NBCUniversal reported in late January that its six-month-old Peacock streaming service had amassed 33 million “signups” by the end of 2020 — ostensibly positive news, given that NBCU had projected that Peacock would reach 30 million to 34 million active users by 2024, the year targeted for its breakeven.
However, based on having seen internal NBCU documents on Peacock, The Information is reporting that Peacock recently had just 11.3 “monthly active ad-supported accounts” — household accounts, which may include multiple viewers.
A Peacock spokesperson told the Silicon Valley news site that the 11.3 million figure was “low, ” reports MediaPost.
In other words, Peacock is currently reliant on competing for advertising with TV networks, YouTube and other giants, whereas the Netflix, rapidly-growing Disney+ and HBO Max have subscription-based, ad-free models, The Information notes.
Netflix ended 2020 with 203 million subscribers worldwide, and year-old Disney+ is already at 87 million worldwide — although HBO Max, which is planning to launch a hybrid subscription/limited-ads tier in Q2 2021 — has only about 17 million subscribers, including 10 million who have switched from HBO.
NBCU’s strategy for Peacock is to differentiate it from other streamers with a traditional network-like model that includes news and sports, as well as entertainment. However, NBCU CEO Jeff Shell reportedly wants to build up Peacock’s premium subscriber base, without spending exorbitant amounts to develop original content.
The solution has been “to strike deals with other entertainment companies to broaden either Peacock’s programming or its distribution,” notes the report, pointing to Peacock’s recent programming deals with World Wrestling Entertainment and A&E.
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