Peacock currently isn’t available in a standalone streaming bundle. But if NBCUniversal ever moves its business in that direction, its executives are highly confident they would be a leading part of any bundle they join.
In an interview on The Verge’s Decoder podcast released this week, NBC direct to consumer chair Matt Strauss claimed Peacock has “more live sports than any other streaming service,” which he believes will allow the platform to be the heavyweights in any bundle.
“We’re fortunate to be part of a much broader diversified company at Comcast … and that’s allowed us to not do things like chase low value subs or do wholesale bundling deals without the right economic relationships,” Strauss said. “And I think it’s positioned us in a really, really good way going forward because we don’t feel like we have to do things artificially just to grow our sub base. We want to grow subs at the right [revenue per subscriber], at the right level of engagement, and build a subscriber base in the right way.”
So far, Peacock is only available in bundles through cable providers including Comcast, which is also owned by parent NBCUniversal.
Going forward, Strauss confirmed that the streamer is open to exploring partnerships with other platforms. Given his belief that sports is core to any bundle, Strauss is optimistic that Peacock will be an attractive partner.
“As the market moves more and more toward bundling, I do see that becoming an increasingly larger portion of our subscriber base,” Strauss told host Nilay Patel. “And again, taking the history lesson from what we know about bundling, the one thing that arguably has always held the bundle together has been sports.”
Peacock broadcasts the Olympics, Big 10 sports, the NFL, Premier League soccer, golf and tennis. They will begin a new package with the NBA and WNBA starting in 2025 and 2026.
In recent years, Peacock has scored exclusive NFL and Olympics content that executives have said boosted subscription numbers and allowed the service to retain new customers.
Still, Strauss may be slightly over his skis saying Peacock rules with sports content. That tonnage title probably belongs to ESPN+, although that service’s content includes a ton of small college sports that may not hold value to potential partners or individual subscribers. Peacock has a reasonable claim that its sports catalog would be the primary driver of demand compared to any of its potential bundle partners.
While ESPN recently partnered with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery on a Venu Sports streaming collaboration (which is held up in court and may never launch), an NBC Sports executive called that venture “fool’s gold.”
As Strauss noted in his interview with Patel, Peacock can afford to be patient with everything from price hikes to bundling because it belongs to a diversified parent company.
That patience may be up though, as Strauss not only proclaims Peacock’s forthcoming entry into the bundling marketplace but also its intentions to be the top dog in those potential bundles.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.