Continuing a strategic shift that dates back to 2021, NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock is no longer letting new subscribers sign up for its free, basic tier.Instead, the registration page for the service offers only plans costing $5 and $10 a month. As of now, the basic tier is still in operation for existing, registered users.Peacock, which launched into the teeth of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, faced considerable headwinds in the early going but trumpeted its ad-sales potential given the fact that users could sample it for free. (There were also $5 and $10 options at launch.) After pivoting toward paid subscribers in 2021 and steadily de-emphasizing the free tier ever since, the company has managed to pass 20 million subscribers.When parent Comcast reported NBCU’s financial results for NBCU last week, it noted Peacock has more than doubled its subscriber base in the past year. Losses, though, are expected to increase to $3 billion in 2023, reaching peak levels. The company initially projected Peacock would become profitable in 2024, but has not reaffirmed that target, though the streamer is ahead of pace in other metrics. When NBCU convened an investor day in January 2020, it did not give a subscriber target, instead calling for monthly active users of 30 million to 35 million by 2025, a threshold that has already been achieved.The mothballing of the basic tier for new sign-ups was first reported by The Streamable.Marketing materials in 2020 touted Peacock as “free as a bird,” a nod to the strategic emphasis on advertising revenue. While ad revenue remains a key financial driver, the company had been signaling its change of direction for some time. Steve Burke, who was CEO of NBCU at the time Peacock launched, initially said it would be bundled at no extra charge for customers of major MVPDs, helping it scale. The company launched without deals in place with Roku or Amazon Fire for direct-to-consumer sign-ups, instead banking on a shared interest with fellow cable operators. Comcast’s own Xfinity TV and broadband systems were an original testing ground for that concept, but the company took steps to wind down that bundling initiative last year.
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