Saturday’s Wild Card matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins is being broadcast exclusively on NBC’s streaming service Peacock, which has certainly gotten its fair share of pushback from notable personalities around the sports world.
NFL EVP of Media Distribution Hans Schroeder stated in a recent NBC Conference call that the league still remains “committed” to traditional cable broadcasting. However, the decision to put a postseason game exclusively on a streaming service and alienate traditional broadcast viewers certainly tells a whole other story.
It sure seems like NFL fans are not fully on board with the league’s commitment to using streaming services instead of traditional broadcasts. Viewership numbers for Peacock’s last exclusive broadcast were predictably lower than traditional broadcast numbers on the same day.
As you would expect, Peacock is trending on Twitter/X on Saturday night, with many NFL fans complaining yet again about the exclusive broadcast of the Chiefs-Dolphins matchup.
I get it, no one understands expanding the business of the NFL more than I do.
But it is still surprising the NFL is programming a streaming-only playoff game.
Goodell has always boasted how the NFL is on free television.
Yes, things change, but feels like a moment of change.— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) January 14, 2024
Not only is the NFL's greedy Peacock adventure a disgrace. But the quality of the telecast is equally disgraceful. Fix the technology.
— Mike Francesa (@MikeFrancesa) January 14, 2024
I’d like to officially announce that I will not be purchasing a Peacock account to watch tonight’s game
I’m standing on business
— Will Compton (@_willcompton) January 13, 2024
As far as the actual broadcast quality from Peacock for the matchup, there were some issues with accessing the broadcast that fans complained about.
Anyone else wanna burn peacock to the ground ?
Buffering all first quarter #Dolphins #MIAvsKC pic.twitter.com/j7Fo4erLKm
— AutoMcNatic (@RJMtweets11) January 14, 2024
Stuck on this screen @peacock!!!! pic.twitter.com/2z85iUwYqj
— The GOAT House (@GoatHouseNFL) January 14, 2024
Love having football on streaming only pic.twitter.com/P2Ab7tiykK
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) January 14, 2024
The NFL pushing streaming services on viewers is not exactly a new thing, particularly with Amazon buying the rights to become the home of Thursday Night Football two seasons ago.
Fans have at least somewhat adjusted to TNF broadcasts on Amazon Prime. This obviously begs the question, will this eventually be the case with Peacock?
That will likely depend on a few factors. Can NBC improve the overall quality of their Peacock broadcasts? Will they come up with more features on their broadcast that make it stand apart from traditional broadcasts?
Peacock did indeed offer fans a commercial-free fourth quarter with their broadcast. But even that hasn’t been well received by most viewers.
All of the questions above will likely be answered in time as the NFL pushes further toward the future of broadcasting games on streaming services.
But it is clear that Peacock’s early results are not favorable.
[Photo Credit: Peacock]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.