Peacock is “free” as a bird
NBCUniversal’s ‘free’ streaming service has finally launched. Peacock is offered in three tiers - Peacock Premium Plus ($9.99/month) which includes access to new original content (and the only option that is ad free), Peacock Premium ($4.99/month) which is the same as Premium Plus with limited ads, and a free ad-supported plan. In addition to offering a free tier, the service will have live sports and news, which is unique among its competitors. Let the streaming wars continue.
The NPD Take:
- Entering a crowded market following competitive launches of Disney+, Apple TV+ and HBO Max, programming will need to differentiate to capture sustained attention.
- The blended AVOD/SVOD model fits the current environment very well where viewers are highly engaged in video yet price conscious.
Roku & Fire Excluded
While Peacock has a significant number of distribution partners including Apple TV, Android TV, Xbox One, Sony PlayStation 4, Vizio SmartCast TVs and LG Smart TVs, NBCUniversal left critical partners out of the mix. The service isn’t available on Roku or Fire TV, two of the biggest streaming platforms. A similar situation occurred with HBO Max, so this may be no more than the companies needing to work out the details of the partnership.
The NPD Take:
- The launch partners for Peacock are looking more like those of a premium cable channel than an AVOD/SVOD service.
- Carriage deals used to be between the content provider and the cable operator. Now they are increasingly among the content owner and hardware platform. Expect more of this down the road.