During the NFL Wild Card round, NBCUniversal OTT streaming platform Peacock served as the home of the first ever streaming-exclusive National Football League Wild Card game and finished with a record performance. The thrilling playoff matchup that registered as the coldest game in the history of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium resulted in a 26-7 win for the Kansas City Chiefs over the Miami Dolphins.
An average minute audience of 23 million viewers tuned in to witness the pivotal game amid the gelid conditions, rendering it the most-streamed matchup in NFL history. This figure includes Peacock and NFL+, along with local NBC stations in Miami and Kansas City that were presenting the game to local viewers. In addition to driving 30% of internet traffic on the day, Peacock garnered its largest single-day performance in audience usage, engagement and time spent with 16.3 million concurrent devices utilizing the service.
A new study by Antenna demonstrates that 3 million users engaged in paid sign-ups for Peacock in a three-day window surrounding the exclusive NFL Wild Card game broadcast. According to the most recent Comcast earnings release, subscribers for the service increased by almost 50% year-over-year to 31 million. Seven weeks after the game’s conclusion, Antenna measured 29% churn among users whose sign-ups it attributed to the Wild Card game. As a result, it presumes that 71% of this group of users remained subscribed to the service.
NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, paid $110 million to stream the game in a landmark agreement with the National Football League. Amazon is reportedly paying $120 million to serve as the exclusive home of an NFL playoff game next season, adding to its slate of Thursday Night Football contests throughout the regular season schedule.
NBC was the television broadcast home for Super Bowl LVI in February 2022, which resulted in a championship for the Los Angeles Rams over the Cincinnati Bengals. The game was also available to stream live on Peacock, and two months later, Antenna found that 62% of the related sign-ups remained subscribed to the service.
Following this broadcast, NBC Sports announced new Sunday Night Football broadcasters in play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and sideline reporter Melissa Stark joining longtime color commentator Cris Collinsworth. Rob Hyland was also named the new coordinating producer of the property, collaborating with director Drew Esocoff. During the 2023 regular season, Sunday Night Football averaged a total audience delivery of 21.4 million viewers and remained on pace to finish as the most-watched prime-time television program for the 13th consecutive year.
In a previous interview with Barrett Sports Media, NBC Sports President Rick Cordella explained that Peacock is part of every rights deal that the sports division executes. The most recent Nielsen Gauge Report states that Peacock is responsible for 1.4% of total day viewing among persons 2+, part of a streaming category with a 37.7% share in the total scope of outlets. Yet Peacock total-day average viewership declined to 791,000 in February, down 19.5% from the 982,000 it amassed in January.
NBCUniversal recently announced that it will air a daily whiparound program titled Gold Zone during the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The program will be hosted by Scott Hanson, Andrew Siciliano, Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila, officially taking the air for its season debut at 7 a.m. EST on July 27. This show will bring viewers the latest highlights and achievements from all of the Olympic events, which could include up to 40 occurring simultaneously. NBC will also present its traditional Olympics coverage on linear television, marking the 11th time the network is serving as the home of the Summer Olympic Games.
The company also revealed that former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson will join host Mike Tirico for coverage of the Opening Ceremony. Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, will work with Tirico during the Closing Ceremony on Aug. 11 in Paris, France.
