LEAD STORY
Is Peacock’s Strategy Broken?
The success of Netflix and Hulu as a home entertainment option and the exodus of cable subscribers forced the big media companies in the US to abandon their long-held beliefs that the cable entertainment money well would be never-ending.
This led to the launch of competing streaming services like Disney Plus, HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, Paramount Plus, Discovery Plus, and Peacock, vying for a share of the streaming purse.
Disney Plus and HBO Max have found their footing with their original content and deep libraries; Apple TV Plus has become the home of high-quality programming; Paramount Plus is slowly making headway with the success of Yellowstone; Discovery Plus has accepted its role as a reality show hub, and then there is Peacock.
Comcast’s Q4 2021 earnings release revealed that Peacock has over 24 million subscribers, which might seem like a significant number. Still, only 9 million of those are paying subscribers, with the rest being free subscribers.
When Peacock launched, it launched with three tiers, a free tier, an advertiser-supported paid tier costing $5, and a paid tier with no ads costing $10. Executives believed that the limited content options would push the free paying subscribers to the paying options, but that didn’t pan out the way they had hoped.
Executives initially focused on generating awareness on the free version, but now they want to shift it to the paid versions. They are also changing their tune regarding what Peacock was designed to be, saying that it complements their linear channels and should not be seen as a separate business unit.
Why the shift in tone?
Peacock is not making money; despite making $779 million, it lost $1.7 billion in revenue in 2021. They expect to lose $2.2 billion this year.
Peacock doesn’t have that much original content in its arsenal; currently, the biggest draw to the streaming service is sports, including the English Premier League and the Olympics. This helps bring subscribers, but they flee from the paid version when there's no action.
They didn’t get the expected lift with last year’s Tokyo Olympics. With the poorly marketed Beijing Winter Olympics providing some additional visibility, Peacock will need a lot of help to be a relevant player.
That help is starting to arrive as the streaming service expects to spend $3 billion on original content this year, with that amount rising to $5 billion over the next couple of years. One of their buzzier shows, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air remake Bel-Air, is set to debut after the Super Bowl.
Peacock also has movie licensing agreements with Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Illumination, and DreamWorks Animation, enabling them to debut movie titles 45 days after their theatrical premieres.
Is this a case of the calvary coming in too late? Only time will tell whether it saves Peacock and helps it be one of the big players, but a shifting strategy makes that hard to achieve.
(The Streamable, Variety, AdWeek)
QUICK RECAP
Gayle Kings Decides To Stay With CBS News
She has been with the CBS News family since 2012, and it looks like Gayle King is not going anywhere anytime soon. The lead anchor of the morning news show, CBS Mornings, announced that she had signed “on the dotted line,” agreeing to a contract extension with the news network. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but King was being courted by other networks, with one of them being CNN, who wanted her to anchor its 9 pm ET slot vacated by Chris Cuomo. CBS Mornings is still stuck in third place in the morning news wars, but the show has shown considerable growth with King at the helm. (Deadline)
Draymond Green Officially Joins Turner Sports
Three-time NBA champion Draymond Green has signed on the dotted line to join the Turner Sports team in a unique multi-year agreement. Green, who still plays for the Golden State Warriors, will contribute to TNT’s Inside The NBA, where he has been a guest analyst and will make additional appearances throughout Turner Sports and Bleacher Sports. Green’s availability is schedule-dependent, and he could make appearances in-studio or via remote. By locking in Green now, Turner Sports is looking into the future to a time when Charles Barkley is no longer part of the team. They want to see if Green has what it takes to be the heir apparent. (Warner Media Press Room and New York Post)
MSNBC Moves Stephanie Ruhle to 11 pm ET And Expands Morning Joe
MSNBC is starting to fill the gaps in its programming schedule as the network has decided that Stephanie Ruhle will inherit its 11 pm ET show The Last Word that was vacated by Brian Williams last year. Ruhle has been considered a rising star at MSNBC and has anchored the 9 am ET slot for the past few years. Morning Joe, MSNBC’s political morning show, will take over Ruhle’s former slot, accounting for five hours of the weekday schedule. The expansion of the morning program is seen as a win for hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, but it’s seen as a loss for the news division, which cedes another hour to opinion programming. (Axios)
QUICK RECAP
Conservative political analyst Stephen Hayes joins NBC News after leaving Fox News. (Variety)
Former MLB player Carlos Beltran joins the Yes! Network. (Jack Curry/Twitter)
BBC News hires Jennie Baird as EVP and MD of digital news and streaming for BBC Studios. (BBC News Press Team /Twitter)
Former NBC News PR official Ali Zelenko has been named Head of Strategic Partnerships for NBC News Studios. (Claire Atkinson/Twitter)
ESPN’s Mark Shwartz retires after 32 years as a reporter. (ESPN Front Row)
Kevin Tribbles, an NBC News correspondent, is retiring after 27 years. (TVNewser)
Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Greg Bluestein joins MSNBC as a political contributor. (MSNBC Public Relations/Twitter)
CNN promotes its international correspondents Nima Elbagir and Will Ripley. (CNN International Public Relations/Twitter)
BBC News launches the annual Komla Dumor Award for journalists across Africa. (BBC News Press Team/Twitter)
Reed Hastings buys $20 million worth of Netflix shares. (The Hollywood Reporter)
CBS News relaunches its streaming network as CBS News Streaming Network and gives it a new digs. (NewscastStudio)
ABC News adds more live programming to ABC News Live. (ABC News Live/Twitter)
NBC Sports reveals its 2022 Paralympic Winter Games coverage. (NBC Sports Group Press Box)
Disney Plus exceeds $2 billion in mobile app sales. (MediaPost)
How ABC News plans to cover Black History Month. (Variety)
Investors no longer think streaming is a safe bet for media companies. (CNBC)
Fox News International expands streaming distribution on Roku. (TVNewser)
What Netflix can do to restore some shine after a horrible week. (The Ankler)
Meadowlark wants to target Spanish-speaking US audiences with dedicated sports content. (Sportico$$$)
How will NBCUniversal handle the Winter Olympics, seeing that they are in Beijing? (Variety)
Could Fox Sports’ Troy Aikman be leaving the network? (ProFootball Talk)
Could Sean Payton join Fox Sports after retiring from the NFL? (Front Office Sports/Twitter)
Which streaming services have the best churn rates? (The Streamable)
Check out this behind the scene drone shot from ESPN’s College GameDay. (NewscastStudio)
CNN still doesn’t know who will fill its 9 pm ET slot. (Variety)
Fox News’ Peter Doocy on the week he will never forget. (Forbes)
Netflix is not seen as a family-friendly streaming service. (The Streamable)
NBC Sports’ EPL studio show to originate from Los Angeles’ Sofi Stadium during Super Bowl week. (NBC Sports Group Press Box)
Disney Plus is set to launch in 42 countries this summer. (The Hollywood Reporter)
CNN says employees can return to its offices voluntarily starting Monday. (Oliver Darcy/Twitter)
WarnerMedia revenue up by 15% during the fourth quarter of 2021. (MediaPost)
NBC News’ Al Roker joins the streaming wars. (Variety)
HBO Max adds 1.6 million subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2021. (The Streamable)
NBCUniversal launches Peacock in Austria and Germany. (MediaPost)
CNN Digital dominates during 2021. (CNN Press Room)
NBCUniversal’s digital newsgroup is the #1 news organization this past December. (NBC News PR)
AT&T expects to spinoff WarnerMedia during the second quarter of 2022. (Brian Stelter/Twitter)
ESPN to go after Al Michaels for Monday Night Football. (New York Post)
Does Disney Plus need to rethink its Star Wars strategy? (Inverse)
Fox News’ The Five dominates with 3.7 million views. (Forbes)
CNN is paying top dollar to get talent for CNN Plus. (New York Times)
News networks are going old school for their new streaming networks. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Fox Sports and NBC Sports to simulcast the first USFL game on April 16. (Sports Business Journal)
CBS News approached Brian Williams with regards to anchoring CBS Evening News. (CNN Business)
NBC Sports to debut a new graphics package during the Super Bowl. (Sports Video Group)
Netflix didn’t really feel the effects of the pandemic. (CNBC)
FuboTV announces a sublicensing deal with Fox Sports for UEFA rights, including five Euro matches in 2024 and 2028. (Awful Announcing)
Jake Tapper is set to host a show on CNN Plus. (CNN Press Room)
Netflix could lose 750,000 UK subscribers. (The Guardian)
Republicans are probing NBC over Winter Olympics coverage. (Axios)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #75 - 2022