NBC has long been known as the Must See TV network, a slogan first created in 1993. Now, 30 years later, the network is struggling with a lack of Must See TV for its streaming service Peacock, as subscribers to Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+ and more, via Peacock.
According to the latest figures, Peacock only has 20 million paying customers with a total of 30 million active users including its free accounts. This compares to 55.9 million Paramount+ subscribers, 161.8 million Disney+ subscribers, and 39.4 million Hulu subscribers.
Many of Peacock’s competitors have big name shows or brands pushing subscriptions. Paramount+ has Star Trek, Disney+ has Mickey Mouse, Marvel and more, and Hulu has great original content, but Peacock is still missing must-see shows that would drive subscriptions.
To address this, NBC moved some shows from NBC to Peacock, including the long-running show Days of Our Lives.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, some of Peacock’s best original programs are probably shows you’ve never heard of if you don’t subscribe to the service, including We Are Lady Parts, The Amber Ruffin Show, and more.
NBCUniversal’s announcement of Peacock included several big shows yet to be released, including a new Battlestar Galactica series. Unfortunately, years later, we still don’t have a Battlestar Galactica show and no word on when it might come out.
So instead of having to watch the original, NBC is hoping the sport can save its struggling Peacock service. Recently, NBC moved some sports to Peacock and struck a deal with the Big Ten to bring some of their games to Peacock. The question now is, will sports fans stay or just subscribe to watch that one game?
NBC still owns about 1/3 of Hulu, but Disney is expected to exercise its option to purchase NBC’s Hulu stake as early as 2024. Recently, NBCUniversal pulled much of its content from Hulu to get subscribers to switch to Peacock, but unfortunately that didn’t happen as Peacock only added 2 million subscribers in Q3 2022.
This puts NBCUniversal in a difficult position as its competitors are growing rapidly and the market is becoming more crowded. The lack of compulsory television has Peacock skipping the service cable cutters.
Comcast recently announced plans to end Peacock’s free plans for select Comcast Xfinity customers. The hope is that these customers will start paying, but many are skeptical about the plan.
For now, Peacock will likely continue to lag behind as her new Big Ten deal won’t start until fall 2023. Unless you can find a hit, must-watch TV show that gets people talking, there’s little reason to make the switch to Peacock right now.
