• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Strong domestic advertising results from the FIFA World Cup -- as well as the NBA Playoffs -- rocketed NBCUniversal advertising revenue up 55% to $2.16 billion in the second quarter of 2026 for the Comcast-owned business.

NBCU’s Peacock streaming platform grew 68% to $717 million in ad revenue. This followed a 120% climb in the first quarter to $908 million from the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Taking out the World Cup results, advertising still improved by 24% to $1.7 billion.

Soaring NBCU revenue was also driven by domestic distribution revenues -- up 22% to $2.0 billion-- largely thanks to subscription streamer Peacock, because of interest in the World Cup, the NBA Playoffs, and “Love Island USA.” Paid subscribers grew 17% (2 million) to 48 million.

Peacock’s share of all of NBCUniversal’s advertising grew to 33% in the second quarter versus a 26% share in the first quarter.

Overall, Peacock posted profitability for the first time with cash flow (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $189 million.

Although there was much positive news for Peacock, Madison & Wall says: “Peacock’s growth is clearly improving NBCU’s digital position, but we continue to view much of the shift toward streaming as a transfer of revenue from linear television rather than incremental growth.”

NBCU’s Universal Pictures division also had a strong period -- growing 25% to $3.0 billion, largely due to its major theatrical successes with “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and “Obsession.”

Comcast locally based video operations fell an expected 9.4% (280,000) to 10.7 million subscribers. Local video systems advertising inched up 1%to $962 million, with gains from higher domestic political advertising and advanced advertising business, while domestic nonpolitical advertising declined.