The Streaming Cohort Turns Profitable

The Q3 2026 earnings cycle records Peacock's first-ever quarterly profit at Comcast NBCUniversal, with $189M in Adjusted EBITDA and a $290M year-on-year improvement from a $101M loss in the prior-year quarter. Every major US streaming service other than Apple TV+, which discloses no separate figures, is now operating in profit. The growth engine cited alongside those results at every studio that reported one is advertising, not content spend.

Peacock, the Last Major to Cross

Comcast reports Peacock reached quarterly profitability for the first time ever, driven by the NBA Playoffs, the FIFA World Cup, and Love Island USA. Paid subscribers rose by 2M net additions in the quarter to 48M. A year earlier the service posted an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $101M. Peacock now sits alongside four peers that had already cleared the profitability threshold in prior quarters.

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Netflix Sets the Benchmark at 33.4%

Netflix reports Q2 2026 revenue of $12.56B, up 13.4% year on year, at an operating margin of 33.4%. The company narrows its 2026 revenue outlook to $51.0B to $51.4B and reiterates a 31.5% full-year operating margin, implying operating income growth of 20% or more for the year. Membership is approaching one billion globally. Non-English content accounts for over one third of all viewing in H1 2026.

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Disney, WBD and Paramount Converge

Disney's Entertainment SVOD segment, comprising Disney+ and Hulu, records operating income of $712M in Q3 FY2026, more than doubling the $329M in the prior-year quarter, at a 13% operating margin. Warner Bros. Discovery reports Streaming Adjusted EBITDA of $512M in Q2 2026, at a 17% margin, with quarterly Streaming revenue passing $3B for the first time; management reaffirms a long-term margin target of 20% or more. Paramount Skydance reports Direct-to-Consumer Adjusted EBITDA of $366M at a 14.8% margin, up 44% year on year, with Paramount+ subscribers reaching 81.6M. Amazon does not separately disclose Prime Video results.

Advertising Is the Reported Growth Engine

None of the five profitable streamers describe content spend as growing meaningfully. Every letter names advertising as the growth engine. Netflix expects 2026 ads revenue to double to approximately $3B. Warner Bros. Discovery reports approximately 40% of HBO Max subscribers on the ad-supported tier, up eleven points year on year, with more than half of retail gross adds this quarter joining on ad tier. Paramount+ ad revenue grew 30% in the quarter. Amazon reports advertising up 26% year on year at group level. Where content investment appears, it appears alongside cost discipline: Paramount Skydance reports per-episode production costs down 10% year on year for the 2025-2026 broadcast season, and Disney names labor
and SG&A reductions as an explicit lever.

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The Sohonet Screen Production Index tracks scripted, live-action productions entering principal photography each month from major studios and production companies across the US, UK, and Canada. A free two-page Snapshot is published monthly; the full Insight report, including regional breakdowns, studio analysis, and forward pipeline data, is available by subscription.

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