Peacock Introduces New Features to Make It Easier to Get Back to Watching Your Favorite Shows and Movies
To me, there is very little as frustrating as returning to a streaming service ready to pick up where you left off in a movie or episode of TV only to find out that the platform in question is not giving you the option to resume where you last were. When things are working properly, the streamer allows you to jump right back into your title with minimal hoops to jump through, but when it somehow forgets where you last were, it can be incredibly frustrating to remember what episode you were on and then to fast-forward to a spot that looks like it might be roughly around the same scene you last remember seeing. Recently, Peacock has taken much of the guessing — and clicking — out of starting up your streaming experience by introducing a new feature that allows you to get back into your show or movie straight from the home screen.
- The new feature allows Peacock subscribers on specific devices to get to the content they want without having to go to the title’s page.
- Peacock has added “Watch,” “Resume,” “More Info,” and “More Episodes” prompts to home screen tiles.
- The goal was to simplify the user journey and allow viewers to watch their shows and movies as quickly as possible.
What Changes Has Peacock Made to Its Content Discovery and Navigation Experience?
In recent weeks, the content navigation experience for some Peacock users has changed, thanks to a series of A/B tests that the NBCUniversal streaming service has been conducting. The goal of these experiments was to see what format best allowed users to find and get back into their favorite shows and movies.
“Through ongoing testing, we identify necessary optimizations that help us better understand the optimal product experience,” a Peacock spokesperson told The Streamable. “We will continue testing this feature, with an increased focus on sampling and assisting customers with content discovery.”
The initial tests have resulted in a number of changes already. On the homepage, when scrolling through available titles, Peacock users on specific devices now see two navigation options inside the show or movie’s tile. The top one will vary depending on whether the title is a movie or TV episode — the options are “More Info” or “More Episodes” — and the bottom option will be either “Watch” or “Resume,” depending on whether or not you have already started a program. These options were integrated into the user experience in an effort to eliminate the extra step of having to click into the individual show or movie page to start streaming.
“We’ve simplified the user journey [by] presenting content that is easily accessible directly from the homepage,” the Peacock rep told The Streamable. “We accomplished this by emphasizing video previews and providing additional metadata about our shows and movies, all more prominently on the homepage.”
These specific changes are only available through streaming devices that use Lightning Code as the base for their technological infrastructure, including Playstations, Hisense smart TVs, Android TVs, Vizio Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TVs, LG Smart TVs, and more.
How Have Recent Changes Impacted Peacock?
Having long been derided by those in and around the streaming industry, over the past year, Peacock has made significant strides in both its content offerings and its user experience. The changes have led to substantial year-over-year growth for the service, rising from just 9 million paid subscribers to start 2022 to come in at 28 million at the end of September 2023.
Since last year, Peacock has maintained a streaming relationship with Hallmark Media that allows the platform to carry a rotating selection of Hallmark library films while streaming new releases for 72 hours after their initial runs on cable. Users are also able to livestream all three Hallmark networks — the Hallmark Channel, [Hallmark Movies & Mysteries], and [Hallmark Drama]. When this was announced just about 13 months ago, in our expert opinion from studying the streaming landscape since 2017, we here at The Streamable thought that this was one of the smartest moves that Peacock had made to date. In February of this year, the streamer made a similar deal with cable channel Reelz.
In addition to the service’s first original hit “Bel-Air,” Peacock had significant successes in 2023 with series “Poker Face,” “Mrs. Davis,” and The Continental: From the World of John Wick.” When combined with the streaming of Universal movies, like “The Exorcist: Believer,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” and more, NBCU is quickly bulking up the sought-after content on the platform.
When you start to factor in the next day streaming rights to shows from NBCU channels like “The Voice” on NBC and all of the Bravo reality series — not to mention the thousands of hours of live sports, including the NFL’s “Sunday Night Football,” exclusive Big Ten football and basketball games, and all of the WWE premiere live events — Peacock has quickly gone from also-ran to a must-have for millions of cord-cutters.
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.