Ad-supported streaming service Peacock continues to grow, having recently reached 42 million subscribers, but the NBCUniversal platform has yet to become profitable. Parent company Comcast has not revealed how many of those subscribers are paying customers, as it bundles Peacock’s paid tier for Xfinity and Cox cable customers (potentially over 30 million possible households based on Interpret projections). That said, to bolster its revenue generation, Peacock needs to be on as many streaming devices as possible, and NBCUniversal reached another deal recently to bring the streaming service to Samsung smart TVs, right on time for the 2021 Summer Olympics.
In addition to Samsung TVs, Peacock is already available on LG and Vizio smart TVs, Roku devices, Apple TV, iOS and Android, Android TV, Chromecast, and game consoles such as Xbox One and PS4/PS5. Notably missing from this list is Amazon’s Fire TV line (Stick and Cube), which have more than 55 million users currently.
Adding Peacock to the Samsung smart TV app is certainly a win, but Fire TV remains a missed opportunity. According to Interpret’s VideoWatch™, while 30% of Samsung smart TV owners in the US subscribe to Peacock’s paid tier, a quarter of Fire TV Stick and almost 10% of Fire TV Cube owners also subscribe to Peacock, and yet they can’t use those devices to stream the service without utilizing unofficial ways to sideload the app. The sooner that NBCUniversal and Amazon can come to an agreement, the better it will be for these users to remove any friction in accessing Peacock. Once an agreement is reached, the subscriber numbers for Fire TV are likely to grow as well.
NBCUniversal is making a massive push for viewership around the Tokyo Games, including 7,000 hours of coverage across broadcast networks, cable networks, and multiple digital platforms including Peacock. Peacock’s launch last summer was originally planned to be timed with the Olympics, but the pandemic put a wrench in those plans. Peacock announced four Olympic-themed studio shows to boost coverage for the 2021 event.
