Peacock Added More Than 5 Million Subscribers Thanks to February Sports Blitz

If you look at subscriber numbers, Peacock has been treading water for most of its existence. But after the addition of the NBA powered the platform to a 3 million subscriber addition in the fourth quarter, Peacock’s Olympics-Super Bowl-NBA All-Star Weekend combo proved even more powerful. Data firm Antenna estimates Peacock added 5.2 million new users in February.

Antenna reports that’s the largest single-month jump ever recorded for an existing streaming service.

It’s estimated Peacock added 2.9 million new accounts during the 3 days surrounding the Super Bowl alone.

Previously, Ampere estimated 1/3 of those new Peacock users chose the Premium Plus tier, allowing them to avoid commercials for on-demand content and getting access to the live, local NBC feed. Those February subscribers chose the ad-free plan more than twice as often as usual. On average, just 14% of Peacock subscribers choose the more expensive plan.

Peacock reported that 4 of its 10 busiest days of all time occurred during the Winter Olympics.

If you’re wondering why media companies are willing to break the bank to land live sports, it’s because audiences who sign up for sports are more likely to stick around and try other shows and movies.

In February, Peacock’s original shows were streamed for 9.2 billion minutes, more than triple the 3 billion minutes streamed in the previous February, according to Luminate.

Those live sports don’t come cheap. It’s estimated NBCUniversal spent $27 billion to land the NBA package. That deal was part of the reason Peacock raised its prices by $3/month on both tiers in July.