Home Entertainment

Whip Media Sees NBCUniversal’s Peacock Taking Flight (MESA)

With NBCUniversal’s new service Peacock seeing a soft launch for Comcast Xfinity X1 and Flex subscribers Wednesday, Whip Media Group set out to see if this latest entry in the streaming wars will really take off or crash on liftoff.

It’s definitely looking like the former.

High brand awareness, 15,000-plus hours of content available at launch, and a low monthly subscription fee should all combine to see Peacock make an impact in the crowded streaming market, according to Whip’s data which used feedback from more than 4,000 respondents.

More than a third (35%) of respondents were aware of Peacock, and of those, 26% said they were likely or very likely to subscribe. However, among those who said they were unaware of Peacock, only 1% expressed a likelihood to subscribe. “This underscores the fact that with the right marketing, there is room to capture interested subscribers,” the report reads.

More than half (51%) of respondents said they were most interested in accessing and viewing shows currently airing, a leg up for Peacock compared to other streaming services. “This could be attributed to the prevalence of cord-cutting, whereby many consumers have dropped traditional cable/telco/DTH services and don’t have access to live broadcast content,” the report read. NBCU movies (48%), NBCU’s library (45%), and shows from NBCU’s cable networks (44%) were also high on the list, while Peacock Originals appealed to about a third of respondents (34%).

In perhaps a sign of the times, Just under a third (29%) of respondents expressed interest in watching live sports and events on the platform. “Peacock will be proceeding with its scheduled summer launch despite the postponement of the Olympics,” the report read.

And the bevy of subscription options also stood out: Peacock Free will come with limited programming, no fee and is fully ad supported, while Peacock Ad-Supported will come with full programming that is free to existing Comcast customers, and $5 a month for others. Peacock Premium will come with full programming and no ads for $10 a month.

“One of the most innovative aspects of Peacock, which sets it apart from its competitors, is the
choice it is giving to consumers regarding how they subscribe,” the report read. “Consumers will be able to select from an SVOD model, an AVOD model, or even a hybrid of sorts.”

Consumers were more inclined to say they would select the lower priced tiers, either Peacock Free (45%) or Peacock Ad-Supported (26%), vs. the pricier Peacock Premium (30%). “With the increased costs of subscribing to multiple streaming services, it seems that many viewers could be more accepting of AVOD as a good solution to accessing more content at a lower price point,” the report concluded. “Peacock is well-positioned, in this regard, to offer unique options for consumers to pick a cost vs. ad tradeoff that is right for their wallets.”