Breaking: Peacock to Go Commercial-Free in Fourth Quarter of Chiefs, Dolphins Wild Card; Why Would NBC Do That?
Peacock’s play is all about playing the long game.
NBCUniversal is doing anything and everything it can to make its first-ever Peacock-exclusive NFL playoff game a success. First, NBCU somehow conspired with the football gods to get the high-profile matchup of the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins — full of compelling on and off-field storylines — for its exclusive slot on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. ET and then the streamer announced a deal for customers to get 50% a full year of service. Now, Peacock has announced that it will continue its recent trend of going commercial-free in the fourth quarter of the game, giving fans an unprecedented opportunity to witness all of the drama in Arrowhead Stadium.
- For the second time this season, Peacock will air an exclusive NFL game without any commercial breaks in the fourth quarter.
- The Wild Card game will feature the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins.
- Peacock’s experiment prioritizes long-term subscriber revenue over short-term ad sales.
Peacock has long simulcast NFL games that aired on NBC, most notably the weekly “Sunday Night Football” broadcasts. However, the steadily growing streaming service had its first opportunity to broadcast an exclusive game last month as the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers met in Week 16 of the regular season. To further differentiate its streaming-only broadcast from a traditional football telecast, Peacock made the entire fourth quarter of that game commercial-free. As announced on a conference call with members of the media on Wednesday, Jan. 10, NBCU was pleased with the outcome of that experiment and will run it back this weekend for the Chiefs-Dolphins game.
Assuming that the game is still competitive in the fourth quarter, there will almost certainly be plenty of eyeballs on Peacock to make the move worthwhile. Although there are more than a few football fans upset by the fact that any playoff game — especially one of such marquee value — is available only on a streaming service that a majority of sports fans don’t have, between the defending Super Bowl Champions, the league’s most popular head coach, football’s most recognizable pitchman, one of the biggest names in podcast, and Taylor Swift, there’s a lot for football and pop culture fans to tune in for.
Why Would Peacock Make Part of a Playoff Game Commercial-Free?
A tradition unlike any other, in 2023, the NFL again dominated the airwaves as 96 of the top 100 most-watched television broadcasts were the league’s telecasts, including seven of the top 10 coming from last season’s playoffs. With that level of attention being paid to the postseason, NBCU being willing to forgo a full quarter of potential advertising is surprising, but there’s a reason.
First, there will still be sponsorships during the fourth quarter. If you watch soccer, you know that the sport’s media rights holders still find opportunities to pay the bills, even if there are no commercial interruptions to the action. You can still expect live reads from the announcers and on-screen logos of sponsors, but those things don’t bring in nearly the same amount of revenue as traditional 30-second ad spots.
However, NBCU is banking on giving people the best viewing experience possible in order to keep them subscribed in the future. The idea is that if Peacock can get people to sign up for one month — the service is not currently offering a free trial — and then it can deliver an enjoyable viewing experience, after the first month ends, the new customers might be willing to keep their subscription moving forward.
To further entice people, they are offering a deal to get one year of service for just $29.99 (50% off) using code PEACOCK2024. If a viewer has an entire year to engage with a streaming service and to become invested in the programming, there is a much higher likelihood that they will remain subscribed. So this is a long-term play for Peacock, they might be walking away from immediate advertising revenue and higher monthly recurring subscription fees, but if the strategy works, they will be building a larger customer base for years to come.
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.