A dramatic international expansion is apparently in flight for American-based streamer Peacock. During Thursday’s earnings call, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts announced plans for Sky, to include Peacock at no additional cost for its nearly 20 million customers across Europe.
The launch will come later this year across Sky platforms, including Sky Q, NOW, and Sky Ticket, currently serving customers throughout the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. Roberts said that the benefits of the European move would be significant.
“We will unlock incremental advertising revenue, introduce the Peacock brand and content catalog via Sky’s established platform in key European markets, and directly monetize our programming investments,” Roberts said.
In the same call, Roberts said that Peacock had a total of 54 million sign-ups and 20 million active accounts as of this week, noting that this figure was 50% higher than last quarter.
He pointed to the earlier decision by Comcast to include Peacock on the Xfinity expanded X1 and Flex platforms in the United States as a driver of scale, consumption, and promotion.
“We see a similar opportunity with Sky will utilize all the wonderful assets of our company to create value for audiences everywhere,” he said.
“We are excited to bring Peacock to millions of Sky customers and add incredible value to their platforms with a premium catalog of the best entertainment from across NBCUniversal that is included with their subscription,” said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. “We look forward to doing the same with Sky in Europe.”
“Peacock will be a great addition for Sky customers with over 7,000 hours of content at no additional cost. This exceptional value add is another example of the great ways we are innovating to bring more benefits to our customers from the synergies across Sky, NBCUniversal, and Comcast Cable,” said Dana Strong, group CEO of Sky.
Company officials said this is just the beginning. They said they plan to eventually launch the Peacock brand around the world.
Details of the exact timing of the European launch remain forthcoming.
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.