Versant Profits Slide 32% to $930 Million in 2025
Versant profits slid 32% to $930 million and revenue fell 5.3% to $6.7 billion in 2025 as the company’s results were weighed down by declines in its linear distribution, advertising and content licensing units.
Linear distribution revenue fell 5.4% to $4.1 billion as the company continued to feel the pain from viewers cutting the cord in favor of streaming, while ad revenue declined 8.9% to $1.6 billion, driven by ratings declines and lower political revenues coming out of the 2024 election. Content licensing and other revenue slipped 8.5% to $19 million, primarily due to the timing of entertainment licensing agreements.
But the platforms segment, which includes Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, SportsEngine and CNBC subscription-based offerings, was a bright spot, with revenues climbing 3.9% to $826 million. The gains were led by GolfNow and Fandango.
The results come after Versant officially separated from Comcast to become a standalone public company in January. Executives have previously said that 2026 would be a year of transition for the company’s business model.
In 2025, 19% of the company’s revenues came from non-pay TV sources and the company expects that percentage to increase to 33% over the next three to five years. Longer-term, the company expects that half of its revenue will come from its new growth areas, while the other half will come from the pay TV business. Over half of the company’s pay TV subscriber base are covered by distribution agreements through 2028 and beyond.
In 2026, the company expects total revenue of $6.15 billion and $6.4 billion driven by political advertising and new product initiatives, and adjusted EBITDA between $1.85 billion and $2 billion, with some volatility due to the timing of sports rights in the second half of the year. The platforms business is expected to return to high-single digit revenue growth in 2026, supported by a stronger box office slate, continued growth at Golf Now and a “favorable contribution” from its Indy Cinema acquisition.
“As we move forward, we have a clear strategy and the infrastructure, operating discipline and leadership required to win. We enter this next chapter from a position of strength — profitable, scaled and disciplined,” Versant CEO Mark Lazarus told analysts on Tuesday. “None of this would be possible without our team across every part of our company. Our people executed and a complex separation while continuing to deliver for audiences, partners and shareholders. I am incredibly proud of what we have built and even more confident in what we will accomplish next.”
Shares jumped 5.3% in pre-market trading on Tuesday following the earnings announcement as the company declared a $0.375 per share quarterly cash dividend and authorized up to $1 billion in share repurchases.
“We are committed to continue investing in the business and returning capital to shareholders,” Lazarus added. “This program reflects our confidence in the business and our strong balance sheet, which provides us the flexibility to invest in growth while also delivering meaningful shareholder returns.”
Versant’s portfolio reaches an average of approximately 100 million people every month, with around 62% of its total engagement coming from live news and sports.
Versant plans to expand its existing digital offerings, with Fandango at Home, a free, ad-supported streaming offering, set to launch in the second half of 2026. The service will feature a mix of owned and licesned content.
MS Now will also launch a new direct-to-consumer service in summer 2026, which allow users to watch the network’s programming via a live feed and serve as a digital hub for progressives centered around “community, membership, and democracy,” per the network’s president Rebecca Kutler.
CNBC will also evolve its Pro offering and launch a new product aimed at retail investors that will feature stock recommendations, tools and data, real-time information and AI-powered quantitative analysis. Over time, the retail investor service will explore other areas of interest, including wealth, energy and options.
“We feel very confident that we already have an infrastructure. So the build out of these is not massively capital intensive,” Lazarus said.
The network also struck a multi-year agreement with Kalshi to incorporate real-time prediction data into its coverage across linear, digital and streaming and will partner with AI companies to develop new products and explore audience needs around cryptocurrency. Executives said that the Kalshi partnership would introduce new revenue streams and connect CNBC with a “younger, highly engaged and data driven investor audience.”
Additionally, Versant is expanding into new international markets through the acquisition of the cloud-based cinema operating system Indy Cinema Group, which will be integrated into its loyalty, payments and ticketing services. It also completed the acquisition of FAST channel and free over-the-air digital broadcast networks provider Free TV Networks in January as it looks to expand its forms of distribution.
At the same time, Versant isn’t ruling out asset sales, conducting a strategic review of alternatives for SportsEngine. An insider familiar with the discussions previously told TheWrap that the company received initial interest from about 80 parties, which was narrowed to around ten as of December. The insider pegged the youth sports technology platform’s valuation at around $400 million to $500 million.
“We haven’t made a decision yet. Just to be very clear, we like SportsEngine. It’s been a very good business for us,” chief financial officer Anand Kini told analysts. “We’re only going to pursue opportunities that genuinely maximize value for the long-term.”
Lazarus noted that NBCUniversal will represent Versant for its advertising sales for at least the next two years. When asked about upcoming affiliate distribution renewals in 2026 and 2027, Lazarus said that Versant anticipates “very productive” conversations.
“Our live portfolio of news and sports plays into what people are still looking to watch on linear television and that’s a big part of our asset play,” he said.
Lazarus also anticipate a “rebalancing” of sports portfolios across the industry that will provide it with an opportunity to bid on rights for new properties.
“We believe that there will be opportunity for us to to get involved in properties that we might not have otherwise gotten involved,” he said. “We’re open to conversations. We’re having ongoing conversations. We built out our own production unit and we are prepared for the sports landscape to be shifting and we will be in the middle of that. We will be disciplined, but we’ll be in the middle of that.”
When asked about the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war, Versant executives said that the process reinforces and validates the quality of its brands, portfolio and strategy.
“The assets that had a tremendous amount of value often were around news and sports. And I think you’ve heard us say before that that’s about 60% of our audience is news and sports,” Kini said. “So we we think in many ways, that process validates the quality of our brands and our portfolio, and a strategy that we’re pursuing to continue to drive those businesses which are supremely positioned within the pay TV ecosystem. And it also gives us the opportunity then to extend them outside of it. So we think it’s many ways kind of validating the approach that we have.”
More to come…
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