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Playoff pay per view? No effing way (1 Viewer)

Ya. It's weird. All other Sheridan series are on paramount. The actual Yellowstone is exclusively on peacock. It's the reason I got it.
 
Anyone know if they plan on doing this peacock-only thing with another game this post season? Anyone hear about that?
 
Ya. It's weird. All other Sheridan series are on paramount. The actual Yellowstone is exclusively on peacock. It's the reason I got it.
When that show came out, Paramount+ didn't exist so Peacock paid a ton of money to CBS/Paramount for the rights to Yellowstone to help launch Peacock
 
If you have Peacock and want to watch the game, great.
If you don't have Peacock and want to get it to watch the game, great.
If you don't have Peacock and want to yell at The NFL to "get off my lawn" and refuse to pay for it,great.
The NFL is going to make more money off of this anyway no matter what you,I or anyone else does.
Welcome to the new normal...A LA Carte Programming.
We'll see about this becoming the "new normal." Many thought the same thing about cable and satellite.

At the end of the day it's about customer experience and, unlike streaming music, there's little or no enhancement to the viewing experience with video streaming vs. a network TV broadcast.
 
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Had to go to NFL bite to find a good feed...my IPTV was glitchy. This one was a bit tougher to find. Took me about 3 minutes. Lol
 
They need to do the first day games all on peacock or other platform. And the platform needs to do something different for the viewer
 
And the platform needs to do something different for the viewer

This is the thing that is most distressing about it. I've had Spotify premium forever and happily pay for it, because for a reasonable price it drastically simplified my music-listening experience. I'd be spending way more buying physical media and/or spending tons of time pirating and organizing music. I'd gladly pay more to watch NFL playoff games if it was a big improvement of the existing experience, but it's not. NBC/Peacock just took something that used to be free, and started charging for it. Still had to sit through commercials and inane commentary.
 
I've had peacock for a year. Outside of Yellowstone it's garbage. Zero interest in its catalog. Getting this game is huge for them.
It might just be that there are many series I haven’t seen until I got peacock but it’s been one of the better values in streaming imo. My wife likes it for a variety of reality tv, I finally watched modern family, I’m actually enjoying the Ted prequel series (it’s trashy but I like it), and a few others. Some live sports, SNL. I’d be good with just peacock, D+ and Max. That’s a lot cheaper than cable.
 
I've had peacock for a year. Outside of Yellowstone it's garbage. Zero interest in its catalog. Getting this game is huge for them.
It might just be that there are many series I haven’t seen until I got peacock but it’s been one of the better values in streaming imo. My wife likes it for a variety of reality tv, I finally watched modern family, I’m actually enjoying the Ted prequel series (it’s trashy but I like it), and a few others. Some live sports, SNL. I’d be good with just peacock, D+ and Max. That’s a lot cheaper than cable.
We definitely are all different. Paramount Plus has been awesome for me. I saw the Ted show come out on peacock. I'll prolly watch it. I have 5 streaming services and peacock is the only one I may go a month without using. It's cheap so Ive kept it. With my discount I think it's like 40 bucks for the year.
 
I've had peacock for a year. Outside of Yellowstone it's garbage. Zero interest in its catalog. Getting this game is huge for them.
It might just be that there are many series I haven’t seen until I got peacock but it’s been one of the better values in streaming imo. My wife likes it for a variety of reality tv, I finally watched modern family, I’m actually enjoying the Ted prequel series (it’s trashy but I like it), and a few others. Some live sports, SNL. I’d be good with just peacock, D+ and Max. That’s a lot cheaper than cable.
We definitely are all different. Paramount Plus has been awesome for me. I saw the Ted show come out on peacock. I'll prolly watch it. I have 5 streaming services and peacock is the only one I may go a month without using. It's cheap so Ive kept it. With my discount I think it's like 40 bucks for the year.
👍🏽 paramount plus and Apple TV have been the two we’ve considered but never got. Maybe after we cancel max next we’ll rotate to one then the other.
 
I did not watch it and somehow survived. I'm just not into paying for a service to watch a game. I can read the stats and watch the highlights.
 
I've had peacock for a year. Outside of Yellowstone it's garbage. Zero interest in its catalog. Getting this game is huge for them.
It might just be that there are many series I haven’t seen until I got peacock but it’s been one of the better values in streaming imo. My wife likes it for a variety of reality tv, I finally watched modern family, I’m actually enjoying the Ted prequel series (it’s trashy but I like it), and a few others. Some live sports, SNL. I’d be good with just peacock, D+ and Max. That’s a lot cheaper than cable.
We definitely are all different. Paramount Plus has been awesome for me. I saw the Ted show come out on peacock. I'll prolly watch it. I have 5 streaming services and peacock is the only one I may go a month without using. It's cheap so Ive kept it. With my discount I think it's like 40 bucks for the year.
👍🏽 paramount plus and Apple TV have been the two we’ve considered but never got. Maybe after we cancel max next we’ll rotate to one then the other.
I've always rotated mine based on specials. That also allows library build up. I'll pick up Max when house of dragon season comes out. I enjoyed my hbo stint.
 
Went the mini-protest/don't support it route with intentions to stay in the dark and watch the re-air on NFLN. It was a fiasco and won't do that again.

I see Peacock rose to the top of most downloaded app lists. Hate to see it, this seems like it's a great shot of working out for them even if they are not close to getting their $110+m back in one shot.

NFL made me more money but will they ultimately care that an estimated amount of a little over 20 million less people watched? And by care I mean with respect to growing the game and the audience, was that worth it to them as well as just rubbing a lot of fans the wrong way? Probably so I hate to say.

Sucks for the players who get put in this game. I think most players dream of playing in the spotlight, not making the playoffs only to get Peacocked.
 
I was in Canada for my daughter's hockey tourney this weekend, and the game was on regular TV. The NFL only screwed over their US fan base, so there's that.
 
I've had peacock for a year. Outside of Yellowstone it's garbage. Zero interest in its catalog. Getting this game is huge for them.
It might just be that there are many series I haven’t seen until I got peacock but it’s been one of the better values in streaming imo. My wife likes it for a variety of reality tv, I finally watched modern family, I’m actually enjoying the Ted prequel series (it’s trashy but I like it), and a few others. Some live sports, SNL. I’d be good with just peacock, D+ and Max. That’s a lot cheaper than cable.
We definitely are all different. Paramount Plus has been awesome for me. I saw the Ted show come out on peacock. I'll prolly watch it. I have 5 streaming services and peacock is the only one I may go a month without using. It's cheap so Ive kept it. With my discount I think it's like 40 bucks for the year.
👍🏽 paramount plus and Apple TV have been the two we’ve considered but never got. Maybe after we cancel max next we’ll rotate to one then the other.

Get a free trial for Apple TV and binge ted lasso and then cancel and you’re good to go there
 
I'm curious if they will count all the Xfinity customers that have free Peacock in their numbers

who is "they" and which numbers are they counting?
So "Nielsen" or whoever now tracks the viewing numbers. For example, NBC reported the Bill Chargers game had something like 8 million viewers on dec23 but that included the ota broadcast. Actual viewers were about 6 million on the app. But that was not broken down to paid vs free

IDK what entity calculated market share in today's entertainment world
 
I'm curious if they will count all the Xfinity customers that have free Peacock in their numbers

who is "they" and which numbers are they counting?
So "Nielsen" or whoever now tracks the viewing numbers. For example, NBC reported the Bill Chargers game had something like 8 million viewers on dec23 but that included the ota broadcast. Actual viewers were about 6 million on the app. But that was not broken down to paid vs free

IDK what entity calculated market share in today's entertainment world

I guess I don't understand the question. If they're counting viewers, who cares if they paid or not? They're counting viewers, not paying subscribers.
 

A streaming success​

Rick Cordella, the president of NBC Sports, who also oversees sports on Peacock, told The Athletic last week that he would judge the Chiefs-Dolphins game first on the quality of the production and then if the technological distribution was smooth and clear. The next goals included metrics such as how many subs the game drove, how many new subscribers they had, whether they met their internal traffic goals and how advertising partners felt afterward. Viewership goals were not something Peacock executives pushed externally because ultimately the $110 million they paid the NFL for the game was done for subscription acquisition. There’s no doubt the one thing parent company Comcast wanted to avoid was a viewership disaster and they got the opposite. The 23 million viewership average tops last year least-watched playoff game (Chargers-Jaguars, which averaged 20.61 million viewers on NBC) by a couple of million viewers.

Both the league and Peacock will be overjoyed by this viewership number. What does it mean? It means we are near-certain to going to see an exclusive, live-streamed NFL playoff game repeated next year. — Richard Deitsch, senior sports media writer
 
Unless there's a huge spin going on it looks like "The Peacock Game" was a huge financial success.
Money drives the bus.
Wouldn't be surprised if next year we had a playoff game on Peacock again and Amazon Prime and Paramount+
The money has spoken,streaming is here and growing up.
 
Unless there's a huge spin going on it looks like "The Peacock Game" was a huge financial success.

Do we know this? I don't know what the lifetime value of a new Peacock sub is like or whatever but they're saying the game had 23 million viewers. I think I'd heard they already had something like 30 million subscribers (before anyone really knew this was going to be an exclusive game). For all we know they paid the NFL $110 million to pick up a few million new subscriptions, many of which will likely be canceled soon. No idea if they consider that a financial success.
 
Unless there's a huge spin going on it looks like "The Peacock Game" was a huge financial success.

Do we know this? I don't know what the lifetime value of a new Peacock sub is like or whatever but they're saying the game had 23 million viewers. I think I'd heard they already had something like 30 million subscribers (before anyone really knew this was going to be an exclusive game). For all we know they paid the NFL $110 million to pick up a few million new subscriptions, many of which will likely be canceled soon. No idea if they consider that a financial success.
Check CletiusMaximus post above,quote from the president of NBC Sports
 
Unless there's a huge spin going on it looks like "The Peacock Game" was a huge financial success.

Do we know this? I don't know what the lifetime value of a new Peacock sub is like or whatever but they're saying the game had 23 million viewers. I think I'd heard they already had something like 30 million subscribers (before anyone really knew this was going to be an exclusive game). For all we know they paid the NFL $110 million to pick up a few million new subscriptions, many of which will likely be canceled soon. No idea if they consider that a financial success.
Check CletiusMaximus post above,quote from the president of NBC Sports

That's not a quote and it doesn't say anything about whether the game was a financial success.
 
I'm calling BS on that 23 million number. There is absolutely no way they pulled that number on a streaming option that nobody seemed to want. Even with free trials I would be shocked at that number.
 
Unless there's a huge spin going on it looks like "The Peacock Game" was a huge financial success.

Do we know this? I don't know what the lifetime value of a new Peacock sub is like or whatever but they're saying the game had 23 million viewers. I think I'd heard they already had something like 30 million subscribers (before anyone really knew this was going to be an exclusive game). For all we know they paid the NFL $110 million to pick up a few million new subscriptions, many of which will likely be canceled soon. No idea if they consider that a financial success.
Check CletiusMaximus post above,quote from the president of NBC Sports
That's not a quote and it doesn't say anything about whether the game was a financial success.
Agreed. It's complete misinformation to call a single streaming event a "financial success" for a business model built on recurring revenue.

With 28 million subscribers as of Comcast’s last quarterly report, Peacock is relatively small compared to streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon. It has bet heavily on sports to build up its base and, in turn, draw attention to its entertainment offerings.

Those sports rights are costly, and are one reason
Peacock was expected to lose $2.8 billion in 2023.

Comcast did not disclose how many subscribers Peacock gained on Saturday. The big challenge will be to retain as many new subscribers as possible after the NFL season is over.


Source: Wall Street Journal
 
Unless there's a huge spin going on it looks like "The Peacock Game" was a huge financial success.

Do we know this? I don't know what the lifetime value of a new Peacock sub is like or whatever but they're saying the game had 23 million viewers. I think I'd heard they already had something like 30 million subscribers (before anyone really knew this was going to be an exclusive game). For all we know they paid the NFL $110 million to pick up a few million new subscriptions, many of which will likely be canceled soon. No idea if they consider that a financial success.
Check CletiusMaximus post above,quote from the president of NBC Sports

That's not a quote and it doesn't say anything about whether the game was a financial success.

That was from a short piece in the Athletic by Richard Dietsch. He did a follow up earlier this morning ( https://theathletic.com/5198510/2024/01/15/peacock-nfl-streaming-playoffs-dolphins-chiefs/ ). I don't think it matters much exactly how you break down the 23 mil or whether this one event was financially successful or not. I wouldn't trust the words of an NBC exec on that anyway. Peacock lost $2.8bln in 2023 so the $110m they paid for this game is a tiny drop in the bucket.

For me and I expect many others, the question is whether this will be the end of this experiment or whether we'll see more of this. The answer seems to be pretty certain that we'll see more of these exclusive streaming games going forward.
 
I will continue to subscribe to Peacock because my son and I watch English soccer every weekend. Peacock carried every game of the Rugby World Cup this past summer and will broadcast every game of the Rugby Six Nations tournament starting next month - one of my favorite sporting events each year. It also has exclusive rights to about 20 or 30 Big Ten basketball games, which interest me as a Wisconsin Badger fan. I tried watching Yellowstone but couldn't get past the second episode of season one. I'm sure there's other content on Peacock but I only have it for the sports.
 
Video streaming is not "inevitable" unless someone can figure out how make money. That isn't nearly as easy as putting on a show, which is something Spotify has painfully learned in audio.

Spotify has a plum position in the audio-streaming business. It’s the leading platform, with some 600 million users. Its 30% market share is twice that of its next-largest competitor. Spotify is adding millions of new subscribers a month, and few of its users cancel.

Most companies can only dream of that kind of industry dominance. Yet not even the leading audio-streaming company has consistently made money off audio streaming.

“Spotify has consistently led people to believe they would have a profitable business that would justify their valuation and used capital raised on the back of that valuation to chase rainbows,” said Richard Kramer, founder of tech-focused equity-research firm Arete Research. “None of those rainbows were captured.”

After years of rapid growth, the company laid off some 2,300 employees in three rounds of cuts last year in its quest for profitability.


Source: Wall Street Journal
 
Video streaming is not "inevitable" unless someone can figure out how make money. That isn't nearly as easy as putting on a show, which is something Spotify has painfully learned in audio.

Spotify has a plum position in the audio-streaming business. It’s the leading platform, with some 600 million users. Its 30% market share is twice that of its next-largest competitor. Spotify is adding millions of new subscribers a month, and few of its users cancel.

Most companies can only dream of that kind of industry dominance. Yet not even the leading audio-streaming company has consistently made money off audio streaming.

“Spotify has consistently led people to believe they would have a profitable business that would justify their valuation and used capital raised on the back of that valuation to chase rainbows,” said Richard Kramer, founder of tech-focused equity-research firm Arete Research. “None of those rainbows were captured.”

After years of rapid growth, the company laid off some 2,300 employees in three rounds of cuts last year in its quest for profitability.


Source: Wall Street Journal
Not all companies are unicorns. Some companies are not "growth" companies. If I were Spotify I would focus on profitability and dividends. Most tech companies dont think this way, but SaaS tech companies should. There subscriber base is an annuity. Stop thinking up new ways to monetize and start thinking about ways to reduce cost and delivery more value for the same cost.
 
Video streaming is not "inevitable" unless someone can figure out how make money. That isn't nearly as easy as putting on a show, which is something Spotify has painfully learned in audio.

Spotify has a plum position in the audio-streaming business. It’s the leading platform, with some 600 million users. Its 30% market share is twice that of its next-largest competitor. Spotify is adding millions of new subscribers a month, and few of its users cancel.

Most companies can only dream of that kind of industry dominance. Yet not even the leading audio-streaming company has consistently made money off audio streaming.

“Spotify has consistently led people to believe they would have a profitable business that would justify their valuation and used capital raised on the back of that valuation to chase rainbows,” said Richard Kramer, founder of tech-focused equity-research firm Arete Research. “None of those rainbows were captured.”

After years of rapid growth, the company laid off some 2,300 employees in three rounds of cuts last year in its quest for profitability.


Source: Wall Street Journal

I don't know how comparable Spotify is to sports programming, but it has been reported that Peacock had an EBITDA loss of $2.5bln in 2022 and they expect to lose around $3bln in 2023. I think for the vast majority of us those numbers are hard to fathom, especially when the execs do interviews and proclaim how thrilled they are with the success they are having and expect to expand and (I guess hopefully) lose even more in future years. But I do believe it is inevitable, as crazy and nonsensical as it seems to us as consumers.

Consider a single anecdotal experience (mine) - to follow a single English soccer club across all competitions and be assured I can watch every game they play, I need access to NBC/USA, Peacock TV, ESPN+ and Paramount +. To follow the USMNT it is a similar game - multiple subscriptions are needed. Every time a game kicks off we're all scrambling to figure out where it is being broadcast.
To watch a single NBA team's games and be assured I can watch every game they play, I need to subscribe to Bally's ($30/mo) and have TNT and ESPN at minimum. NBATV covers the entire league, but not every game.
Very similar stories for my local college basketball team (BTN and Peacock at minimum) and my local MLB team - multiple streaming subscriptions are required.

Every NFL fan is going to be saying the same thing - "I don't mind paying, but I just want to pay for one package and get all the games, whatever the cost, etc." and similar comments. This is exactly what international soccer fans have been saying for the past 5 years or so. Meanwhile, we are all paying more and more every year because, like the NFL, its a great product that we apparently can't live without.
 
Sharing a couple of quick FYIs (sorry if I missed these posted already). First, and I think its purposeful BS, you cannot cancel your subscription on The Peacock App. Not the biggest of deals to have to long in and cancel online, but does seem like a wormhole to keep a few stragglers for at least another month. Second, if you want to keep the service for a while, they offer the following when canceling:

3 Months for $2.50 per month!

Tons of bingeworthy TV and hit movies. LIVE sports & events. Next-day access to NBC hits. Originals, Bravo & more.
This payment covers your first month of Peacock Premium only. This discounted fee applies to your first 3 payments only. Thereafter, your Peacock Premium plan will auto-renew on a monthly basis and you will be charged the then-current monthly price (plus tax).

Lastly, while I was reluctant to pay to watch the game, I had money on it, enjoyed it and got my six-bucks worth, I suppose.
 
First, and I think its purposeful BS, you cannot cancel your subscription on The Peacock App. Not the biggest of deals to have to long in and cancel online, but does seem like a wormhole to keep a few stragglers for at least another month.
If you have an iPhone you can cancel under your Subscriptions when you go into settings. Just click on your name, then Subscriptions, and you can do it all there.
 
Video streaming is not "inevitable" unless someone can figure out how make money. That isn't nearly as easy as putting on a show, which is something Spotify has painfully learned in audio.

Spotify has a plum position in the audio-streaming business. It’s the leading platform, with some 600 million users. Its 30% market share is twice that of its next-largest competitor. Spotify is adding millions of new subscribers a month, and few of its users cancel.

Most companies can only dream of that kind of industry dominance. Yet not even the leading audio-streaming company has consistently made money off audio streaming.

“Spotify has consistently led people to believe they would have a profitable business that would justify their valuation and used capital raised on the back of that valuation to chase rainbows,” said Richard Kramer, founder of tech-focused equity-research firm Arete Research. “None of those rainbows were captured.”

After years of rapid growth, the company laid off some 2,300 employees in three rounds of cuts last year in its quest for profitability.


Source: Wall Street Journal

I don't know how comparable Spotify is to sports programming, but it has been reported that Peacock had an EBITDA loss of $2.5bln in 2022 and they expect to lose around $3bln in 2023. I think for the vast majority of us those numbers are hard to fathom, especially when the execs do interviews and proclaim how thrilled they are with the success they are having and expect to expand and (I guess hopefully) lose even more in future years. But I do believe it is inevitable, as crazy and nonsensical as it seems to us as consumers.

Consider a single anecdotal experience (mine) - to follow a single English soccer club across all competitions and be assured I can watch every game they play, I need access to NBC/USA, Peacock TV, ESPN+ and Paramount +. To follow the USMNT it is a similar game - multiple subscriptions are needed. Every time a game kicks off we're all scrambling to figure out where it is being broadcast.
To watch a single NBA team's games and be assured I can watch every game they play, I need to subscribe to Bally's ($30/mo) and have TNT and ESPN at minimum. NBATV covers the entire league, but not every game.
Very similar stories for my local college basketball team (BTN and Peacock at minimum) and my local MLB team - multiple streaming subscriptions are required.

Every NFL fan is going to be saying the same thing - "I don't mind paying, but I just want to pay for one package and get all the games, whatever the cost, etc." and similar comments. This is exactly what international soccer fans have been saying for the past 5 years or so. Meanwhile, we are all paying more and more every year because, like the NFL, its a great product that we apparently can't live without.
Your anecdotes are very instructive and I would agree that digital distribution of video content, including the NFL, is indeed inevitable. But timing? Who knows.

I would posit as analogies both EV's and renewable energy. Tesla sold their first car in 2008 amidst massive "revolutionary" hype...and yet here we are 16 years later still with less than 10% EV market penetration. And fossil fuels still rule electricity nearly 30 years after power industry deregulation.

As you allude to, maybe the NFL product is so addictive that people will be willing to accept a cram-down technology switch filled with inconvenience and higher cost.

But while this might work for hard-core football fans (i.e. "early adopters), IMO in order to replicate the easy, low cost network experience for the mainstream there is still a long, long way to go.
 

Maybe an offshoot thread but putting it here for similar discussion
Interesting. The Sunday Ticket phrase jogged my memory about a question I have. There was a regular season game on Peacock that was not available on the ticket. How did the NFL weasel their way tgru that loop hole?
 

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