Peacock increasing prices for second time in its history just before Olympics start

NBC’s Peacock streaming service is raising its price — just in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

One year after its last price increase, Peacock is planning to charge $2 more per month for each of its two plans.

Peacock Premium, which includes advertising, will go from $5.99 per month to $7.99 per month, while the nearly ad-free Peacock Premium Plus will be $13.99. 

Yearly plans are increasing by $20 per year, with Premium now at $79.99 and Premium Plus at $139.99. Both plans essentially give subscribers two free months for paying upfront.

The new prices go into effect July 18, 2024 for new signups. NBC and Peacock’s coverage of the Summer Olympics kicks off July 26, 2024. The network plans to stream thousands of hours of coverage during the following two weeks, in addition to coverage airing on NBC and NBCU-owned cable networks.

Existing subscribers are being granted one-month reprieve, with the new price reflected on bills after Aug. 17, 2024.

Peacock last increased prices July 2023. That increase, which was $1 for Premium and $2 for Premium Plus, was the first time NBCU raised prices on its streamer since it launched. 

Along with the price hike, NBCU notes that the streamer now has 100,000 hours of programs available, which is an increase of about 20,000 since it last raised prices.

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During end-of-first-quarter reporting for 2024, NBC noted it had 34 million subscribers to Peacock, with represents an addition of 3 million, or a 55% gain. Peacock was bringing in an average of $10 per month in revenues, according to the reports.

NBC noted that its move to offer the NFL Wild Card Game Jan. 13, 2024, on Peacock only appears to have not only boosted signups during that time but also it was also able to retain a higher number of paid subscribers than it projected.

In early 2023, Peacock stopped offering its free tier, which included commercials and only a limited slate of programming. Peacock is still available for free (at least to consumers) through partners such as partner company Comcast’s Xfinity brand. Some of these offers sunset after a year or two, while others are indefinite.

With its shift away from free offerings and costs steadily increasing, NBCU appears to be shifting its strategy in streaming.

Many streamers had been setting aside profits in favor of building up subscriber bases by selling subscriptions at “loss leader”-style prices or giving away subscriptions through partner deals. That changes for many of them, however, as soaring production costs, sometimes in the billions of dollars per year for original content, and a tightening economy made it more challenging to justify those massive expenses in favor of better financials.

Ad-supported or partially-ad supported streaming has also seen a rise in popularity, with many streamers reporting they are actually able to make more revenue from ad sales than even full-priced subscriptions.