Peacock Adds 4 Million Paid Subscribers in Q1; Sees 25% Increase in Engagement
On Wednesday, NBCUniversal announced that in the first quarter of 2022, Peacock had 28 million active users, an increase of approximately 3.5 million from the fourth quarter of 2021. On Comcast’s Q1 2022 investor’s call, NBCU announced Peacock added 4 million paid subscribers in the quarter, pushing their total up to more than 13 million; that number is up from 9 million at the end of 2021, a 40% increase.
That number marks a year-over-year growth of 10 million as the streamer reported just 3 million paid subscribers following Q1 last year. The company also announced a 25% increase in engagement year-over-year. Despite the viewership increases, the streaming service posted a $456 Million loss.
The growth was buoyed by two major events during the quarter, the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. The fledgling service is hoping to continue its growth with the help of sports by becoming the streaming home of 18 Major League Baseball games that will air on Sunday mornings beginning in May.
Comcast executives mentioned on their investor’s call that they did not anticipate their Q1 growth increasing at that rate in the coming quarters, but they believe that the final quarter of 2022 will be another substantial period for Peacock as the service will begin streaming NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and will become the exclusive streaming home of NBC shows, moving from their current home on Hulu.
Thanks to the combination of paid subscriptions and NBCU making Peacock available to Xfinity cable subscribers, a recent study indicated that the streamer had reached 64.3 million viewers in the United States, and thanks to a recently launched partnership with Charter Communications, that number will likely grow.
On Wednesday, cable giants Comcast and Charter announced that they would partner on a new streaming platform that would — in part — bring Peacock to Charter’s nearly 16 million cable subscribers.
The new platform will see Comcast license its Flex streaming aggregator operating system and hardware — which provides Xfinity cable customers access to all of the most popular streaming apps on the market — as well as the company’s free, advertising video-on-demand (AVOD) service Xumo, and the retail business for XClass TVs.
On their investor’s call, Comcast executives reminded analysts that they have never looked at Peacock as a standalone business, but rather as an extension of their TV business. This allows the traditional TV networks and the streamer to combine on advertising sales, which the company believes is the right model for their business.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.