events than it is in ordinary months. A buyer of Peacock advertising in February 2026 was reaching an audience 2.5 times larger than the same platform could deliver in April 2026. That delta — unique in U.S. streaming — is the mechanism behind Peacock’s upfront negotiating power and behind NBCUniversal’s record upfront commitments in 2025 (which saw Peacock represent nearly one-third of total NBCUniversal upfront volume, per NBCU’s own disclosure).
The inaugural reading is the baseline. Future readings will show whether the NBA’s multi-year presence on Peacock raises the non-event floor — which is the structural hypothesis behind the whole sports-rights investment.
Peacock Viewership: How Many People Watch?
TV Share and Nielsen Data
Nielsen’s The Gauge provides a monthly view of how U.S. TV viewing time is allocated across platforms. Peacock’s 2026 readings reveal the event-driven architecture clearly:
| Period | Peacock Share of All U.S. TV Viewing | Source |
|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | 3.0% (platform record) | Nielsen The Gauge, Adwave analysis, Q2 2026 |
| April 2026 | 1.2% | Nielsen The Gauge, Adwave analysis, Q2 2026 |
Source: Nielsen The Gauge data as analyzed and published by Adwave, July 2026.
The 1.8-percentage-point swing between February and April is, in absolute terms, a measurement of how much the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics shift total U.S. TV viewing toward Peacock. On a base of roughly 250 million total U.S. TV viewers, the difference between 1.2% and 3.0% represents tens of millions of viewing-hours. No subscription-only streaming service produces equivalent monthly volatility.
Sunday Night Football
Sunday Night Football, which streams on NBC and Peacock, delivered a full-season record in 2025. Per NBCUniversal’s official press release (January 7, 2026):
- Total Audience Delivery: 23.5 million viewers per game on average — the show’s best season ever, up 9% from the prior season
- Peacock streaming Average Minute Audience: 2.5 million, the first time SNF streaming AMA crossed that threshold — up 14% year-over-year from the prior record of 2.2 million
- Sunday Night Football ranked #1 in U.S. primetime for the 15th consecutive year, the longest uninterrupted dominance by any single program in broadcast history
The Peacock-exclusive Week 17 game (Ravens vs. Packers, December 27, 2025) averaged 9.72 million viewers — up from 7.33 million for the first Peacock-exclusive in December 2023, per Sports Media Watch. That 33% growth over two years confirms that Peacock’s exclusive NFL windows are building an audience rather than fragmenting one.
Super Bowl LX
The Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026 — NBC’s broadcast, streamed on Peacock — averaged 125 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in NBCUniversal’s company history and the second-most-watched U.S. television event of all time, per Comcast’s Q1 2026 earnings release.
The FIFA World Cup final (Spain vs. Argentina, July 19, 2026) reached 22.6 million viewers on Telemundo and Peacock combined — the most-watched World Cup final in Spanish-language television history and more than double the 2022 final’s 9.0 million on those platforms, per Comcast’s Q2 2026 earnings release.
Peacock Subscription Plans and Pricing
Current Plans (Effective August 18, 2026)
Peacock raised prices across all tiers on August 18, 2026, per the official announcement on peacocktv.com. New subscribers pay the new rates immediately; existing subscribers transition on their next billing date on or after September 17, 2026.
| Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select | $8.99 | $89.99 | NBC/Bravo library only; no live sports, no movies, no Peacock Originals |
| Premium | $12.99 | $129.99 | Full library + live sports + Originals + ads |
| Premium Plus | $19.99 | $199.99 | Same as Premium with most ads removed, downloads, local NBC stream |
Source: peacocktv.com help page, “Price increase,” effective August 18, 2026.
One structural note: Select excludes live sports entirely. The $8.99 plan is effectively a library play for NBC and Bravo catalog viewers who have no interest in NFL games or Olympics coverage. Every NFL Sunday Night Football broadcast, every NBA Playoff game, and every Olympic stream sits behind Premium, the middle tier. That design concentrates sports viewership — and sports advertising inventory — in the tier with ads, which is exactly where Peacock’s advertising revenue is generated.
Price History: Premium Tier
According to Axis Intelligence Research’s review of Peacock’s official pricing history:
| Date | Premium Monthly Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 (launch) | $4.99 | — |
| July 2023 | $7.99 | +60% |
| July 2025 | $10.99 | +37% |
| August 18, 2026 | $12.99 | +18% |
Cumulative increase from launch to August 2026: 160%.
That 160% cumulative increase outpaces every other major SVOD service over the same six-year window. Netflix’s standard ad-free tier went from $12.99 (2020) to $17.99 (2026), a 38% increase. The Peacock escalation reflects a platform catching up on underpricing at launch, not a platform with market power — its subscriber count at 48 million still trails Netflix (approximately 90 million U.S. subscribers), Disney+, and Hulu in domestic paid subscribers.
Bundles and Distribution Discounts
Several alternative access paths exist as of August 2026:
- Walmart+: Premium included with membership (Walmart pays Peacock at wholesale rate)
- Apple TV + Peacock bundle: $14.99/month (saving 37% versus subscribing separately at $12.99 + the Apple TV price)
- First responders and medical professionals: $6.99/month for Premium for 12 months (discount through official program, valid through December 31, 2026, per dealnews.com)
- Amazon Prime members: 7-day free trial of Premium Plus via Prime Video add-on
Peacock’s Advertising Business
Ad-Tier Dominance
According to Axis Intelligence Research, approximately 40.3 million of Peacock’s 48 million Q2 2026 paid subscribers are on ad-supported plans — derived from the 84% ad-tier adoption rate reported by MNTN Research and consistent with Comcast’s own public characterizations. That figure makes Peacock’s ad-supported subscriber base larger than the total paid subscriber count of every other major U.S. streaming service except Netflix and Disney+.
The 84% figure is the highest ad-tier adoption rate of any major U.S. SVOD service. Hulu is next at approximately 55%. The gap is structural: Peacock built its subscriber base at low prices with ads as the default, while Netflix and Disney+ built ad-free bases first and added ad tiers later.
Advertising Yield Per Subscriber
According to ppc.land’s analysis of Comcast’s disclosed revenue and subscriber figures, Peacock’s advertising yield per subscriber per month ran as follows:
| Quarter | Ad Yield per Sub per Month | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | $3.88 | ppc.land analysis, Comcast disclosures |
| Q4 2025 | $4.27 | ppc.land analysis, Comcast disclosures |
| Q1 2026 | $6.53 | ppc.land analysis, Comcast disclosures |
| Q2 2026 | ~$4.98 | ppc.land analysis, Comcast disclosures |
Source: ppc.land analysis of Comcast’s quarterly Peacock disclosures, July 2026. Figures derived from total Peacock advertising revenue divided by average paid subscriber counts.
The Q1 2026 spike to $6.53 reflects the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics advertising premium. The Q2 figure of ~$4.98 — the second-highest reading — reflects the NBA Playoffs and FIFA World Cup. The structural question for 2026’s second half is whether the NBA’s presence in Q3 and Q4 raises the non-event floor above the $3.88-$4.27 range seen in mid-2025. If it does, the PSEVI’s non-event baseline will shift upward — and the combined index will moderate, not because Peacock’s event quarters got weaker, but because its off-season floor got stronger.
NBCUniversal disclosed that its 2025-26 upfront season — the annual market where networks sell advertising inventory in advance — produced the highest ad sales volume in company history, with Peacock representing nearly one-third of total commitments. That is an operational proof point: advertisers are moving linear television budgets to Peacock at a rate that changes Peacock’s negotiating position, not just its revenue line.
Peacock’s Content Strategy: Sports as Infrastructure
Sports Rights Portfolio
Peacock’s content investment is organized around live sports as infrastructure, with scripted originals and library content as retention tools between events. The live rights portfolio as of August 2026 includes:
- NFL: All NBC Sunday Night Football games (the highest-rated program on U.S. television for 15 consecutive years), plus exclusive NFL Week 17 Saturday game (annual), NFL Playoff games
- NBA: Full NBC/Peacock rights package, beginning 2024-25 season — regular season games, All-Star, and Playoffs
- Olympics: U.S. broadcast rights through 2032 (Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games averaged 23.5 million viewers across NBC/Peacock for the Super Bowl adjacent period)
- Premier League: 175 exclusive matches per season — the most Premier League inventory on any U.S. streaming service
- FIFA World Cup: Spanish-language simulcast with Telemundo; 48% of Telemundo’s total World Cup audience delivered was via streaming, up from 30% in 2022, per Comcast Q2 2026 earnings
- NASCAR, Big Ten Football, Notre Dame Football, WWE, golf
The strategic logic: each of these properties is non-time-shiftable for a meaningful audience segment. You watch the game live or you miss it. That behavioral constraint anchors churn — subscribers who want the next NFL exclusive game or the next NBA Playoff series cannot cancel and come back later. The content works as a retention mechanism in a way that scripted programming rarely does.
The NBA Rights Acquisition
The NBA’s return to NBC/Peacock after a two-decade absence is Peacock’s highest-cost and potentially highest-return content investment. The deal, which began in the 2024-25 season, carries substantial programming costs — visible in Q4 2025’s widened $552 million loss and Q1 2026’s $432 million loss. But the Q2 2026 Playoffs produced the profitability inflection, suggesting the subscriber and advertising gains during basketball’s highest-viewership period more than cover the rights cost for that quarter.
Alex Rivera at Axis Intelligence Research notes the structural parallel: the NBA All-Star Game in February 2026 was one of three major live events Peacock carried in a 17-day window (alongside the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics), delivering what Comcast called “Legendary February” — the strongest single-month subscriber acquisition in Peacock’s history.
Peacock and the NBCUniversal Spinoff
The most significant structural event affecting Peacock’s trajectory is Comcast’s June 29, 2026 announcement of its plan to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into an independent publicly traded company — expected to complete within approximately one year.
The new independent NBCU will include: NBC, Telemundo, Peacock, Bravo, Universal Pictures, Universal Television Studios, Sky, and the Universal theme parks division. Comcast (the cable/broadband entity) will retain no streaming presence. The spinoff is structured as a tax-free distribution to Comcast shareholders, who will own shares in both companies.
For Peacock specifically, the implications are significant. The platform reached its first profitable quarter in the same quarter Comcast announced the separation. An independent NBCU will be evaluated by public markets primarily as a media company, not as a cable utility — which means Peacock’s subscriber count, revenue trajectory, and PSEVI-style event-driven performance will become the most closely watched metrics for the new company’s stock performance.
Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh, who will lead the new NBCU, stated in prepared remarks that the company has “built Peacock into a streaming business with real scale in the U.S.” in six years, citing “premium entertainment, live sports, news and extraordinary storytelling” as the durable competitive advantages.
Peacock vs. U.S. Streaming Market Position
Subscriber Context
According to Axis Intelligence Research, Peacock’s 48 million paid domestic subscribers as of Q2 2026 place it among the top-tier U.S. SVOD services by subscriber count, though the comparison requires geographic adjustment. Netflix’s U.S. subscriber base sits above 90 million; Disney+ and Hulu operate in the same range as Peacock but with global subscriber counts that dwarf the domestic base. Peacock is exclusively domestic — every one of its 48 million subscribers is a U.S. account paying in U.S. dollars.
On an engagement-basis, JustWatch’s Q1 2026 data (based on more than 35 million U.S. streaming interactions) shows Peacock at 4% of SVOD engagement share — up 2 percentage points year-over-year, driven by the Winter Olympics and NBA All-Star Game. Netflix leads at 19%, Prime Video at 17%, and Disney+ at 16%.
The JustWatch methodology measures search, click, and watchlist activity — not total viewing time — so it captures intent and interest rather than hours consumed. Peacock’s 4% reflects a service that is expanding its engaged user base, not just adding passive subscribers through bundle arrangements.
Blended Revenue Per Subscriber
According to Axis Intelligence Research, Peacock’s blended revenue per subscriber — total Peacock revenue divided by average paid subscribers over the period — ran as follows:
| Quarter | Revenue | Avg Subscribers | Blended Rev/Sub/Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | $2.1 billion | ~45 million | $15.56 |
| Q2 2026 | $1.9 billion | ~47 million | $13.48 |
Note: Axis Intelligence Research calculation. This blended figure includes both subscription distribution revenue and advertising revenue. It is not equivalent to subscription ARPU. Method: Comcast-reported quarterly revenue ÷ approximate average paid subscriber count ÷ 3 months. Inputs sourced from Comcast Q1 and Q2 2026 earnings releases and 10-Q SEC filing.
The blended figure exceeds the stated subscription retail price of $12.99/month because advertising revenue from the 84% of ad-tier subscribers is additive to subscription fees. In Peacock’s economics, the ad-supported subscriber generates both a subscription fee (at the Premium tier’s $12.99 rate) and advertising revenue — which is why the platform’s profitability is not purely a function of subscriber count.
Peacock’s Loss History and the Road to Breakeven
Peacock accumulated roughly $11 billion in adjusted EBITDA losses between 2020 and 2025 — a figure comparable to Disney+’s loss trajectory over a similar early-stage window. Those losses funded content rights (particularly the NFL, the Olympics, and the NBA), product development, and the subscriber-acquisition marketing that built the base from zero to 44 million by end-2025.
The 2026 profitability inflection does not mean Peacock has recovered its investment — adjusted EBITDA is not free cash flow, and it excludes content amortization and capital costs. What it confirms is that Peacock has reached a subscriber base and revenue level at which the operating model, under favorable event conditions, covers operating expenses. The question for the independent NBCU company will be whether that model holds in a quarter without a Super Bowl, an Olympics, or a FIFA World Cup.
Comcast executives preemptively addressed this in Q2 2026 earnings: Cavanagh stated that profitability will vary by quarter and that analysts should not assume linear progress. That is the right framing. The PSEVI’s function is to make the seasonality legible rather than surprising.
Methodology
Data Collection
All Peacock statistics in this article were fetched from primary sources during production (August 22, 2026). Subscriber and revenue figures come exclusively from Comcast Corporation’s SEC filings (Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, Form 8-K earnings releases) and official IR press releases. Viewership figures come from NBCUniversal’s own press office releases and Nielsen’s published data as reported through those releases.
The PSEVI metric uses viewership data from Nielsen’s The Gauge as published and analyzed by Adwave (July 2026) and advertising yield data from ppc.land’s analysis of Comcast’s quarterly disclosures (July 2026).
No Wikipedia entries, secondary aggregators, or third-party statistics sites were used as the named source for any headline figure in this article. Where those sources are referenced as corroboration, the underlying figure is always traced to its primary origin.
Axis Calculations
Peacock Sports Event Velocity Index (PSEVI): Axis Intelligence Research original metric. Formula: (Event-quarter metric / Non-event baseline metric) − 1, applied separately to Nielsen TV share and advertising yield per subscriber per month. Combined PSEVI uses geometric mean of (1 + Viewership PSEVI) and (1 + Ad Yield PSEVI) minus 1. All inputs are drawn from primary-sourced fact table rows. First baseline reading as of August 2026.
H1 2026 revenue confirmation: Verified against Comcast Form 10-Q for Q2 2026 (filed with SEC), which states: “$4.0 billion related to Peacock for the… six months ended June 30, 2026.”
Q2 2025 Peacock revenue (derived): Comcast’s 10-Q states H1 2025 Peacock revenue of $2.5 billion and Q1 2025 revenue of $1.2 billion (per Q1 2025 earnings release). Derived Q2 2025: $2.5B − $1.2B = $1.3B. Axis calculation, axis_calculated = yes.
Blended revenue per subscriber: Total quarterly Peacock revenue ÷ approximate average paid subscriber count ÷ 3 months. Includes advertising and distribution revenue. Not subscription ARPU.
Five-year growth (1,100%): (48M − 4M) / 4M × 100. Inputs from Comcast 10-K 2023 (Q2 2021: 4M) and Comcast Q2 2026 earnings release (Q2 2026: 48M).
Cumulative price increase (160%): ($12.99 − $4.99) / $4.99 × 100. Inputs from public pricing history; 2020 launch price $4.99 documented in multiple contemporaneous sources; August 2026 price from peacocktv.com official price-increase page.
Scope
This analysis covers Peacock’s U.S. paid subscriber base only. Peacock does not operate outside the United States and certain U.S. territories. Viewership figures include both paid and free-tier viewers where Nielsen measures total platform viewing. The PSEVI inaugural reading (August 2026) is a baseline and should not be compared to prior periods that were not calculated using this formula — future readings will provide trend comparability.
About This Dataset
Axis Intelligence Research publishes the accompanying CSV dataset under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. The dataset contains 30 rows covering Peacock’s subscriber history, revenue series, EBITDA, viewership metrics, pricing, advertising yield, and PSEVI calculations — each with full provenance (source organization, source document, URL, retrieval date, primary-source flag, Axis-calculated flag, and method notes).
Dataset title: Peacock Statistics 2026
Creator and publisher: Axis Intelligence Research
License: CC BY 4.0 — free to reproduce, adapt, and distribute with attribution
Citation format: Axis Intelligence Research, Peacock Statistics 2026, axis-intelligence.com/peacock-statistics/ (2026)
Temporal coverage: Q2 2021 – August 2026
Spatial coverage: United States
Citations
APA
Axis Intelligence Research. (2026). Peacock Statistics 2026. axis-intelligence.com. https://axis-intelligence.com/peacock-statistics/
MLA
Axis Intelligence Research. “Peacock Statistics 2026.” Axis Intelligence Research, 2026, axis-intelligence.com/peacock-statistics/.
Chicago
Axis Intelligence Research. “Peacock Statistics 2026.” Axis Intelligence Research, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/peacock-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many paid subscribers does Peacock have as of 2026?
Peacock reached 48 million paid subscribers as of June 30, 2026, per Comcast’s Q2 2026 earnings release and confirmed in the Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. That figure represents a 17% year-over-year increase from 41 million in Q2 2025. All subscribers are U.S.-based — Peacock does not operate outside the United States.
Has Peacock ever been profitable?
Yes, for the first time. Peacock recorded adjusted EBITDA of $189 million in Q2 2026 — its first profitable quarter since launching in 2020. That represented a $290 million year-over-year improvement from the $101 million loss in Q2 2025. Comcast executives cautioned that quarterly profitability will vary with event scheduling, and analysts should not assume linear quarter-to-quarter improvement.
What percentage of Peacock subscribers have ads?
Approximately 84% of Peacock’s paid subscribers are on ad-supported plans (MNTN Research, 2025 data, consistent with Comcast’s public characterizations). That is the highest ad-tier adoption rate of any major U.S. SVOD service — higher than Hulu (approximately 55%) and substantially higher than Netflix and Disney+, which built their bases on ad-free tiers. The high ad-tier share makes Peacock’s advertising business as strategically important as its subscription revenue.
What is the PSEVI and what does it tell advertisers?
The Peacock Sports Event Velocity Index (PSEVI), developed by Axis Intelligence Research, measures how much Peacock’s viewership share and advertising yield per subscriber change during major sports event quarters relative to non-event baselines. The August 2026 baseline reading: Viewership PSEVI of 1.50 (sports events lift Peacock’s TV share 150% above its April baseline); Ad Yield PSEVI of 0.68 (event-quarter advertising yield per subscriber runs 68% above the off-season floor). For media buyers, this quantifies the premium available on Peacock’s event inventory versus its standard inventory — the delta that justifies paying event-tier CPMs.
What happens to Peacock in the Comcast-NBCUniversal spinoff?
Peacock will become part of the independent NBCUniversal company following Comcast’s announced spinoff, expected to complete within approximately one year of the June 29, 2026 announcement. The new NBCU will include Peacock, NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, Universal Studios, Universal theme parks, and Sky. Comcast (the remaining cable/broadband entity) will retain no streaming assets. Comcast expects to hold up to a 19.9% stake in NBCU for up to one year post-completion, then monetize that stake.
How much does Peacock cost after the 2026 price increase?
As of August 18, 2026, Peacock’s monthly prices are: Select at $8.99 (library only, no sports), Premium at $12.99 (full library plus live sports, with ads), and Premium Plus at $19.99 (mostly ad-free, with downloads and a local NBC live stream). Annual plans are $89.99, $129.99, and $199.99 respectively. These represent increases of $1, $2, and $3 per month versus the previous pricing that had been in effect since July 2025.
How does Peacock’s revenue compare to Netflix in the U.S. streaming market?
Peacock generated $5.2 billion in full-year 2025 revenue, with $4.0 billion delivered in just the first half of 2026. Netflix does not break out U.S.-only revenue, but its total global revenue in 2025 was approximately $43 billion. On subscriber count, Peacock’s 48 million domestic subscribers compare to Netflix’s estimated 90+ million U.S. subscribers. The key structural difference: Peacock generates meaningful advertising revenue in addition to subscription fees, while Netflix’s advertising business is still newer and smaller relative to its subscription base.
What sports can you watch on Peacock?
As of the 2026 season, Peacock carries Sunday Night Football (all games), the Peacock-exclusive NFL Week 17 game, NFL Playoff games, NBA games (full NBC/Peacock rights package including Playoffs), the Olympic Games through 2032, 175 Premier League matches per season (the most on any single U.S. streaming service), NASCAR, Big Ten Football, Notre Dame Football, WWE, and golf. All live sports require a minimum of the Premium tier ($12.99/month). The Select tier ($8.99/month) does not include live sports.
What does Peacock’s ad yield data tell us about the streaming advertising market?
Peacock’s advertising yield per subscriber peaked at $6.53 per month in Q1 2026 (Super Bowl/Olympics quarter) and stood at approximately $4.98 in Q2 2026. The Q2 figure — a 43% increase from Q3 2025’s $3.88 baseline — arrived in a quarter where competing streaming platforms were also reporting advertising growth, suggesting the tailwind is market-level rather than purely event-driven. The longer-term read: as Peacock’s sports events increase in volume and variety (NBA now year-round; World Cup in Q2 2026), the non-event advertising floor should rise, compressing the PSEVI’s spread over time. A narrowing PSEVI means a more predictable advertising business — which is what upfront buyers want.