Paris Olympics are the most recent test to see if sports will draw in new subscribers to the NBC Peacock

NBCUniversal is betting that the Paris Olympics will drive viewership across all its TV platforms, and increase the number of subscribers into its service for streaming, Peacock.

By Lillian Rizzo

 

The Paris Olympics will offer Comcast an opportunity to boost the platform it uses for streaming, Peacock, as it intends to not just attract new subscribers, but also keep them.

While the current Olympics will be the fourth time since Peacock first began at the 2020 Olympics, this is also becoming the first chance for Comcast’s NBCUniversal CNBC’s parent company using the long-term U.S. media rights to enhance the streaming service.

“In some ways, Comcast is starting with a clean slate, in that this will be the first Olympics for Peacock since the games were blown up by the pandemic and distorted time zones,” said analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson. “But they’ve also had the opportunity to learn quite a bit, so they will be much better prepared for capitalizing on the Olympics than before.”

There are many reasons why this Olympics will be more attractive for Peacock over the previous Games like that the time zones are favorablethat is, Paris is 6 minutes ahead of East Coast in the U.S. This compares to thirteen hours in Tokyo for 2021. The lifting of restrictions that were in place during the beginning of the Covid pandemic is a major factor, as is the enticement of the city that will host the event, Paris.

And, perhaps most important, Peacock will air the entire Summer Olympics for the first time ever.

“It was different times, since Peacock didn’t have the rights to show all of the Olympics back in 2021,” stated Molly Solomon, NBC’s executive producer for the Olympics. “But we’re in a different era of streaming with rights deals. Peacock is now the streaming home of the Olympics, and there’s no limits if you’re a super fan or casual fan, since it will all be available on Peacock.”

A few fans were unsure in the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo about the live streaming available via the live streaming site.

“I don’t know that there is a great comparison to be made,” said Kelly Campbell, president of Peacock. “This will be the most comprehensive Olympic destination in U.S. history.”

The Olympics are a crucial time for Peacock as traditional media companies are pushing its streaming platforms to stay in the hands of customers and make money amid a turbulent industry. Live sports, specifically are the ones that have attracted the highest people to traditional TV and streaming.

Olympics TV gold

The Olympics have always been a major element of the sports portfolio at NBCUniversal. The relationship goes back to 1936 the year that NBC Radio covered the events. NBC first aired the events at the time of 1964’s Summer Olympics.

Paris is the 18th NBC Olympic Games. Comcast has paid $7.65 billion to extend the media rights agreement until 2032..

In 2020, the Tokyo Olympics that were scheduled in 2021 because of the Covid pandemic, had the lowest audience ever during at the Summer Games. It was reported that the Beijing Olympics that took place in 2022 saw the lowest number of viewers ever recorded for in the Winter Games, which are significantly lower than those of the Summer Olympics.

In addition to the favorable time change and the stunning backdrop in France this year, for example the ceremony opening will broadcast on Friday afternoon from the Seine River, the equestrian teams will play in the Palace of Versailles while beach volleyball is scheduled to take place close to the Eiffel tower for instance. NBCUniversal and other betting on a resurgence of viewers in the Olympics.

The majority of U.S people are planning to stream this year’s Olympics this year with 60% of them planning streaming this year’s Games as well as 47% preparing to watch them on traditional TV in Numerator’s latest study of over a thousand people.

In addition, advertisers are attracted by this year’s Paris Games. NBCUniversal stated in April that it had made more than $1.2 billion of advertising in this year’s Summer Games, a record for the Olympics.

Ad-supported streaming platforms, like Peacock and other digital businesses have experienced an increase in ad money in the last few months as market rebounded.

While the competitions will be broadcast live throughout the daytime across America, U.S., NBC has declared the event “Primetime in Paris” and will broadcast major events with in-depth programs like interviews.

In the end it will be more hours of Olympics on the broadcast network NBC than previous years, and the cable networks, including USA will also be offering lots of live-streamed content. Each event will be broadcast live on Peacock and will be available for replay, which means that fans will be able to enjoy the entire Games without having a traditional cable television subscription.

Furthermore to that, it is likely that the U.S. audience is likely to watch events like women’s and men’s basketball with both featuring star-studded teams; Simone Biles’ final season as a gymnastics player, in addition to the U.S. swim team’s heated rivalry with Australia.

“I’m sure basketball will tell its own story in terms of ratings and everyone watching, but [the] no-guaranteed-big-victory part of this is something that will keep everyone watching when Team USA plays in men’s basketball,” NBC prime-time and daytime Olympic host Mike Tirico said during a press call this week, referencing the fact that the U.S. men’s basketball team faces a tougher path than ever to a gold medal.

Peacock’s sports book

Live sports is the only opportunity to reach large television viewers and also the streaming service to join and maintain customers.

This has been particularly relevant for Peacock.

The streaming platform that costs $7.99 with advertisements or $13.99 commercial-free profited from its parent’s collection of rights to sports. Its rights to the National Football League, English Premier League, Nascar, Big Ten college football, golf, and television broadcasts in Spanish for the World Cup have all played part to keep customers.

This year, Comcast said that the special NFL Wild Card game on Peacock contributed to the growth of customers than they had anticipated.

“We sort of used the Wild Card game as a hook to bring in millions of new subscribers but then also used that opportunity to expose them to new content,” Campbell said. Campbell. After a huge number of viewers are gathered for the biggest sporting event of the year she added, 90 percent of what they watch following that event is entertainment.

In the course of three days during which more than an estimate of 3 million people signed up for the Peacock’s NFL Wild Card game, according to the TV data provider Antenna. Comcast has said that it kept more customers than it expected after during the match, but the data from Antenna indicated that 71% of the customers remained subscribers for seven weeks following the game.

However, the life span of those customers ‘ lives remains to be judged. Peacock had 33 million paying customers on June 30 the day it disclosed earlier in the week. The number of customers was lower than around 500,000 customers from the quarter that ended on March 31.

The previous Olympic Games that aired on Peacock was also a cause for an increase in sign-ups in accordance with Antenna data.

NBCUniversal has also increased its sports betting by announcing the week before an eleven-year deal for media rights with the NBA and will include exclusive sports for Peacock that will begin in 2025-2026.

“None of this promises that Peacock is actually going to be a successful business,” Moffett added. “It doesn’t change the fact that streaming is almost certainly a worse business than linear TV used to be.”

“But I think it’s now much clearer than it was before that Peacock’s plan is all around sports,” the man stated.

In addition to the thousands in live shows Peacock will also provide replays as well as exclusive content. It will also offer a “watch-along” show hosted by Alex Cooper, who hosts the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” and “Gold Zone,” hosted by Scott Hanson of “NFL Red Zone” and with a similar format.

“I wanted to try a ‘Watch With’ companion program, where a popular personality would be watching along with the audience,” Solomon said. Solomon. The hope is that the viewers of Cooper who was a former collegiate soccer player and a popular TV personality, will be tuning into the program along with Olympics fans. “We have chosen some of the biggest events in the Olympics, and hope to create new fans.”

Peacock is also planning to also introduce Artificial Intelligence component to the Olympics. The users will be able to receive daily updates in the voices of Al Michaels, the longtime Sunday Night Football host who is now a part the Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast.

Disclaimer: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder for the entire Summer as well as Winter Games through 2032.