On April 21, 2024, the Paris 2024 logo representing the Olympic Games was displayed near the Eiffel Tower in Paris to welcome the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Chesnot | Getty Images
The Paris Olympics will provide Comcast This is another opportunity to boost its streaming platform Peacock as it aims to not only attract more subscribers but also retain them.
While the Olympics are Peacock’s third since debuting in 2020, they also become the first real one for CNBC parent Comcast’s NBCUniversal to use its long-standing U.S. media rights to push the streaming service. Chance.
“In some ways, Comcast is starting from scratch, as this will be Peacock’s first Olympics since they were canceled due to the pandemic and time zone distortions,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. “But they also have a chance. There is a lot to learn so they will be better prepared than before to take advantage of the Olympics. “
To Peacock, this Olympics looks better than previous ones for several reasons, such as favorable time zones – Paris is six hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast and Tokyo 2021 is 13 hours ahead of Tokyo 2021. The early days of the pandemic and the attractiveness of host city Paris were also a big factor.
But most importantly, Peacock will broadcast the entire Summer Olympics for the first time.
“Times have changed because Peacock does not have the rights to broadcast all the games in the 2021 Olympics,” NBC Olympics executive producer Molly Solomon said. “But we are in a different era of streaming rights. Peacock is now the streaming home of the Olympics. , whether you’re a super fan or just a casual fan, there are no limits because it’s all available on Peacock.”
During the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, some fans are confused about exactly what can be broadcast live on streaming platforms.
“I don’t know if a good comparison can be made,” said Peacock President Kelly Campbell. “This will be the most comprehensive Olympic destination in U.S. history.”
The Olympics come at an important time for Peacock, as traditional media companies push their streaming services to retain customers and turn a profit in a volatile industry environment. Live sports, in particular, attract the largest audiences from traditional TV and streaming media.
Olympic TV gold medal
Simone Biles of the United States performs on the balance beam during the final round of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the Ariake Gymnastics Center in Tokyo, Japan, August 3, 2021.
Lindsay Watson | Reuters
The Olympics have long been an important part of NBCUniversal’s sports calendar. The relationship dates back to 1936, when NBC radio reported on the events. NBC first televised the games during the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Paris is the 18th Olympic Games hosted by NBC. Comcast pays $7.65 billion to renew contract Media rights agreement until 2032.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, attracted the smallest crowd ever for a Summer Olympics. Ratings for the 2022 Beijing Olympics were the lowest since the Winter Olympics, with ratings significantly lower than the Summer Olympics.
With the favorable time difference and the context of France this year – for example, the opening ceremony will be broadcast on Friday afternoon from the banks of the Seine, the equestrian team will Palace of Versaillesbeach volleyball will be held next to the Eiffel Tower – NBCUniversal and others are betting the Olympics will return to high ratings.
A recent survey of more than 10,000 consumers by Numerator shows that the majority of U.S. consumers expect to watch the Olympics this year, with 60% likely to watch the Olympics through live broadcast and 47% planning to watch the Olympics through traditional TV .
In addition, advertisers are also flocking to the Paris Olympics. NBCUniversal said in April that its Summer Olympics ad sales exceeded $1.2 billion, setting an Olympic record.
As the market rebounds, ad-supported streaming and digital companies including Peacock are seeing an influx of ad revenue.
While the game will be broadcast live during the day in the U.S., NBC is dubbing the night “Paris Prime Time” and will feature reruns of the big event as well as in-depth programming such as interviews.
Overall, the NBC broadcast network’s Olympic time will be longer than in previous years, and cable TV networks including the United States will also provide a large amount of live content. Each event will be broadcast live on Peacock with replay available, so fans can watch the entire game without a traditional cable subscription.
In addition, U.S. viewers are likely to tune in to events like the men’s and women’s basketball events, which feature star-studded lineups; Simone Biles’ final showdown with the gymnastics team, and the U.S. swimming team’s intense rivalry with Australia.
“I believe basketball will tell its own story in terms of ratings and everyone watching, but when Team USA plays men’s basketball, there’s no guaranteed big win part of it that’s going to make everyone watch,” NBC Primetime and Daytime Olympics host Mike Tirico said during a press conference this week, noting that the U.S. men’s basketball team faces a tougher path to a gold medal than ever before.
Peacock’s Sports Manual
Grant Fisher and Abdihamid Nur compete in the men’s 5,000 meters during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials at Hayward Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, on June 30, 2024 finals.
Patrick Smith | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Live sports remain the last chance to attract large TV audiences and for streaming services to sign up and retain customers.
This is especially true for peacocks.
The streaming platform costs $7.99 with ads or $13.99 without ads, benefiting from its parent company’s sports rights portfolio. The NFL, Premier League, NASCAR, Big Ten college football, golf and Spanish-language broadcasts of the World Cup all play a role in retaining customers.
Earlier this year, Comcast Says Peacock’s exclusive NFL Wild Card game helped add more customers than expected.
“We kind of use the wild card game as a hook to attract millions of new subscribers, and then also use that opportunity to expose them to new content,” Campbell said. When a large group of viewers attends a major sporting event, they 90% of the content watched is entertainment.
In three days, estimated According to TV data provider Antenna, 3 million people signed up to watch Peacock’s NFL Wild Card game. Comcast has said the game retained more customers than expected, and Antenna’s data shows 71% of those customers were still subscribers seven weeks after the game ended.
However, the longevity of these customers remains to be seen. Peacock reported earlier this week that it had 33 million paying customers as of June 30. The total is down It had about 500,000 customers in the period ended March 31.
Previous Olympics aired on Peacock also led to an increase in registrations, according to Antenna.
NBCUniversal has also deepened its bets on sports, announcing this week an 11-year media rights deal with the NBA that includes exclusive games on Peacock starting in the 2025-2026 season.
“None of this guarantees that Peacock will actually become a successful business,” Moffitt said. “That doesn’t change the fact that streaming is almost certainly a worse business than linear TV ever was.”
“But I think it’s clearer now than before that Peacock’s plans are all about sport,” he said.
In addition to thousands of hours of live events, Peacock will offer replays and its own original content. These include watch shows hosted by Alex Cooper, who hosts the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” and “NFL Red Zone’s” Scott Hanson The “golden zone” has a similar form.
“I wanted to try a ‘Watch Together’ companion show, where a popular figure would watch with the audience,” Solomon said. Fans of Cooper, a former college football player, as well as Olympic fans are expected to tune in. “We’ve chosen some of the biggest events in the Olympics in the hope of attracting new fans.”
Peacocks too introduce Artificial intelligence capabilities of the Olympics. Users will be able to get daily recaps through the voice of Al Michaels, the long-time host of “Sunday Night Football” and now part of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast.
Revealed: CNBC parent company NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. rights holder for all summer and winter Olympics through 2032.
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