Peacock Exec: ‘We Have to Get the Parents Before We Get the Teens,’ Following Young Adult Series Cancellations
Peacock is looking to produce and promote more grown-up-friendly content moving forward. At least that was what Susan Rovner, the chairman of entertainment content at NBCUniversal TV and streaming, was suggesting in her conversation with Lesley Goldberg and Daniel Fiendberg on The Hollywood Reporter’s “TV’s Top 5” podcast.
When asked about the reasoning behind scrapping young adult series like “One of Us Is Lying” and “Vampire Academy,” Rovner told the hosts, “What we realized is we have to get the parents before we get the teens.”
In other words, before Peacock launches a variety of shows for young adult viewers, it needs to focus on those who are usually the ones selecting and paying for services — adults. She is hoping that some of Peacock’s latest hits will make it possible to create more content down the line.
“I’m hoping that once we get the parents with shows like ‘Poker Face’ and shows like ‘Traitors,’ that we will be able to do a show like ‘Vampire Academy’ a few years from now,” she said.
This new posture towards content selection helps shed light on some of Peacock’s current and upcoming shows. There is, of course, Peacock’s latest original series hit, “Poker Face,” a mystery-of-the-week style series from “Knives Out” creator Rian Johnson, starring Natasha Lyonne. The show is plot-driven, geared towards adults, and evidently, exactly the type of show Rovner and the network are eager to promote.
Peacock, with Rovner at the helm, wants to focus not only on content for adults, but specifically dramatic series. This is especially the case as Peacock tries to continue the momentum that it had in 2022. Over the course of the last calendar year, the NBCU streaming service saw its paid subscriber totals rise from 9 million to 20 million.
“Dramas are very bingeable and that tends to help a service initially more and grow the scale that you need to have,” Rovner said.
This does not mean there are no laughs to be had on the platform. After all, you can binge every episode of “The Office,” but having a beloved comedy that ended its network run nearly a decade ago as a cornerstone for a streaming service is much different than trying to launch a service with original comedies or reboots of comedies from previous decades. When Peacock launched, it attempted to capitalize on familiar comedy titles from NBC’s past, but Rovner believes the first two years of Peacock proves that was a mistake.
“The people before me were leaning more into comedy, and I can’t really speak as to why,” she said. “Ultimately, it wasn’t the right thing to lean into initially.”
While the initial runs of “Punky Brewster” and “Saved by the Bell” were kid and family-focused, the reboots that helped launch Peacock were aimed a little more mature than the originals. However, the new series were still very much in the comedy vein, and despite critical acclaim — especially for “Saved by the Bell” — neither was ever able to catch on. Rovner is hoping that as the service continues to build to scale on the backs of next-day streaming of NBCU shows, Universal movies, and original dramas like “Poker Face” and unscripted shows like “Traitors” that more comedies and YA titles will eventually thrive on Peacock.
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.