The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will formally begin on July 26, with over 7,000 hours of content being available on both NBC and Peacock.
NBCUniversal has stated that over 5,000 hours of Olympic content will be available on Peacock, its streaming service, as it was found that younger viewers were more privy to stream the games compared to watching the Olympics via traditional means. Because of that shift in viewership, the company has leaned into Peacock becoming the leader in coverage , which in turn led to an increase in subscription prices.
In late April, it was announced that the streaming service would be increasing the price of its Premium and Premium Plus plans by $2 for new subscribers. The change was set to take effect on July 18 though existing customers will see the price hike after the Olympics have concluded, on August 17 or whenever their original billing date was.
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The Premium plan will be $7.99 ($79.99 annually) for new subscribers while the Premium Plus plan, which is ad-free and allows users to download content and watch live NBC channels, will cost $13.99, which is about $140 a year. This change can help the company as it attempts to recoup some of the losses it incurred in its first handful of years as a streaming service.
Peacock reportedly lost almost $640 million in the first quarter of 2024, according to IndieWire , with the company not announcing a profitability timeline. Although the streaming service has 34 million subscribers, which is up from the reported 31 million at the end of 2023, it still has not seen the growth that was expected.
Over the last three months of 2023, NBCUniversal announced it had lost more than $800 million. In the first quarter of last year, Peacock had lost $704 million, showing just how much the streaming service is costing the company.
Considering how much money Peacock is losing, despite the general improvement in that category in recent months, NBCUniversal is focusing more on Peacock to lead the way for the Olympics in Paris. Peacock is set to host more than 71 percent of all Olympics content this year, with a particular focus set on younger audiences.
It was reported during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which took place in 2021 because of the Coronavirus Pandemic, that the average age of a Peacock viewer was 36 years old. By comparison, those who watched the games on NBC and other traditional means were in their low-to-mid 50s, per Forbes .
The 2020 Olympics also averaged 15.1 million TV-only viewers during primetime hours. That is 41 percent lower than the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, making the 2020 edition of the games the least-watched iteration since data became available.
With how the Olympics are shaping up to be a massive player for NBCUniversal and Peacock, it stands to reason why the corporation would elect to focus on the streaming service. The price hike certainly could help the brand continue to make inroads with its deficit as well as bring in new subscribers wanting to watch the Olympics.
Peacock has 34 million subscribers currently, which is a three percent increase from the previous quarter and a 55 percent increase from the year before, per Forbes . It still lags behind other streaming services, however.
NBCUniversal also has brought in Snoop Dogg to entice more viewers to watch the content. The legendary rapper was a personality, along with comedian Kevin Hart, during the 2020 Olympics and their presence was well-received.
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