Versant Media Group, the newly minted spinout of TV networks and digital belongings from Comcast, launched its first earnings report Tuesday.
The corporate reported full-year income of roughly $6.69 billion for 2025, down 5% from the prior yr. Versant is reporting a breakdown of its earnings from its remaining yr underneath the possession of Comcast’s NBCUniversal.
Versant’s linear distribution income fell 5.4% to $4.1 billion, and promoting income declined virtually 9% to $1.58 billion.
Internet earnings attributable to Versant was $930 million, and the corporate reported $2.18 billion in stand-alone adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Versant’s whole income was down almost 7% from a yr earlier to $1.61 billion, based on a Securities and Alternate submitting on Tuesday. Particularly, linear distribution income was down virtually 6% to $997 million and advert income declined 9% to $370 million, whereas platforms income was roughly flat at $202 million.
Stand-alone adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $521 million, down 19% from the identical interval final yr.
The corporate’s board additionally declared a 37.5 cents per share quarterly dividend, which represents an annualized dividend of $1.50 per share, and approved a $1 billion share repurchase program. Because of its low debt load and high-margin enterprise, Versant executives have mentioned they plan to return worth to shareholders.
“Returning capital to shareholders stays a high precedence for us, alongside disciplined investing to help long-term development,” mentioned Versant COO and CFO Anand Kini throughout the firm’s earnings name on Tuesday.
Versant marked its first day as a standalone firm earlier this yr, and began buying and selling on the Nasdaq in early January. Nevertheless, Versant’s administration had been working all through 2025 on the separation of the belongings from Comcast.
The corporate is made up of a portfolio of pay TV networks together with CNBC, MS Now, USA Community, Golf Channel, Syfy, E! And Oxygen, in addition to digital properties reminiscent of Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and Sports activities Engine.
The normal TV enterprise, whereas nonetheless worthwhile, has seen continued losses through the years throughout all media firms as viewers exit the bundle for streaming alternate options.
Greater than 80% of Versant’s income leans on the pay TV enterprise, however its executives have instructed Wall Road that 2026 can be a yr of transition for its enterprise mannequin. The corporate goals to ultimately attain 50% of its income from digital, platform, subscription, ad-supported and transactional companies.
On Tuesday, Versant reported that its non-pay TV income reached 19% of whole income in 2025, with roughly $826 million in platforms income. Versant’s platform enterprise — principally made up of Fandango, GolfNow, Sports activities Engine and a few of the already launched direct-to-consumer companies — was the one income phase to develop income yr over yr.
Within the subsequent three to 5 years, Versant is trying to improve that share of income to 33%, with the aim of getting “nearer to 50%,” CEO Mark Lazarus mentioned throughout the earnings name.
Versant considers its development drivers in that unit to incorporate MS Now’s upcoming direct-to-consumer product, CNBC Professional and a brand new retail investor product for the model, and the launch of the ad-supported Fandango at Residence service in 2026.
“We’ll proceed to report, after all, sort of good visibility within the platforms income line, which we expect offers a very good, significant indicator of how that enterprise is scaling,” Kini mentioned.
Disclosure: Versant is the mother or father firm of CNBC.
