Are the Olympics Enough to Boost Peacock’s Waning Subscriber Base?

Published: July 29, 2024

Are the Olympics Enough to Boost Peacock’s Waning Subscriber Base?

By Movieguide® Contributor

Peacock is the exclusive streamer of the Paris 2024 Olympics, but is that enough to boost subscribers and interest in the platform?

This isn’t the first time NBC planned to stream Olympic coverage on Peacock.

“NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock launched with a big bet on the Olympics. In January 2020, in Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, executives unveiled a plan to use that year’s Tokyo Olympics to help launch Peacock, including streaming the opening and closing ceremonies live before they aired on TV in the evening,” The Hollywood Reporter said.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic would throw a huge wrench into NBCUniversal’s programming, and “a confusing interface and some technical glitches marred the company’s plans.”

“Frankly, we didn’t do a very good job for our customers,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group. “We didn’t exactly deliver what we said we were going to deliver.”

“We have learned a lot from that,” he added.

This year, Peacock plans “to stream everything live. Every sport, every ceremony, every NBC broadcast.”

The streamer is enhancing its Olympic coverage in the hopes of regaining subscribers lost after a price increase.

Movieguide® reported:

Peacock will raise its prices for the second time in two years this summer.

In July, Peacock will increase to $7.99/month, $2 up from its current plan. Premium Plus will increase to $13.99/month. The annual prices will both rise by $20, with the new annual Premium price at $79.99 and the annual Premium Plus at $139.99.

Variety reported, “The new prices will be effective starting July 18 for new Peacock customers and for existing subscribers with their next billing date on or after Aug. 17.”

According to Boston Public Radio, “Comcast’s second-quarter 2024 earnings report disclosed that Peacock lost approximately 1 million subscribers from April to June.”

NPR critic Eric Deggans, told BPC, “They’re hoping that the Olympics will spur a bunch of people to subscribe to Peacock again, because they have a wide array of different coverage that you can watch both on demand and live.”

“This is going to be a test of Peacock,” he added. “Can they revive interest in this streamer at a time when it seems to be on the ropes?”