The price of Peacock is rising.
Subscription prices for Peacock, Comcastthe answer to the streaming wars, will increase by $2 this summer. The price adjustment is a way for Comcast’s NBCUniversal to capitalize on the Paris Summer Olympics, which will be broadcast on NBC’s television networks and streaming platform.
Peacock’s ad-supported option will increase by $2 to $7.99 per month, and its ad-free offering will increase by the same amount to $13.99 per month. The annual price of Peacock with ads will be $79.99, while the ad-free version will cost $139.99 per year.
The price will increase for new subscribers from July 18, while existing customers will benefit from the new price from August 17. The Summer Olympics begin at the end of July.
Media companies looked for ways to make streaming profitable, as most still do. lose money in this business. Advertising played a key role in this strategy, as did price increases.
This price increase is Peacock’s second in the past year. Starting last August, the ad-supported price of Peacock increased by $1 to $5.99, and the ad-free one increased by $2 to $11.99 per month.
While parent company Comcast touted Peacock as a bright spot during its recent earnings call, losses resulting from the streamer have weighed on profits. Losses would have peaked in 2023, and executives expect them to decline in coming quarters. Peacock now has 34 million subscribers.
Peacock offers a range of live sports content, from the NFL to the Premier League, and often sees a surge in subscribers during marquee events.
The streaming service launched in 2020, in time for the Tokyo Summer Olympics – which were pushed back to 2021 due to the pandemic.
Executives said Thursday that Peacock’s exclusive NFL Wild Card game during the first quarter helped add, and then retain, more customers than expected.
The streamer has also benefited recently from being the first exclusive home of Universal Pictures’ Oscar darling and box office hit “Oppenheimer.”
Peacock’s revenue increased 54% to $1.1 billion in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. This is partly due to increasing advertising revenues, which have recently lagged behind traditional television networks.
Executives said last week that the Summer Olympics are expected to generate record advertising revenue as more events will be shown on the NBC broadcast network, in addition to being shown only on Peacock.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
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