NBCUniversal Betting Olympics Can Boost Peacock Streaming

NBCUniversal, which has aired the Olympics for decades, is showing this summer’s Tokyo Games on its broadcast and cable networks. At least some direct coverage of all 41 competitions except men’s basketball—available to paying Peacock subscribers—will also be aired on the platform’s free, ad-supported tier, which offers a slimmer library of content to its members indefinitely.

The Wall Street Journal reports NBCUniversal hopes its original programs on Peacock, like the talk show, will add further appeal to draw viewers.

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NBCUniversal aims to use the sports bonanza to boost a platform that some analysts say has lagged behind competitors, particularly in its content library, as the streaming industry becomes increasingly crowded.

Like all major media companies, NBCUniversal is trying to balance its streaming push with the demands of its traditional business, wary that viewership for the former could eat into the latter and affect deals with advertisers. Rivals that are betting on streaming as the future of entertainment and sports—from Walt Disney Co. to AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia—are confronting similar pressures.

Analysts have said that NBCUniversal could have risked annoying viewers by putting too much high-quality content behind a Peacock paywall or making it exclusive to the service. Such a move would likely also create tensions with cable- and satellite-TV distributors, which pay to carry NBC and the handful of cable channels with Olympics programming, like the USA Network and the soon-to-be-defunct NBC Sports Network.

“Undoubtedly people who have never used Peacock before will, because they’re interested in the Olympics, and that’s certainly a benefit to the service,” said Wells Fargo & Co. analyst Steven Cahall. “The question is: Can they retain that viewership?”