Tokyo Olympics Boosted NBCU Quarter—But Did It Help Peacock?

A year ago, Comcast and NBCUniversal’s top executives said that the once-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics would deliver a major boost to its fledgling streaming service Peacock with new sign-ups and subscribers. Now that the Olympics have wrapped, executives are declaring victory—but were noticeably short on specifics about the Games' impact on the streamer. In the company’s third quarter earnings, the NBCUniversal segment of the business reported nearly $1.8 billion in 2020 Tokyo Olympics revenue (which includes ad revenue as well as other revenue streams), but the company provided no details about whether, or to what extent, the Olympics contributed to Peacock's growth. In fact, for the first quarter since Peacock debuted nationally a year ago, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell declined to share sign-up numbers or any other metrics, leaving the industry in the dark about where the streamer is headed and how big it has gotten. Peacock last reported that 54 million people had signed up for the service ahead of the Opening Ceremony. “All metrics are pointed up,” Shell said of Peacock in response to a direct question about the extent of the growth on the streaming service. “Our usage continues to be great. Our mix of users continues to be great. We added a few million more subs, more [monthly active accounts] … We're really pleased with Peacock. It’s way ahead of where we expected to be at this point.” Peacock Gets an Olympic-Size Promotion a Year Later Than Expected An NBCUniversal spokesperson later clarified that Shell's reference to "subs" was not to subscribers of Peacock’s two paid Premium tiers (which cost either $5 a month or $10 a month) but to monthly active users. In July, execs said that the streamer had around 20 million monthly active users. The lack of disclosure casts doubt on the company’s prior declarations that the Olympics, which suffered from some user complaints, would be a boon for the company’s streaming service, which has been highlighted as a company priority. Earlier this summer, Matt Strauss, NBCUniversal’s chairman, direct-to-consumer and international, told Adweek that he was “very optimistic” that the Olympics were “going to bring a new audience to Peacock and help us grow as we continue to add more and more subscribers.” Halloween Kills scares up streaming audience This morning, Olympics-related programming decisions were notably absent among the highlights about standout programming for Peacock’s growth. Instead, Comcast CEO and chairman Brian Roberts pointed to NBC's freshman disaster series La Brea, which has become “the best-performing new show on Peacock” as well as a linear success. Also among Peacock's recent highlights is the film Halloween Kills, the latest installment in the company’s Halloween horror franchise, which debuted Oct. 15 simultaneously in theaters and on Peacock’s premium tier. That film, which brought in $50 million at the North American box office during its opening weekend, has also become “the No. 1 non-live event premiere in Peacock’s history,” Roberts said, without sharing more specifics. Overall, Roberts added, Peacock “has maintained its momentum." NBCUniversal is continuing to lean into films to bolster Peacock’s programming line-up in 2022, when new Universal Pictures releases like F9 will head to Peacock in the four-month period following their theatrical releases. “We’ve seen across all streaming platforms that movies move the dial,” Shell said. “They move the dial for Peacock in this quarter with Boss Baby and recently with Halloween Kills, which was a huge hit on Peacock and a huge hit at the box office. It shows that you can kind of play in two different markets.” The company is also looking to expand its footprint with connected TV devices and other distribution deals. Through a partnership with manufacturer Hisense, Comcast has released a line of smart TVs, which come with a 12-month subscription to Peacock’s ad-supported premium tier and are rolling out in retailers like Walmart ahead of the holiday season. That previously announced plan marks the “beginning of a logical extension” of the company’s connectivity business, Roberts said today. In addition, Comcast will begin distributing its Xfinity Stream and Sky Go apps on Apple TV devices. As part of that deal, Comcast will also include Apple streamer Apple TV+ on its Xfinity X1 and Flex streaming aggregators, Roberts said.

Streaming & OTT

Tokyo Olympics Boosted NBCUniversal’s Quarter—But It’s Unclear If It Helped Peacock

Execs say ‘all metrics point up’ on new streamer but dodge specifics

Kelsey Sutton

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Kelsey Sutton