NBCU’s Peacock Shows Us Our Sports Streaming Future

The Paris Olympics ended last Sunday, but I’d bet NBCUniversal execs are still celebrating. 

NBC had a blowout Olympics. Across 17 days of events, the network averaged 30.6 million viewers across all platforms, an eye-popping 82% spike compared to the 2021 Tokyo Games. Sure, there’s an obvious asterisk: Tokyo was the COVID-19 Olympics. No fans were present, and, much like NBA games during the 2020 bubble (remember the cardboard cutouts?), that made for less exciting viewing. The timing of premier events also made it tough for U.S. viewers to catch events live. Paris was completely different: the lights, the energy, the storylines. Snoop Dogg. Mike Tirico. Biles. Lyles. Of course it blew away Tokyo viewership.

But still. An 82% bump! 

And then you drill down to Peacock. NBCUniversal says 4.1 million viewers per day streamed the action on NBCU’s apps (that includes Peacock and the NBC Sports app, but the lion’s share was Peacock) for a total of 23.5 billion minutes streamed, up 40% from all prior Summer and Winter Olympics combined.

During the Paris Olympics, you could catch every single event on Peacock without ever needing to turn on NBC. Is this what the future looks like for sports fans? But how many apps will everyone need?

The 4.1 million viewers per day during this Olympics would be a Peacock record if not for the two exclusive NFL games that Peacock has aired, most notably the Chief-Dolphins wild-card game in January, which brought in 23 million viewers on Peacock, the most-watched live-streamed event in U.S. history at the time. (It’s worth noting those numbers incorporate linear ratings from local markets.)

Now the NFL season is upon us, and Peacock again has one exclusive game. (Streamed and cable-televised NFL games are still shown over the air in local markets.) It’s not a playoff game; it’s a Week 1 matchup in São Paulo, Brazil, between the Packers and Eagles. Still: It’s on a Friday, it’s the NFL’s first game in South America, and it should rate better than Peacock’s first-ever exclusive NFL game in December 2023 between the Bills and Chargers, which brought 7.2 million viewers to the app.

Before the Olympics, NBCU parent Comcast shared that it lost one million Peacock subscribers in Q1. But after Peacock’s exclusive wild-card game in January, it saw a nearly 10% bump in subs.

Easy prediction: The next time NBCU shares Peacock sub numbers, it’ll be a new record, driven by the momentum of the Olympics and another exclusive NFL game. And then starting in 2025, Peacock will get 50 regular-season NBA games, which should be another big driver of subs. (As much of a driver as the NFL? Hmmmm.) Peacock has rights to lots of other sports too, including Big Ten football games, Premier League soccer, and NASCAR races. But NFL and NBA rights will define its future staying power.

The Competition

Peacock isn’t alone in this land grab.

As everyone knows by now, Amazon has become the loudest voice in the room among sports streamers after it beat out TNT for the “C” package in the NBA’s new 11-year, $77 billion set of broadcast rights. (TNT parent WBD is suing.) As part of its package, Amazon will have exclusive rights to the WNBA Finals in 2028, 2032, and 2036. This will be the first time any major pro league’s finals series has been exclusive to a streamer—you won’t be able to watch them anywhere else. Expect a “Caitlin Clark effect” subscription spike.  

There are many others in the crowded room of live sports streamers. ESPN+ had 24.8 million subs as of May, which was its lowest total since 2022, but it’s making more from each of those subs than before: Disney this month reported $66 million in profit from ESPN+ in its latest earnings. 

Separately, Disney entered a controversial union with Fox and WBD to roll out Venu, a pay TV app that the triumvirate wanted to launch this month at a $42.99 monthly rate. Each of the three giants invested $400 million in Venu already. But FuboTV, which also shows live sports TV channels, sued to stop Venu from launching—and a judge granted that injunction Friday. Disney, Fox and WBD quickly issued a joint statement saying the decision would be appealed. 

Oh, and Netflix is coming. For the first time, this season Netflix will have two NFL games, both on Christmas Day, and one more holiday game each year in 2025 and 2026. Given Netflix’s audience fire-hose, those games are sure to set a new streaming viewership record, because, say it with me: The NFL is still the biggest joint in TV town. And it isn’t close.