On the heels of a really messy balance sheet, with over $2.5B lost in 2022, and with up to a further $3B expected in losses for 2023, it seems Peacock is finally trying to stabilize the ship. New subscribers will no longer have the option to use the free tier previously offered by the platform- and we assume a phasing out of the free tier overall will come on its heels at some point. Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney and industry expert from Blake & Wang P.A, shares the news.
Only Paid Tiers
With the free tier now locked, Peacock will only have its $4.99/month Premium plan (which comes with ads) and ad-free $9.99/month Plus tiers available for new subscriptions. For now, existing free memberships will be honored. Apparently, paying subscribers who wish to ‘opt out’ of the channel are also still allowed the option to downgrade to a free tier. While they have also announced that there are currently no plans to ax the tier altogether, we can only assume that’s in the future, too.
Competitive Questions
Despite having been available for several years now, Peacock has been struggling to gain market traction in the wider streaming marketplace. Combined with its heavy streaming losses, and more predicted to come, it’s crucial the streamer does something to redress the balance. Even with mostly positive talk from the parent studio, it’s clearly ailing.
They do have a decent catalog on offer, including originals, Pay 1 window movies from Universal, and next-day offerings from Bravo and NBC in the higher tiers. It is also scheduled to reach 100,000 hours watched sometime this year. So there’s strong potential- but they still can’t seem to make it work.
Will this new move be enough to tip the scales in a better direction? Perhaps, as it will allow for a more cohesive focus on the future, but for now we will have to wait and see.
