Peacock Reports Adding 2 Million New Subscribers in First Quarter to Hit 22M; 60% Increase Year-Over-Year
Just days after NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was fired, the company has released the latest earnings report for its streaming platform Peacock, and shareholders have something to be excited about.
Peacock reported that it now has 22 million paid users, an increase of 2M over the 20 million it reported having at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, representing a 60% increase year-over-year. Despite the gains, that number keeps Peacock well behind the biggest players in the streaming industry; Netflix most recently reported having 232.5 million global users, and Disney+ claims 161.8 million worldwide customers.
When stacked against more modestly-sized streaming services Peacock’s success looks better. It is still well ahead of AMC, who last reported having 11.8 million streaming customers spread across its numerous services. STARZ now has 37.2M global users, but its most recent earnings report indicated it had lost around 600,000 subscribers.
One of the biggest stories from Peacock during the last quarter was the discontinuation of its free streaming tier. The Streamable broke the story that Peacock had sunsetted its free ad-supported plan for new users at the end of January, and that henceforward customers who wanted to sign up for the service would have to choose one if its paid tiers.
The loss of the free tier of Peacock has not had any negative effects on the service’s WWE programming, however. In fact, Peacock has seen big year-over-year increases in viewers for some of its biggest events. January’s “Royal Rumble” saw a 52% rise in viewers as compared to the 2022 edition, and Wrestlemania experienced a 29% jump in audience. The only problem from NBCU’s perspective in these numbers is that it may not have WWE in the fold for the long term; the wrestling promotion was recently acquired by the same company that owns the UFC, and the two combat sports entities might pursue a unified streaming deal in 2026.
If WWE does depart Peacock, the service will still have plenty of sports to fall back on. That includes the Tour de France, the world’s most famous cycling race, which will air exclusively on Peacock from 2024-2029. Peacock also offers users the ability to stream NFL football, English Premier League Soccer, Notre Dame football, IndyCar racing, MLB baseball and much more. In fact, Premier League fans can now watch select matches with “Premier League Data Zone,” the new stat-focused alternative broadcast available on Peacock now.
Sports fans now have a new device to watch live games on Peacock, as well. Earlier in April, NBCU announced a deal with Meta that makes content from Peacock available on Meta Quest and Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headsets. Meta Quest users are now able to watch thousands of movies and shows on Peacock with their device, along with live sports. This new feature, along with the “Watch With” interactive interface that allows users to watch select episodes of their favorite Peacock shows makes Peacock a more immersive experience than ever before.
That’s especially good news considering how much more content is now available on Peacock. This quarter, the service added a livestream of the Reelz channel, plus on-demand episodes of shows like “On Patrol: Live.” Peacock has also brought on more news content from the NBC family, integrating livestreams of “Morning Joe” from MSNBC and “Squawk Box” from CNBC onto its platform. Additionally, Peacock added a large selection of films from Magnolia Pictures in mid April.
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.