Peacock Wins Gold After Gaining Nearly 3 Million Subscribers in First Week of Olympics
Peacock Wins Gold After Gaining Nearly 3 Million Subscribers in First Week of Olympics
New data from Antenna shows that Peacock grew substantially thanks to the Paris Olympics.
Peacock is ready to claim the gold medal for its 2024 Paris Olympics coverage. NBCUniversal touted its ratings for the games soon after they concluded, revealing that 30.6 million people had tuned into a linear channel like NBC or USA Network to watch coverage and that 23.5 billion minutes were streamed over the course of the Games on Peacock. The data did not include the number of new subscribers drawn to Peacock by the Olympics, but a new analysis from Antenna gives an insight into just how many new customers Peacock might have gained thanks to its superior Olympics coverage.
Key Details:
- Peacock gained 2.8 million customers between July 25 and July 31.
- For the first time in 2024, Peacock offered coverage of every single Olympic event.
- The streamer was able to retain a large portion of viewers who signed up to watch its exclusive NFL Wild Card game in January.
Antenna’s data shows that Peacock saw 2.8 million new customers sign up between July 25 — the day before the Olympic opening ceremony — and July 31. That’s an impressive enough figure on its own — especially considering that accounts for less than half of the Olympics — but put into the context of past Peacock-exclusive sports events it gets even more so. NBC revealed in January that it pulled 3 million new subscribers to Peacock for the streamer’s exclusive Wild Card game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins in January, touted as the single biggest sign-up event in streaming history.
Average daily signups of 398,000 subscribers in the first week of the Olympics are 5.6 times higher than the eight-week benchmark preceding the start of the Games. Peacock commanded a 16% share of gross subscription streaming additions over the past 12 months, but that number jumped to 29% in July. In other words, almost one-third of all new streaming subscriptions during the month were for Peacock.
The data shows that the Olympics helped Peacock do NFL-like numbers during what is normally a quiet month across the entertainment landscape. It’s hardly surprising considering the amount of coverage that was available on Peacock; the streamer carried every single event of the games live, and created the “Gold Zone” whip-around show to take viewers to the hottest action of the games at a given moment. Personalized recaps with an AI-generated version of Al Michaels’ voice also helped audiences keep track of what was going on in their favorite sports.
Will Peacock Keep Customers Who Signed Up to Watch Olympics?
Peacock ended the second quarter of 2024 with 33.5 million subscribers. While that was a subtraction of 500,000 viewers, the streamer also grew revenue and continued to whittle down its losses during the quarter. The company will need to retain some of its newfound customers if it wants those strong financial results to continue.
There’s no way to know for sure if viewers who signed up to Peacock for the Olympics will keep watching now that the games are over. However, past data can at least point to the possibility that Peacock has a good chance of retaining some of its new subscribers.
According to previous research by Antenna, 78% of the customers who subscribed to the service to watch January’s Wild Card game remained subscribed one month later. New content could help Peacock see a similar customer loyalty benchmark for the Olympics; the streamer recently released all episodes of the Emmy-winning drama “Homicide: Life on the Street,” which has consistently been at or near the top of highest-demand shows that were not available to stream before its Peacock debut.
It doesn’t hurt that Peacock is about to roll into the NFL season, either. The streamer will host an exclusive NFL game broadcast from Brazil between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, Sept. 6, one day after it airs the inaugural game of the season between the Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. That Thursday night game will also air on linear NBC.
Only time will tell if Peacock is able to keep these new subscribers in the long run, but history shows it at least has a chance. Peacock continues to build its reputation as a sports streaming hub despite its low $7.99 monthly price and will welcome live NBA regular season and playoff games starting in 2025.
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,” “The Office,” and original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports and NBC programming, including the NFL, MLB, WWE, the Olympics, the Premier League, NASCAR, the French Open, college football and basketball, and the PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.