Peacock Looks to Grab Its Share of Large Thanksgiving Day Audience

This year’s Turkey Day just might give another bird a boost. NBCUniversal-owned streaming service Peacock is hoping to get a big viewership bump on Thanksgiving Day this year when it simulcasts NBC's tentpole programming events, looking to grab its share of eyeballs on what is consistently one of TV's biggest viewing days each year. Peacock's livestream plans include, for the first time, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which it will simulcast beginning at 9 a.m. ET. Peacock will also have a presence within the parade itself with a parade float featuring the stars of the streamer's original comedy Girls5eva—Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Busy Philipps—who will perform a song from the series. Later in the day, Peacock will also stream both the National Dog Show and the National Dog Show Junior at 12 p.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET, respectively. Finally, the service will cap off the day by streaming NFL coverage of the Buffalo Bills-New Orleans Saints Thanksgiving night match-up, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Tokyo Olympics Boosted NBCUniversal’s Quarter—But It’s Unclear If It Helped Peacock But it won’t be free to watch. Instead, all four events will be available only through one of Peacock’s two paid tiers, which start at $5 a month. The Thanksgiving programming plans come as NBCUniversal looks for ways to bulk up Peacock’s viewership ahead of its two-year anniversary next spring. The streaming service, which has a free ad-supported tier and two additional paid tiers (known as Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus), has been slower to grow than some of its other competitors. During parent company Comcast's quarterly earnings last month, executives were noticeably quiet about the streamer’s growth, and opted not to share any information—for the first quarter since Peacock debuted nationally a year ago—about how the 2020 Tokyo Olympics contributed to its growth. Peacock last reported that 54 million people had signed up for the service as of mid-2021. It remains unclear how many of those sign-ups have converted to returning viewers, and which of them have signed up for either Peacock Premium or Peacock Premium Plus. Last month, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said Peacock added "a few million more" monthly active users to last number—20 million—that executives had last shared in July. The company also anticipates that February's combination of the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl 56 will drive more eyeballs to the platform. NBCUniversal has previously used programming behind the Peacock paywall to test out what programming customers are willing to pay for. During the Olympics, the streamer opted to keep Olympics men’s basketball behind its premium paywall, an experiment aimed at getting sports viewers to sign up for a paid tier. So far, live sports has been one of Peacock's most reliable methods of attracting viewers. Last week, NBCUniversal fended off rivals to hold on to its English Premier League package for another six years, shelling out a reported $2.6 billion for the deal. Those rights are a boon to NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock, as the matches have performed particularly well for the streamer. Pursuing non-sports audience draws But the service, which has pushed into exclusive originals with series like Girls 5Eva and a rebooted Saved by the Bell, has looked for other ways to boost its premium programming beyond live sports. In October, it released the horror movie Halloween Kills on Peacock Premium the same day the film hit theaters, which became “the No. 1 non-live event premiere in Peacock’s history,” Comcast CEO and chairman Brian Roberts said last month. In recent months, NBCUniversal executives have been earmarking NBC content that resonates with all members of a household to livestream on Peacock, such as the first four episodes of Saturday Night Live this season. In addition to the Thanksgiving programs, Peacock will also simulcast NBC's annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center, which will air Dec. 1. As Peacock’s premium offering continues to grow, the streamer is being helmed by a new executive. Kelly Campbell, the former president of Disney-operated streamer Hulu, joined Peacock this month to serve as president.