No summer games for Peacock
It’s official, the 2020 Tokyo summer games are being postponed. While this has massive ramifications for the Japanese economy, it will also impact the launch of Peacock. NBCs streaming service was aptly timed to launch with live streamed Olympics programming. It would be remiss to think this won’t impact the launch, otherwise the company would not have made such a point to show the value the asset had to the product strategy. According to our research, the Olympics draw in one-quarter of the population. And, I’d suggest that when we ask viewers if they are fans during the games that number would spike. That said, Peacock may benefit from other dynamics and having a free tier is sure to be one of them during this time of economic struggle.
The NPD Take:
- Sometimes you take the good with the bad. The Olympics won’t draw a recurring live launch audience to Peacock but in times of an economic downturn, free will. This is also likely to demonstrate the value of the low priced ad-supported service tier.
- The service’s late entrance into the market is more of a challenge without the Olympics as anchor content.
Free today, please stay
I’m not even going to start to chronicle the list of free video offerings that hit the market this past week. Sling TV, Showtime, Starz, WWE Network WrestleMania… the list is impressive and seemingly endless. Let’s cut to it: there are three strategic drivers here; good will, data, and the opportunity to retain subscribers at the back end. As a viewer, the added services are appreciated at this point time where we have more available viewing hours to fill.
The NPD Take:
- Offering free access to NY Times COVID-19 news is truly a public service and this TV strategy is similar. Viewers are stuck home; reliable news, be it print or TV is critical. To that end, so is entertainment. We all want to come out of this with our health as well as all our marbles intact. Thank you for the extra programming.
- And for those that can retain viewers, that’s a testament to the strength of the programming.
AT&T shares COVID-19 driven video insights
Here comes the first wave of data. Our friends at AT&T shared some insight from their AT&T TV and DirecTV subscribers. The findings are expected; the magnitude might be striking. No sports, no problem, live viewing is still up by 15 percent. Economic uncertainty? Well, free on-demand is up nearly 25 percent. Movie buying and renting volume has almost doubled during weekdays and on weekends. There is a 3X spike in titles that are suitable for family viewing like Jumanji: The Next Level, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker as well as titles for kids like Frozen II and Spies Like Us. Not surprisingly, Contagion was the #21 title last week, rising from the #47 spot 2 weeks ago. Not sure I can watch it.
The NPD Take:
- As an analyst, I expect to be inundated with more new data points than ever before. Here’s a few trends to contemplate…when we’re all back out there in public, will this facilitate a faster shift to streaming, resurgence of theatrical attendance, drop off in disc sales, or sustained usage of new services?