Amid a sudden flurry of aggressive summer promotions for subscription streaming services kicking off to offset the heavy churn of the summer months, NBCUniversal has perhaps the most aggressive one of all with Peacock.
NBCU is offering the base with-commercials Peacock Premium tier (for an undisclosed limited time) for $19.99 for a whole year. That compares to the $49.99 regular annual price. The $1.66-a-month promo breakdown, meanwhile, also matches up real well vs. the $4.99 monthly regular Peacock price.
Peacock is on a growth bender, swelling to 22 million paid users as of the end of March. However, a moment of inflection is coming. Parent company Comcast is making all of those Xfinity Internet customers who received Peacock Premium at no extra charge start paying for the service starting on June 26.
On Tuesday, Comcast announced a new streaming service for its broadband customers called Now TV, which will bundle Peacock Premium with over 40 live entertainment pay TV channels for $20 a month. That should counter at least some of the pending Peacock defections. But there will be a lot of them.
Then there’s, well, the summer, with streaming consumers traveling a lot more and hanging outdoors rather than huddling in front of their TVs — you know, the way we used to enjoy summer before the pandemic.
Other streaming companies are girding for this seasonal churn, too, with Hulu currently offering its $7.99-a-month base tier for $1.99 a month.
