Paris Olympics Coverage Powers NBCUniversal & Comcast Results In Q3; Peacock Hits 36 Million Subscribers

Coverage of the Paris Olympics spurred a 36.5% year-over-year gain in media revenue, propelling NBCUniversal parent Comcast‘s performance in the third quarter.

The company reported total revenue of $32.1 billion and earnings per share of $1.12.

Flagship streaming service Peacock added 3 million subscribers to reach 36 million. Revenue jumped 82% to $1.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA losses narrowed to $436 million from $565 million in the year-ago period.

Even when the $1.9 billion in incremental revenue from the Olympics is excluded, revenue in the Media division still increased 4.9%.

Comcast shed 365,000 video customers to finish the quarter with 12.8 million. Charter recently surpassed Comcast as the No. 1 U.S. cable operator.

The Studios unit had a strong quarter thanks to the release of Despicable Me 4 during the period. Revenue climbed 12% to $2.8 billion, while adjusted EBITDA rose 9% to $468 million.

Theme parks were perhaps the main blemish on Comcast’s quarterly report. Revenue slumped 5% to $2.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA fell 14% to $847 million. A terse paragraph in the earnings release blamed “lower revenue at our domestic theme parks, driven by lower guest attendance.”