Just as you should never get too close to peacocks in nature (because sometimes they bite), occasionally the streaming service Peacock from NBCUniversal can hurt you as well — like when they decide to raise prices for the second time in the past two years.
It was announced on Monday that beginning on July 18 (for new subscribers) and on or after August 17 (for monthly billed existing subscribers), the price for Peacock's base streaming plan, known as Peacock Premium (which includes ads) will increase by $2 to $7.99 per month. Peacock Premium Plus, meanwhile (which is mostly ad-free), is also going up by $2 — to $13.99 per month.
And if you're one of those just-rip-the-band-aid-off types who likes to pay for a full year of streaming in advance, Peacock Premium’s annual price will be increasing from $59.99 to $79.99, while Premium Plus is going from $119.99 to $139.99 per year.
Why the change in mid-July for new subscribers, you ask? Well that happens to coincide quite nicely with the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, broadcast by NBCUniversal, which has promised to deliver its largest array of streaming content with this Olympics than ever before — 5,000 hours of coverage.
Variety details some of that streaming programming, such as features like Peacock Live Actions and Peacock Discovery Multiview, in addition to shows like the “Gold Zone” and “Watch With Alex Cooper.”
NBCUniversal seems to be banking on the success Peacock had with live sports coverage during the most recent NFL season. When Peacock obtained the exclusive rights to broadcast the wild-card playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs earlier this year, it resulted in a slew of new subscribers who then kept their Peacock subscriptions even after the game.
As Variety reports Comcast president Michael Cavanagh stating on an earnings call last week, that game alone — broadcast live on January 13 — led to Peacock adding and then retaining “even more new Peacock subscribers than we expected.”
That strategy has to be in play again here, with the streamer hoping a major live sporting event like the Olympics — which runs from July 26 through August 11, 2024 — will again lead to new subscriptions that prove long-term once viewers see the service's array of offerings.
Besides owning the licensing to rights to many popular NBC shows — like The Office — and blockbuster Universal feature films — like The Fall Guy, Despicable Me 4 and Twisters — Peacock has been steadily building out its library of original programming, with recent series like Apples Never Fall, Poker Face, Bel-Air, Based on a True Story, The Best Man: The Final Chapters and Twisted Metal.
Peacock also has more original upcoming films and TV shows in the works like Those About to Die, Fight Night, Hysteria and Day of the Jackal.
And after you've binge-watched all of those, more live sporting events will be available this fall, when the 2024 NFL season kicks off exclusively on Peacock from São Paulo, Brazil for the September 6 opening night game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers.
Peacock will also claim streaming rights to Premier League soccer, WWE events, Big Ten football and basketball, golf, rugby, cycling, and motorsports.
In short, Peacock is putting up a pretty good poker face in its gamble to raise prices again yet still retain and add viewers to its streaming platform, which is fitting since they also hope you'll go watch Poker Face.