Peacock, Comcast’s streaming service, just did something it had never managed before: it posted its first-ever quarterly profit of $189 million. In the same second quarter, Peacock added 2 million paid subscribers, bringing the total to 48 million, after swinging from a prior-year loss of $101 million.

The numbers matter because they are not abstract “growth” claims. Peacock’s revenue grew to $1.9 billion, up from $1.2 billion in the year-ago period. And the subscriber momentum is tied to specific franchise gravity: the NBA playoffs, FIFA World Cup, and “Love Island USA” are the drivers Comcast highlighted when explaining the shift toward profitability.

This is the kind of turnaround that investors actually notice. Until now, the streaming business has often been judged on how fast it can grow paid users, even if profitability takes longer. Peacock’s milestone changes the scoreboard. It suggests Comcast is moving from burning cash for scale toward monetizing scale, at least in this quarter. And because this profitability is happening while the broader company reports strong overall results, it reduces the chance this is a one-off blip.

Zoom out to Comcast’s headline performance. Comcast reported an adjusted profit of $3.71 billion, or $1.04 per share, on revenue of $29.94 billion, beating Wall Street expectations of profit of 97 cents per share on revenue of $29.26 billion. Comcast also grew its content and experiences business, which includes NBCUniversal, Sky, and its Universal theme parks, with total revenue up 22.9% to $10.73 billion and profits climbing 7.1% to $1.33 billion. Meanwhile, its connectivity and platforms business saw revenue fall 3% to $19.8 billion and profits tumble 5.8% to $7.96 billion as Comcast continued to shed broadband and video customers.

That split between growth engines and pressure points is central to why Peacock’s quarter is strategically loud. Cord-cutting and competition continue to ravage broadband and pay TV businesses, and Comcast lost 167,000 broadband customers and 280,000 video customers, for totals of 28.49 million and 10.67 million respectively. In wireless, there was a bright spot, with Comcast adding 448,000 lines for a total of 10.19 million. In other words, the company is not uniformly winning everywhere. It is reallocating attention and capital toward where monetization is getting sharper, and streaming is the headline example.

Comcast also tied profitability to what it can sell. The media segment grew revenue 25.3% to $5.7 billion and profits rose 3.7% to $708 million, driven by higher domestic advertising and distribution revenue, including the FIFA World Cup. Comcast noted that when excluding the World Cup, revenue grew 15.6% to $5.3 billion, implying that major live events are doing real work in the income statement, not just in marketing decks.

Peacock’s quarter is occurring at the same time Comcast is preparing to restructure its empire. Over the next 12 months, Comcast plans to separate NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate, publicly-traded company. Under the terms of the split, Comcast will continue to have an ownership stake of up to 19.9% in NBCU/Sky for up to one year after the tax-free spin’s completion. This matters because streaming profitability can influence how markets value each part of the business. If Peacock looks like a path to steadier earnings, it can shift investor narratives about the media stack that comes with the separation.

The broader media portfolio also flashed mixed signals. Comcast’s studios business posted a profit of $202 million, with revenue growing 25% to $3.04 billion, driven by higher theatrical revenue from “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” “Obsession,” and international distribution of “Michael.” Theatrical revenue came in at $972 million, up from $284 million a year ago. Content licensing revenue was $1.8 billion, down 0.3% from $1.81 billion a year ago, reflecting lower content licensing revenue for Comcast’s film studios offset by higher licensing revenue at its television studios.

Theme parks added another layer. Theme parks revenue increased 2.7% to $2.4 billion, driven by growth at its Orlando theme parks and the successful opening of Epic Universe. But segment profits fell 5.1% to $609 million due to higher operating expenses. So even where revenue grows, cost control is the difference between “nice quarter” and “earnings story.” Peacock’s first profitable quarter suggests Comcast is at least making progress on that cost and monetization equation in streaming.

Finally, there is a capital return signal in the background. Comcast reported a quarterly cash dividend of 33 cents per share, payable on Oct. 28 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 7. Shares of Comcast were up 0.77% in pre-market trading on Thursday following the results.

For executives running or investing in streaming, this quarter is a reminder that profitability is possible, but it is usually earned the hard way. Peacock’s profitability is tied to paid subscriber additions, revenue growth to $1.9 billion, and major content and sports events that strengthen the business model. And for boards and CFOs inside media groups, the timing is especially consequential: Comcast’s NBCUniversal/Sky separation plan makes it more important than ever to define what the market is actually buying, and whether streaming can transition from growth narrative to earnings engine.