close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • NFL’s Peacock exclusive adds to league’s streaming race
    news

    NFL’s Peacock exclusive adds to league’s streaming race

    Vaseline Posted on

    play

    The power of the peacock logo extends from Paris to São Paulo.

    NBCUniversal’s grip on the American sports audience will be tightened during the first weekend of the 2024 NFL regular season with three games in four nights on its channels, including its streaming arm Peacock.

    “They use sports as a big part of their identity for Peacock,” media analyst John Kosner told USA TODAY Sports.

    Following the season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens on NBC, the Brazilian matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles airs exclusively on Peacock. The weekend ends with the Los Angeles Rams taking on the Detroit Lions on NBC for “Sunday Night Football.”

    “So I think they can keep the momentum going,” Kosner said, “and it’s probably part of the plan for the NFL.”

    According to fellow streaming analyst Dan Rayburn, it’s unclear what the return on investment will be for Peacock and other streamers. He argues that the NFL’s motives are detrimental to the average fan who wants to enjoy games in a relaxed manner.

    “The NFL is more fragmented than anyone from a sports league standpoint, and the reason for that is obviously money,” Rayburn told USA TODAY Sports. “That’s all.”

    Peacock reportedly paid $110 million for last season’s wild-card playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. This year, that exclusive postseason streaming slot was awarded to Prime Video for $120 million. Netflix reportedly paid $150 million for a pair of games on Christmas Day, which fall on a Wednesday this year.

    “The NFL is the most popular content on television in our country, so it’s clearly worth the investment,” Kosner said.

    The NFL accounted for 93 of the top 100 broadcasts in the United States in terms of ratings last year, according to Nielsen. Of the major streaming companies in the U.S., only Apple currently does not have NFL rights; Netflix and Amazon have been acquired, while Disney, Paramount and NBCUniversal have streaming services as part of their conglomerates.

    A hot topic of conversation for the NFL in the streaming shift is that the medium is appealing to a younger audience. Other than Amazon and Nielsen for “Thursday Night Football,” companies rarely release statistics on demographics.

    “Fifteen-year-olds don’t have any money,” Rayburn said.

    Another argument the league makes for streaming-only games is that the matchups are available in the local market on traditional network TV. That strategy ignores the fan who grew up rooting for one team and has moved to another market, but doesn’t want to pay to watch his or her team.

    “The NFL doesn’t care about fans. The NFL wants to make as much money as possible,” Rayburn said. “And hey, there’s nothing wrong with that because you’re a sports league and your job is to get paid for your content. But at some point you have to realize that fans are only willing to jump through so many hoops to get what they want from a sports standpoint.”

    Beware of the churn?

    During the Olympics, every event was streamed live on Peacock. NBC created “Gold Zone,” a variation on the NFL’s famous “RedZone” lineup, for simultaneous events and even hired Scott Hanson to host the show.

    Peacock reported a loss of 500,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2024, and any gains during the Olympics. Matt Strauss, NBCU’s president of direct-to-consumer, who oversees Peacock, told Rayburn that the company doesn’t view its streamer as a quarter-to-quarter business.

    “This is a long-term strategy where Peacock is part of a larger video strategy for them,” Rayburn said.

    “If they lose half of them next quarter, who cares?” he added.

    Churn is a concern, though, which is why entities like Peacock crave year-round content, Kosner said. That’s why NBCU invested in the latest NBA media rights deal. People need reasons to keep their subscriptions. Sports interests tend to be long-lasting.

    While companies like Antenna claim to meticulously track streaming service signups and other consumer data, Rayburn says there’s no evidence of long-term success. Antenna claimed that Peacock had racked up 3 million signups leading up to and including the day of the wild-card game — more than the first week of the Olympics, according to IndieWire.

    Companies rarely publish streaming metrics other than how they contribute to the total. Mobile viewership is rarely disclosed. Average watch time is never included in press releases about viewership, and no distinction is made between unique viewers. Technical issues are also brushed aside.

    “We have absolutely no business metrics to measure what the impact is on these streaming services from licensing NFL content,” Rayburn said. “We understand the impact on the NFL. They’re making a ton of money.”

    Executives say things like they’re “very pleased” or that viewership “exceeded expectations,” Rayburn said. Kosner noted that Peacock staffers have been praising the company’s subscriber count and viewership of last year’s playoff game. More streaming advertising is coming in the near future, Kosner added.

    For Rayburn, that’s not good enough.

    “Give me numbers,” he said.

    Reminders for reviews

    Thanks to Taylor Swift mania, an average of 23 million people watched the playoff game between the Chiefs and the Dolphins, making it the most live-streamed event in U.S. history.

    Don’t expect record performances this time.

    First, this is Week 1 and not the postseason. Kosner said the Packers and Eagles are both top 10 ratings earners for the league, but he wouldn’t speculate on potential viewership given the number of outside factors that could impact the ability to watch this matchup.

    The Friday after Labor Day still qualifies as a “summer Friday.” In many parts of the country, there’s high school football. And much of Europe will be asleep with kickoff at 8:15 p.m. ET.

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like