With Peacock streaming service, NBC joins a crowded market; it’s the ‘tip of the spear for the next incarnation of NBC’, broadcaster says
- NBCUniversal launched Peacock in the US this week, a streaming service that’s free with some commercials; customers can get ad-free streaming by paying
- The idea is to preserve the company’s core cable TV business, while diversifying its revenue streams
NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service launched in the US this week, betting that weary consumers will tolerate a few commercials in exchange for a low-priced offering that includes news, sports and thousands of hours of TV shows.
The gambit sets the NBCUniversal’s service apart from streaming giants Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+. Those services have soared in popularity in recent years with edgy original shows, deep libraries of movies and TV classics – and a lack of commercial interruptions.
But NBCUniversal and its parent, cable giant Comcast, have little interest in encouraging more consumers to cut the cable cord. Its goal is to preserve traditional TV economics by replicating the very features that keep tens of millions of consumers still watching network TV and paying their monthly cable bills.
“Peacock is the manifestation of the next version of broadcast TV,” said Matt Strauss, chairman of Peacock. “We think Peacock is the tip of the spear for the next incarnation of NBC.”
Just like the early days of TV, Peacock will be available free to millions of consumers in the US, including 24 million homes at launch.