Versant Media Group, the recently spun-off media company from Comcast owning cable networks like CNBC, MSNOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Syfy, E!, and Oxygen, plus digital platforms such as Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, and SportsEngine, released its inaugural full-year earnings report as an independent public entity on Tuesday.
The results, covering 2025 (its final year under Comcast's NBCUniversal ownership before the January 2026 separation), showed total revenue of $6.69 billion, a 5% (or precisely 5.3%) decline year-over-year from $7.062 billion. Net income attributable to Versant dropped sharply by 32% to $930 million.
Declines stemmed mainly from ongoing industry pressures in traditional pay TV, including a 5.4% fall in linear distribution revenue to about $4.1 billion, an 8.9% drop in advertising revenue to roughly $1.58–$1.6 billion, and an 8.5% decline in content licensing and other revenue to $193 million.
The company also reported Adjusted EBITDA of $2.42 billion and Standalone Adjusted EBITDA of $2.18 billion (down year-over-year), but the revenue figure beat Wall Street expectations (analysts had forecasted around $6.64 billion).To support shareholder returns and demonstrate confidence in its outlook, Versant's board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.375 per share and authorized a $1 billion share repurchase program.
As a newly independent company trading under NASDAQ: VSNT (which began regular trading in early January 2026 after the spin-off), Versant is focusing on accelerating digital transformation, including plans for standalone streaming enhancements for MSNBC and CNBC, a free ad-supported video-on-demand service via Fandango, and premium content strategies to balance its revenue mix toward a targeted 50-50 split between pay TV and growth-oriented digital/platform businesses in coming years.