Secrets of Peacock’s Sudden Subscriber Boom

It's not what you think. And what Hulu has to do with it

(credit: Glowimages)

Is it too strong to call Peacock’s recent success a “miracle”? I mean, back in the summer, Peacock actually had flat subscriber growth quarter-over-quarter. You don’t need a strategy guy to tell you that flat growth, in an industry that’s supposed to be growing rapidly, is bad.

Then came a big bump in Q3. And another big bump in Q4. Suddenly, Peacock has doubled its paying subscribers since 2021!

Doubling the number of paid subscribers in the last year is great. On the back of this success, Peacock is confident enough it can cut its free tier to boost its paid subs even more.¹

How did Peacock engineer such a strange rebound?

The answer is content.

Again, you don’t need me to tell you “content is king”. When I evaluate streaming strategy, content is literally half the battle in my analysis (the other half being price, distribution, marketing and UX). Part of the reason I started writing a weekly streaming ratings report is because content matters so much.

But not all content is equal. Discussing Comcast’s recent earnings, I heard some folks attribute Peacock’s recent boom to its “Peacock Originals”, such as Poker Face or The Resort — buzzy shows that grab media attention and folks are tempted to give them the credit for streaming success.

I don’t buy it. The real key to Peacock’s success is more prosaic or even boring. Want to know the real secret behind Peacock’s great finish to 2022? Keep reading.

In this article you will learn:

• How Peacock’s growth coincides with a rise in churn at Hulu

• The content outside of originals that actually drove Peacock’s success

• How originals haven’t done well on Peacock

• The category of content consumers value the most

• What the World Cup and Yellowstone have to do with it