Peacock Hits Jackpot With Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins NFL Playoff Game
With storylines cross sports, social media, and pop culture, Peacock’s first-ever exclusive playoff game has the chance to be big for the service.
When it was originally announced in May 2023 that Peacock would be exclusively airing an NFL wild card game this season, it is unlikely that anyone at NBC Sports could have even hoped for a matchup as buzzy as the one they ended up getting. Thanks to a 21-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the final game of the regular season, the Miami Dolphins will now travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC wild-card matchup on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. ET. If NBCUniversal’s goal in paying for an exclusive playoff game was to have a game that was able to generate as much interest from outside the sporting world as it did from diehard football fans, then Peacock hit the jackpot.
- The reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs are one of the most popular teams in the NFL.
- Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce is dating music superstar Taylor Swift who has appeared at many Chiefs’ games in recent months.
- Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has become a social media phenomenon with his viral press conference and sideline moments.
Why Is NBC Putting the Chiefs and Dolphins Playoff Game on Peacock?
Networks and streaming services pay big money for the opportunity to broadcast live sports, and no domestic sports league garners as much in rights fees as the NFL. NBCUniversal’s current deal with the league is for $2 billion per year for 10 years. While the traditional way that broadcasters recoup that investment is via commercials and sponsorships, in the evolving world of entertainment, the focus is slowly but steadily shifting to streaming.
Entertainment companies still get the most bang for the buck with traditional advertising, but nearly all of them are planning for the future by moving some of their sports inventory to streaming. For a number of seasons, Disney has put a handful of its NFL game inventory exclusively on ESPN+, primarily international games that kick off at 9:30 a.m. ET. This season, Peacock got into the mix with an exclusive Week 16 matchup. To emphasize the changing landscape, the streamer even took it a step further by broadcasting the fourth quarter of that Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills game commercial-free.
Since sports are the most reliable source of ratings, the thought is that if entertainment companies can get people to sign up for a single game — or a series of games from a single league — like the Peacock exclusive Big Ten football and basketball games — they might be able to keep them subscribed moving forward. That’s why landing a game with as many different storylines as the Chiefs vs. Dolphins is about as good as Peacock could have hoped for.
A Peacock subscription costs either $5.99 or $11.99 per month. The lower-priced Peacock Premium plan does include exclusive live sports on the platform, but doesn’t have access to live local channels. Peacock Premium is also ad-supported, so all of the content on the service will have commercials.
Yes, Peacock Premium Plus is twice as expensive but it is only ad-free, includes your local NBC affiliate, and affords users the ability to download titles to watch offline. If the draw of an NFL playoff game is enough to get someone to sign up for the service, NBCU is hoping that the other sports content — NFL, Big Ten, international soccer, WWE, and more — its hit original series like “Poker Face,” “Mrs. Davis,” ” and “Bel-Air,” next day broadcasts of NBC and Bravo shows, and its extensive library of classics like “The Office” and “30 Rock” will be enough to keep them subscribed moving forward. So even if the game itself doesn’t end up making as much in advertising as it would have if it were on NBC, the hope is that it will serve as a loss-leader for long-term, recurring revenue for NBCUniversal.
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.
Why is the Chiefs and Dolphins Game So Big for Peacock?
If you have paid attention to the NFL, pop culture, or social media even the tiniest bit over the past four months, then you are no doubt aware of the budding romance between future NFL Hall of Fame tight end Jason Kelce and arguably the biggest superstar in the world Taylor Swift. As the music icon began attending games midway through the season, ratings for Chiefs broadcasts skyrocketed as networks took every available opportunity to show Swift chatting, hugging, and celebrating with Kelce’s family in private suites.
The buzz generated by Swift’s probable attendance at the game will undoubtedly inspire at least some Swifties to pony up the $6 for one month of Peacock Premium. But even if the reigning queen of pop music opts to head to L.A. early in order to attend the Emmys on Sunday night instead — the TV awards air at 8 p.m. ET on Fox — there is still plenty of star power associated with the game.
The Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champions and are led by one of the most recognizable players in the league Patrick Mahomes. From State Farm to T-Mobile to Head & Shoulders to Subway, it’s nearly impossible to watch a sporting event and not see an ad featuring the two-time NFL MVP. His wife Brittany also has a substantial social media following.
While many non-football fans thought that Swift put Kelce on the map, the tight end is a multihyphenate phenom in his own right. He has been the star of a reality dating show called “Catching Kelce” and he co-hosts an incredibly popular podcast with his brother Jason called “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce.” Jason is the starting center for the Philadelphia Eagles, who will open up their playoff journey on Monday, Jan. 15 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jason Kelce was also the subject of a documentary released on Prime Video last year called “Kelce,” which unsurprisingly featured Travis.
Despite all of the draws on the Kansas City side of the equation, the Dolphins have their own social media darling to bring to the table. Miami’s head coach Mike McDaniel is 40 years old and doesn’t really look or talk like an NFL coach. He played wide receiver at Yale and reportedly is a member of MENSA and his press conference quotes and sideline antics have gone viral. From good-naturedly ribbing members of the media to seeming like the most relaxed coach in the league during games, McDaniel has developed his own fanbase, inspiring kids to dress up as him for Halloween.
With all of these different sports, social media, and pop culture ingredients coming together on Saturday night, it appears that Peacock could not have dreamt of a better matchup for its first-ever exclusive playoff game. Football fans in the Kansas City and Miami markets will be able to watch the game on their local NBC affiliates, meaning that NBCU is banking on viewers from across the country to make this experiment work, so having an abundance of storylines at play is the ideal situation to get people onto the service. The key will be whether or not the platform is able to turn those increased eyeballs into long-term subscribers.