“The Office” was a hit for NBC — and Peacock hopes to duplicate its popularity, especially since it shelled out $500 million to license the show. (Its popular Netflix’s run ends this year.)
According to Matt Strauss, chairman of Peacock and NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises, the best way to relaunch is to promote it with new material. That means streaming unreleased content to lure viewers to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the world’s most clueless boss, played by Steve Carell, holds court.
(Carell is now starring in “Space Force” for Netflix.)
“We will be reintroducing ‘The Office’ in a more complete way, incorporating elements that were not part of the original broadcast,” Strauss told Bloomberg.
In 2018, “The Office” and “Friends” were Netflix’s most popular shows. “The Office” streamed 52 million viewing minutes, while “Friends” delivered 32 million viewing minutes, per Nielsen.
However, Netflix lost the rights to “Friends,” which moved all 10 seasons to HBO Max.
On a recent earnings report, Comcast announced: “NBCUniversal successfully launched Peacock in Cable’s footprint in April, ahead of the streaming service’s U.S. nationwide launch earlier this month, with 10 million sign-ups to date.”
Photo credit: NBC